Some serious work.........................PETE said ,quality not good.
I respect Peter, but I do not agree with what he says. I have to go with Ralph T. He says his brother Russ recorded that show. That's all I need to know...Russ has an impeccable track record...the behind the scenes stuff in '74 is probably the cause of non-relese, not the sound quality.
Then again, what in the heck do I know? I wasn't born yet.
I saw one version for sale on a website a few months ago. I couldn't afford to pay that, but was gonna post it here so a real fan could buy it but I forgot.
Well, the person whom purchased this on e-bay contacted me...he shall remain anonymous though. After 18 years of waiting to hear this...this album kicks butt.
Peter, Gil, Eddie, Mike, Ray and Mark just tear it up. The album is a fantastic counterpart to In Concert. While 5 of the songs from In Concert are repeated, the arrangements are different...making the songs sound fresh.
For years I thought "We're Gonna' Have A Good Time" was one of the tracks on LIC LP but I was mistaken.
I saw the band perform "Good Time" live at Philharmonic Hall in Lincoln Center on December 11, 1972, Several months later in February 1973 I saw them perform it again on The Midnight Special and they didn't take any shortcuts by playing a stripped down version of the song.
I recently spoke with Mike by telephone and we had a really nice chat. I'm going to share something with everyone that I shared with Mike last week. Back in the seventies on Friday nights we usually watched ABC in concert followed by the Midnight Special.
My best friend's mom worked a late night shift so she didn't return home until the wee hours of the morning. We had the entire place to ourselves and it was equipped with a huge state of the art color Television set as well as a high end stereo system. Our Friday night get together's usually consisted of myself, my friend Billy and our two girlfriends.
Out of the above four people listed I'm the only one still alive today and this fact kind of freaks me some times. The four of us were very close so we also attended many concerts together including several Rare Earth shows. These are all precious memories I'll never forget. This story is just one of the many reasons the band's music holds such a special place within my heart.
I was there at Lincoln Center,they did do SALLY,along w/ GOTTA GET MYSELF BACK HOME...which I hated,was hopin they would do I COULDNT BELIEVE.....my all time fav......what a cold night.Though.............I swear they DIDNT do SALLY on MS...though the song was listed in the TV guide.Least not on NBC in NY.I was 16.
Rich, I too thought the band would definitively play I Couldn't Believe What Happened Last Night at the Philharmonic gig. That song was tailor made for a classic Rare Earth extended concert jam. Why the song I Gotta' Get Myself Back Home was included on the set list we'll never know. A while back I listed some of the songs I recalled the band playing that night but another poster commented that they definitely didn't play I Gotta' Get Myself Back Home but we know otherwise. Thanks for the confirmation Rich.
I recall the house lights dimming and the stage being in total darkness for quite some time. With the stage still dark we finally heard the beat of Pete's double bass drum kit, followed by Eddie's congas, then Mike's bass and Ray's guitar and finally Mark's organ. As the opening vocals of Hey Big Brother came through the PA system the spotlights illuminated and the concert was underway.
I also recall the band doing a killer version of Born To Wander that night. After Gil's flute solo Pete changed up the vocals somewhat by saying something like "we came from Detroit City but we wandered on down to LA" and it really blended into the song very well.
And yes I recall it being very cold that night. As we walked from the Columbus Circle subway station to Lincoln Center it felt like the cold was going right through us. For some strange reason I didn't feel as cold on the way home.(wonder why) BTW, I turned 17 years old in June of 72 so that was a magical night for both of us.
Rich, I'd love to hear some of your recollections from that Lincoln Center show.
Forgot to change the name from anonymous to Jocko on my above post. Silly me. I can recall details from concerts four decades ago but I can't remember my own name.
PETE didnt care how cold it was outside that night...........inside he was doin some work,drinkin his brew in his orange sweatshirt.RAY had an outfit.....looked like the american flag.They also DIDNT do Were Gonna Have a Good Time,strange....shortly after,released as a 45.Classy place that PHILAMONIC,also very sad....a lot of personal problems laid ahead.I think I walded to TIMES SQ.....after the show..............TADs STEAK.....w/ a baked potato.
