ALBUM: Rare Earth (Superstar series) (1981 compilation)
MVC Rating: 3.5/$$$
It would be easy to dismiss this average white band as a great bar band and go with that. But they are actually a good bump above that description. They are an American band in the Grand Funk mode or blue-eyed rock and soul of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.
Rare Earth was from Detroit, and like Mitch Ryder’s great band, absorbed the Motor City’s soul music tradition.
Detroit Wheels had some funk and soul in their approach. Rare Earth was one of the first successful- all- white bands to be signed by Motown Records. (Others had been signed but never had a hit or achieved much success.) Some audiences called the band too white sounding and others called the band too black sounding, but a lot more liked the sound. One of their biggest hits was a cover of a Temptations song, ‘Get Ready’ which was a real jam — like 30 minutes of jam in concert. They were loud, both vocally and musically.
I saw them at an outdoor free concert in West Lafayette, Indiana, in around 1974 or 1975. Or, maybe that was the J. Geils Band (?). I don’t know. I do know I became familiar with Rare Earth’s songs around this time as they bombarded the radio airways.
‘Born to Wander,’ ‘Hey Big Brother,’ ‘(I Know) I’m Losing You’ and my favorite: ‘I just Want to Celebrate.’