Song:Get Ready
Album:20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection: The Best Of Rare Earth
Rare Earth was interesting because they were a white band on Motown. But they were very successful in the late 60s-early 70s including this 20 minute version of Get Ready. They started out in Detroit as The Sunliners in 1961. Sax player Gil Bridges and drummer Pete Rivera were original members. They added bassist John Parrish in 1962 and then guitarist Rod Richards and keyboard player Kenny James in 1966. Rare Earth released an album on Verve in 1968 that went nowhere. Motown picked them up because they wanted to branch out and start a new rock label. The band jokingly suggested calling it Rare Earth Records and that's what Motown did. It seems that when Rare Earth was recording their first album, they ran out of material and decided to record a 20 minute version of The Temptations classic Get Ready. Motown released a single version and it reached #4 on the pop singles chart in 1970. The album hit the top 20. They had more success with songs like I Just Want To Celebrate. But the group wanted to write their own songs. When their 1973 album Willie Remembers didn't do well, things started to fall apart. They were finished by 1978. Be sure to get the full 20 minute version of Get Ready. It is on this budget comp. A version of Rare Earth still tours today. Here's Rare Earth performing Get Ready in 1973.
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