Rich, I could have sworn they played "We're Gonna Have A Good Time" at Lincoln Center but if you don't recall them playing the song there perhaps I was mistaken. I know I saw the band play "We're Gonna' Have A Good Time" in concert shortly after after the release of Willie Remembers. Perhaps it was at a venue called Banana Fish Garden in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn. If you don't recall recall this venue it was originally called the Loews Kings Wonder Theater and later on just the Loews 46 St Theater. It was located on New Utrecht Ave at 46 street in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.
Around 1969-70 some young entrepreneurs leased the building with dreams of turning it into a major rock concert venue. They first changed the name to the 46 St Rock Palace, then Rock Palace and finally Bananafish Garden. In addition to Rare Earth some of the other acts performing there were the Grateful Dead, New Riders, Hot Tuna, Steely Dan, Bee Gees, Mahavishn Orchestra, JD Salinger, etc
Both Don Kirshner and ABC In Concert filmed shows at this venue and when they did admission was usually free. Over the years some of the shows filmed at Bananafish have made their way to YouTube but unfortunately there are no Rare Earth shows. I recall religiously purchasing the Village Voice newspaper every Thursday to check out the concert listings. When I saw the ad for Rare Earth at Bananafish Garden just seven miles away from my home in Brooklyn I originally thought it had to be a dream but in reality it was a dream come true.
Due to pressure from the local Orthodox Jewish community the theater was forced to close it's doors for good at the end of 1973. The building has presently served the community as a furniture store for the past forty years. But it will always be known to us as the sacred Bananafish Garden Palace of Rock. My friends and I had our own theater in Brooklyn where our heroes took the stage on a regular basis to blow us away with their music. I know this was four decades ago but some times it seems like it was only yesterday when our favorite bands took the stage and gave us their all.
Two years later there was a second change in management and the theater was renamed Banana Fish GardMahavishnu Orchestra'ens.
Please disregard the last sentence at the very bottom of my above post. It was originally part on an earlier draft of my post and should have been removed because it doesn't makes any sense what so ever.
I should have deleted that sentence before hitting the post bottom but I forgot to do so. I guess I've learned my lesson to first preview a post before posting it for everyone on the forum to see my poor grammar.
Perhaps Richard or John can delete that last sentence if they have some spare time. Thanks, Jocko.
Just trying to work out how the songs would have been split over two sides of vinyl had the release gone ahead. From the song timings I can only assume:
Side One: Hey Big Brother, Born To Wander
Side Two: Big John Is My Name, Ma
Side Three: (I Know) I'm Losing You, I Just Want To Celebrate
Side Four: Get Ready
Although shorter than the two versions, that would have left us with yet another full side of "Get Ready". I can only speak for myself, but I reckon back in 74 that would have been better than any press advertising. You can't enough of a good thing.
Ma and Big John sound excellent. My liking for the Ma album has really grown in recent times.
Raceway Park w/Earth,Wind+Fire. English town, NJ (1st and only time I caught Ma performed live)
Blanket Festival with several other bands. Downing Stadium Randall's Island, NY City. Massive fighting and rioting took place. Rare Earth never took the stage. (Good thing I missed this one)
If you lived in New York 1973 was an excellent year to fill your head with dirt. (As long as you weren't at Randall's Island)
NOT TRUE.RE took the stage At Randalls,played 3 songs,cut out.The stage was overrun .....by fans,no security.I WAS THERE.Met PETE,MARK......PETE was havin a good time,but things went amok.HBB,HUM,& JOHN were played.NO riot.....just uncontrolled passion 4 RE......Get Ready..............would've bought the stage down............literally.i think CHAKA was next due.....never showed.
I apologize for the small text in my post. I originally typed it in larger text but once I paste it to the forum page the text size changes to smaller text. Tried several times to correct this problem but couldn't do so.
