I reckon in the early days Motown was a good thing as the Rare Earth label was given prime coverage with the many new acts within. It is difficult to argue against it as they had massive hits from 1969 to 1972 but after that time it seemed they were less a rock band and more a Motown act, just part of the system. Even though that detroit sound is a great part of musical history maybe the band could have gone further if they had found another label from around 1974. A lot of people probably didnot try the band out in other countries as much because their albums were actually on Motown and they wrongly assumed they were part of the normal Motown sound. Rare Earth didnot tour Europe either in their successful years so maybe that adds to the reputation. But.....they sold a lot of records, millions! A lot of bands would have given all to have achieved that
I THINK THE THING THAT BOTHERS ME THE MOST,IS THAT,YES THEY WERE WITH MOTOWN,AND YES THEY SOLD MILLIONS OF RECORDS.BUT, MOTOWN HAS CONSISTENTLY EXCLUDED THEM FROM ANY AND ALL MOTOWN SHOWS AND EVENTS OVER THE YEARS.IT COMES OFF LIKE A REVERSE PREDJUDICE.WHAT IS IT?? WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS.OBVIOUSLY,RARE EARTH MADE THEM ALOT OF MONEY.
Rare Earth was my favorite band of the ealry 70's I agree--they have been severely overlooked, and never did get anywhere near the acclaim they deserved. I thiink one reason could be the fact they had so many personnel changes. Seemed that everytime a new record came out, different people were in the band. It was hard to be a fan because of this. Compare the lineup on "One World" (the best lineup, in my opinion) to the one on "Back to the Earth."
Yes thats my favourite line up with john persh on bass. And the guy had a great voice as well just as good as Pete's. For me, John leaving left a big gap!
