 Rare Earth began as an R&B band called the Sunliners in
Detroit in 1961. Of the musicians who would be part of the band dubbed Rare
Earth, only sax player Gil Bridges and drummer Pete Rivera were present. John
Parrish joined on bass in 1962. Rod Richards became a guitarist with the group
in 1966. Keyboardist Kenny James came into the fold the same year. After years
of doing the club circuit, the group changed their name to Rare Earth and
released Dreams/Answers on Verve. The album received little reaction and the
group was picked up by Motown Records as the first act on their yet-to-be-named
new label. Rare Earth suggested to Motown that the label name their new
subsidiary after the band and Rare Earth Records was born.
When they set out to record their first album, they
essentially ran out of material and did a 21-minute rendition of the
Temptation's "Get Ready" to fill out the space. The album was making no headway
on the charts for a long period of time. So they took the first three minutes of
"Get Ready," released it as a single and it made its way into the U.S. Top Ten
list, peaking at number four. Pulled along by the success of the single, the
album also began to sell, breaking the Top 20, and Rare Earth's career was
officially on its way. The second album, Ecology, was released in June of 1970,
a couple months short of a year after "Get Ready" had been put out.
Interestingly enough, Ecology was not really the group's second album, but their
third. An album entitled Generation was recorded as the soundtrack to the film
of the same name. When the film stalled at the box office, the album was
shelved. Still, Ecology would yield not one, but two hit singles. The first was
"(I Know) I'm Losing You" (another Temptations cover), which also broke the Top
Ten. The second single, "Born to Wander," did not fare quite so well, but did
make the Top 20. The album was catapulted to number 15.
Not wanting to lose momentum, One World followed almost
exactly a year after Ecology, and yielded another hit single in a longtime
classic, "I Just Want to Celebrate." The song peaked on the pop charts at number
seven and the album broke the Top 50. They released a live album in December of
the same year. For the next album, Willie Remembers, the group insisted on doing
all originals, a move that was not common around the Motown camp. Unfortunately,
for a band trying to prove a point, the album never reached the type of sales of
previous records. Indeed, it stalled out at number 90, and the single "Good Time
Sally" didn't even break the Top 50.
Motown tightened the creative grip on the group and original
producer Norman Whitfield, who had worked with the group on earlier albums, was
brought in to save the day. The resulting album, Ma, was released in May of 1973
and fared just a little better than Willie Remembers, peaking at number 65. The
label was not pleased and sent the group into the studio to record with Stevie
Wonder. That pairing did not really gel, though, and only two tracks were
recorded, neither of which were released. Instead, the label sought to release
another live album, trying to regain the spark that Rare Earth had had. That
project also fell by the wayside, though.
What followed was a serious of lineup changes and legal
battles, and the group stopped touring altogether in 1974. The following year
Rare Earth, in a new lineup, released Back to Earth. The album did a bit better
than the previous one, reaching number 59 on the charts. The single,
appropriately entitled "It Makes You Happy (But It Ain't Gonna Last Too Long)"
stalled just outside the Top 100. A disco-oriented excursion entitled Midnight
Lady was released in 1976, but failed to really go anywhere. To make matters
worse, Rare Earth Records was discontinued altogether. The band had broken up by
this time.
As fate would have it, though, this was not the end of Rare
Earth. Instead, Barney Ales, who had presided over Rare Earth Records, started
his own label Prodigal Records. He talked the group into reuniting to record the
label debut. The resulting album, Rare Earth, was released in 1977 and made no
real waves in the music business. Rare Earth got things together again for a
marathon recording session the following year. That session yielded not one, but
two albums. The first was Band Together, released in April of 1978, with Grand
Slam following in September. Neither of those albums every really took off,
either. The group essentially broke up in 1978, although a version of the
original lineup was touring all the way into 1983. A different incarnation of
the group, with just two original members, still makes the circuits. ~ Gary
Hill, All Music Guide
Contact Grabow for more information or to book Rare Earth for
your next corporate or private event.
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