Rich, As stated in my prior post I did not attend the Randall's Island festival so I'm not an eye witness as to what took place there. I posted what I did for several reasons. A while back one of the band members (either Pete or Ray) gave us their recollection of the Downing Stadium concert. I'm pretty sure who ever it was said that as the band was about to take the stage a group of rowdy fans jumped onstage and began banging on their drums and other equipment so the band aborted the show. He also said the road crew was able to retrieve the equipment before any serious damage was done.
I also had some friends who attended the festival. They told me about all the infighting among the crowd and said by the time Rare Earth was ready to play near riot conditions existed in the stadium. They witnessed everything from their grand stand seats but their original plan was to head down to field level during the set change before Rare Earth was scheduled to play. After some serious deliberations they decided to play it safe and stay put and I believe this was a wise decision on their part. My friends were at this festival for one reason and one reason only. To see Rare Earth in concert. They weren't interested in any of the other bands. They were really ticked off they didn't get to see Rare Earth. They also told me there were never any ticket refunds offered for this festival. Rare Earth or no Rare earth it didn't matter.
And finally on another blog I read an eye witness account of the entire concert from a person who attended the festival with his own friends. This person gave a very thorough account of the entire show and events that took place. He included timelines on when each band took the stage, when and where in the audience the fighting first broke out, how serious it became, where it spread to, etc. This person even described some of the injuries he witnessed first hand and some of them sounded very serious. According to this person's account by the time Rare Earth arrived by limo the crowd was totally out of control. Conditions continued to deteriorate as time drew closer for Rare Earth's to take the stage. Conditions eventually became so out of control the band headed back to their limo and exited the stadium.
Please let me stress once more that I was not at this show and you were. As for my friends who attended the festival two of them are no longer with us so I can't double check and ask if them if they're absolutely positive the band never played. The other two are still alive and well (last I heard) and even though I haven't spoken with either of them in years perhaps it's time to look them up to discuss Rare Earth nostalgia. Due to the circumstances involved I'm glad I didn't attend this festival and I'm sure this was a very disappointing concert for you too Rich.
One last note. Rich, did you catch the band at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem in 1975?
Actually PETE describes this concert in his book....the stage was overrun w/ fans....security nonexistent,but they DID play....ironically did not attend the Apollo show....NOT a fan of LACROIX...who actually wasa a good live performer,as far as rowdy fans @ RI....probably............but no riot............just a lot of pissed off people.No 1 was killed or hurt....to my knowl;edge,I actually grew up near the Apollo.............NEVER been there,go figure.Actually......some of these rowdy fans....helped the road crew load the equipment.....also in PETEs book.i do remember...some kid helpin RAY with his chords........while playin,he kept grabbing @ the neck.We newyorkers.....................not normal.
Actually PETE describes this concert in his book....the stage was overrun w/ fans....security nonexistent,but they DID play....ironically did not attend the Apollo show....NOT a fan of LACROIX...who actually wasa a good live performer,as far as rowdy fans @ RI....probably............but no riot............just a lot of pissed off people.No 1 was killed or hurt....to my knowl;edge,I actually grew up near the Apollo.............NEVER been there,go figure.Actually......some of these rowdy fans....helped the road crew load the equipment.....also in PETEs book.i do remember...some kid helpin RAY with his chords........while playin,he kept grabbing @ the neck.We newyorkers.....................not normal.
Also remember that durin BIG JOHN..........the line,some of my friends sniff a little coke....got a nice reaction.
I've been listening to Live In Chicago, I had put the disc away for a while, then was looking forward to hearing, again. Very different from In Concert, but I love the mix I've heard, and I'm glad it's different.
Tommy, is there anyway for the rest of us to hear this "lost treasure" Live Chicago album? I know that album is very expensive and impossible to find on CD, but there must be the way to listen some tracks.
