Nevertheless, the band continued to record into the 1990s.īy 1972, Motown had decided to relocate from Detroit to Los Angeles and Rare Earth soon followed suit. There were no significant hits thereafter. The group's hits from late 1970 to early 1972 were "Born to Wander" (number 17), " I Just Want to Celebrate" (number 7), and "Hey, Big Brother" (number 19). Ray Monette (guitar) and Mark Olson (keyboards, vocals) joined to replace them. In 1971, Richards left due to musical differences, and James, weary of the group's increased touring schedule, also departed. The group gained a bit of notoriety when it was mentioned dismissively in Gil Scott-Heron's 1970 poem, " The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", which included the line, "The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Engelbert Humperdinck, or the Rare Earth." This disc sold over one million copies and received a gold record awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America. Each was more successful than the Temptations original, with "Get Ready" being their biggest hit, peaking at number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Rare Earth had a number of top 40 hits in 1970–71, including remakes of the Temptations' " (I Know) I'm Losing You" and " Get Ready". The issue was pressed on hot pink vinyl and limited to a run of 2,000 copies. The soundtrack album was reissued as a limited edition LP for Record Store Day 2020. Several tracks were remixed and included on the next LP, Ecology, in 1970. An accompanying soundtrack album was released, but quickly withdrawn after the film failed commercially, with only a small number of copies sold. In late 1969, Edward "Eddie" Guzman ( congas and assorted percussive instruments) was added to the group.ĭuring 1969, the group contributed music to the film Generation that starred David Janssen and Kim Darby. The group's recording style was hard-driving. The main personnel in the group were Gil Bridges, saxophone, flute, vocals Peter Hoorelbeke (aka Peter Rivera), lead vocals, drums John Parrish (aka John Persh), bass guitar, trombone, vocals Rod Richards (born Rod Cox), guitar, vocals and Kenny James (born Ken Folcik), keyboards. To the band's surprise, Motown decided to do just that. The record company did not have a name for the new label yet and the band jokingly suggested Motown call the label "Rare Earth". The band was one of the first acts signed to a new Motown imprint that would be dedicated to white rock acts many of the subsidiary's newly signed acts played blues-oriented and progressive rock styles, including Rare Earth themselves. The band felt the name "Rare Earth" was more in keeping with the names other bands were adopting, such as Iron Butterfly, more "with it." Īfter recording an unsuccessful debut album, Dream/Answers, on the Verve label in 1968, the group was signed to Motown in 1969. The group formed in 1960 as the Sunliners and changed its name to Rare Earth in 1968. Although not the first white band signed to Motown, Rare Earth was the first successful act signed by Motown that consisted only of white members. According to Louder, "Rare Earth's music straddles genres and defies categorisation, slipping seamlessly between the two seemingly disparate worlds of classic rock and R&B." The band was signed to Motown's subsidiary label Rare Earth. Rare Earth is an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan.
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