Did exactly the same last week Tommy. On one track (can't recall which) I could swear that there's two guitarists, which made me wonder if there were overdubs. On closer listening it may have been Mark playing a few keyboard parts through a wah wah pedal?. Next time I play it I must note the track and timing and hopefully Mike might give his opinion....or maybe even Ray? I wouldn't have thought it was overdubs to be honest.
I agree with you. It's great that some of the tracks from In Concert had evolved and taken on a new arrangement. It would have fully justified their inclusion on the proposed release.
Did exactly the same last week Tommy. On one track (can't recall which) I could swear that there's two guitarists, which made me wonder if there were overdubs. On closer listening it may have been Mark playing a few keyboard parts through a wah wah pedal?. Next time I play it I must note the track and timing and hopefully Mike might give his opinion....or maybe even Ray? I wouldn't have thought it was overdubs to be honest.
I agree with you. It's great that some of the tracks from In Concert had evolved and taken on a new arrangement. It would have fully justified their inclusion on the proposed release.
Hi Dave,
You might be thinking of "Hey, Big Brother"...during the middle section, Ray plays some funky licks (right channel) while Mark plays some counter licks on his clavinet (left channel). I'm not sure if he had a wah wah hooked up to his clavinet, but it sounds funky...in a good way. As for overdubs? I doubt it. I don't think any post-prodution was done for the album, except for the mixing. My way of thinking is...the band played and recorded at least two nights at Arie Crown Theatre in Chicago, probably three nights. And the best performances were selected (by whom?) and mixed down. The Beyond that, test pressings were made. Nothing else happened, as we all know. For all we do know, the music on the test pressing could be nothing more than rough mixes. No matter than scenario, it's damned fine music.
Yes, the arrangements are different than what was on the In Concert LP. I prefer some over others. I'm not saying some stuff sucks and other stuff is great. Just a matter of preference. It's two different lineups, when you get right down to it. And both of them are great.
This has me thinking about the band's set from July 4, 1970 at the Atlanta Pop Festival...the show in whcih Pete was "dosed". I know for a fact their set was recorded...there was a mobile truck there. Other bands' stuff has been released. There was a camera crew there too...likely they were filmed too. Anyhow...I wonder what their set consisted of. My guess is:
Get Ready
Tobacco Road
Losing You *the liner notes for "Earth Tones" say the band debuted the song at the festival
And probably a few more tunes from the Get Ready & Ecology albums.
Gosh, I would love to hear THAT show. We've live recordings from the Pete/Gil/John/Eddie/Ray/Mark and Pete/Gil/Mike/Eddie/Ray/Mark lineups. It would be cool to hear a set from Pete/Gil/John/Eddie/Rod/Kenny lineup.
Sorry I can't seem to post pictures. I have some promo red Rare Earth singles for trade and other stuff. If interested email me and I'll send pictures. Thomasrepetny@sbcglobal.net
Apparently a couple of members have this LIVE collection.As well as HOT & TIGHT,GENERATION.Wish some1 would make all these available by some egalitarian method.
Perhaps these couple of people don't want to get into trouble. Once they pass them on you can bet they'll end up on You Tube and that would upset the copyright owners. Just guessing.
Maybe a better approach would be to lobby Universal to release Live in Chicago. The songs off Generatiion are pretty much already available and I hate to say it, but Tight and Hot really isn't worth getting excited about. Best track "King of the Mountain" is on You Tube I think.
Well, I would be willing ot share it. But, after some inquiries from UMG as to how I located this, I have to stave off. I'm still pushing for an official release.
It is going to be released so hang on, Universal would not be best pleased. It is coming out anyway and it has nothing to do with any approaches made by ANYONE that uses this site.
Also, other items such as the awful Tight & Hot and the fantastic Generation were let out of the bag then were bootlegged and being sold on cdr for ridiculous profit, so why should these low life make money from something they had nothin' to do with.
Released................really?Hope.............given up
on H&T................apparently DINO f that up;Wished PERREN or WILSON had done it.Guess H&T,best unreleased.Thought GRAND SLAM was awful,better unreleased.Odd though..................same producer as BT,which had some serious jams.Always felt that RIVERA/MONNETE/OLSON................gtood songwritin team.
The band have nothing to be proud of either as even with good production those songs were junk on Tight And Hot.
Grand Slam were leftovers from the Band Together album but at least were reasonable.
Too many changes in direction that was their problem and that is why the 1st two albums sold so well as that's what they were good at.
Should have stuck with Richards and James no question.
I don't agree with the statement re: Rod & Kenny. They left for different but valid reasons. Change is part of life. Rare Earth went up a few notches with the additions of Ray Mark.
No disrespect to Rod and Kenny, but Ray and Mark were a brilliant musical fit for Rare Earth and helped them reach bigger heights. I don't agree at all that Grand Slam is a bad piece of work. It may be a slightly poor relation to Band Together but is still enjoyable.
Tight and Hot has two or three good tracks, a similar number of forgettable songs, notably the opener. Does anyone have writing credits for the tracks? I'd love to see if any of the band were involved. Sadly the Rare Earth sound isn't there. You only have to listen to the (lack of) Peter's drums to notice that. Where is Ray's guitar? Very little signature percussion from Eddie either. We all know the reasons by now. Tight and Hot also features the worst track (in my opinion) from any Rare Earth line up in "Break Out the Jazz". It sounds like someone stole the riff from Chris Montez's "Lets Dance", a song I don't particularly like, but infinitely better than the piece that ended up on Tight and Hot. I hate that song with a passion. Still, one bad track across a dozen or so albums isn't a bad track (no pun intended) record.
Wouldn't that be a breach of copyright? Once a copy gets into the wrong hands it'll be copied en masse and swapping hands for silly money. I doubt Universal would look too kindly on that. What we need is an official release.
In the first case, I put a lot and I mean A LOT of hard work into locating a copy. It took me over 6 years to locate this. I shared it with the surviving band members (Peter, Ray, Gil and Mike) and a few others whom I know and are loyal and trustworthy.
Quite frankly, I never should have mentioned it here/publicly, as someone at Universal was asking about it. For the record, this album was completed but never released as well know. That alone is a reason I am very cautious about not letting this end up on file sharing sites, torrents, youtube, etc. There is talk of this being released officially and possibly a bonus track or two. Keep your eyes and ears open...it just might happen. Then you can buy it.
I totally respect your decision. Though I personally wouldn't share it, I realize you don't really know me from Adam and as much as I am dying to hear it, you an I both want to do what is best for the guys in the band.
I look forward to official release then, although I have to admit I have my doubts it will ever happen.
I have found this not to be the case, it's already proven with other rarities such as Generation and Tight And Hot. These have been sold for stupid prices on auction sites and all because of sharing.
Although 99.9% wouldn't the remainder has let the side down.
It is also not the case regarding Live In Chicago not coming out, it will be!
A release can happen and I believe it will happen. If this is the case, now is the ideal time to petition for it's release whilst interest is increasing. How about you "play ball" and do something positive. Maybe you could set up a Facebook page with a title such as "Please release Rare Earth Live in Chicago from the Motown Vaults" or something similar and more imaginative. Rare Earth followers worldwide can then "like" this page and demonstrate their support. This will send out a message to the record company that there is a genuine demand. I'm sure every visitor to this website will support any such petition.
This is True Rich. Universal need to get their backsides into gear before we're in our graves ; )
I was looking at the Motown site very recently, and they are actively raiding their vaults for unissued material. I guess our time will come. Most of the unissued material is destined for compilation CDS of rare recordings e.g. a less famous Motown artist's version of a big Motown hit. I imagine that Rare Earth might have recorded a few Whitfield / Strong numbers that were released by Undisputed Truth or The Temptations maybe? Who knows what's in the vaults. Having said that, Rare Earth were somewhat different to the traditional Motown vocal artists and groups, in that they weren't just dropping vocals onto Funk Brothers backing tapes. That most probably limits the amount of unissued material.