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UK Dave
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Rare Earth Label
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Apart from the originators of the name, does anyone have any comments on other artists signed to the Rare Earth label?


I bought a few items over the years from Stoney and Meatloaf, R. Dean Taylor, Wolfe, XIT, The Pretty Things, Road and Dan the Banjo Man. Artists I missed out on included Sunday Funnies, Matrix (featuring Tom Baird), Toe Fat, and countless others.


As this website covers the label as well as the band, I just wondered if there were any gems I missed out on.


I know Ray Monette contributed many songs towards the Stoney and Meatloaf album. Well, we all know Meatloaf was never heard of again but whatever happened to Stoney?



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Richard
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Dave,


There were some interesting things that came out on the label, and some stuff I just can't listen to, the Crystal Mansion LP falls into that catagory, just awful production.  The albums put out from the British bands (Pretty Things, Toe Fat, Sounds Nice,


UFO, etc) were just licencing deals with EMI so they were not  Motown artists.


But sayng that, one of the Pretty Things albums (can't remember which one) was voted Rolling Stone Magazine album of the year and that was a very prestigious award at the time. My fave non Rare Earth album has allways been Matrix, I just love that record.


In my book the best 45 on the label, again other than the band themselves was the single by Michael Denton, Just Another Morning.  The b side is a corker as well, he had cut records for Impact and was also in The Casinos but to this day I have never understood why he did not release a whole album while he was with Motown.


Motowns choice of which act got released on which of their labels has always been a mystery to me, for example the brilliant band Puzzle who had albums out on Motown should have had their stuff on Rare Earth, as should the wonderful band Riot instead of the Motown label, a few of the Mowest releases were perfect for the Earth label too.  If only Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons releases had come out on Rare Earth it would have done no harm at all to the labels profile.


Oh and  if nobodys ever heard the album by Power of Zeus you should cos it  ROCKS!.


Richard


 



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Ralph Terrana
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Dave,
After Stoney and Meatloaf split up, Stoney went on to sing back-up with Bob Seger. She then did some local club gigging in and around the Detroit area. Somewhere along the way she hooked up with the band Little Feat and has been their lead singer for several years. The band appeared here ( Monterey Peninsula ) a couple of months back and Stoney and I got to have a happy reunion.

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Ralph Terrana
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Richard,
Glad you liked the Power Of Zeus album. It wasn't an easy album to produce. I stay in touch with lead guitarist Joe Peraino and recently learned that many of the younger bands around Detroit are playing Power Of Zeus material. Life is funny at times....

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UK Dave
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Ralph


I'm pleased to hear Stoney is fronting Little Feat, she has a great voice.


Here's a question for you Ralph. Ray might also wish to respond. A few of the songs on Stoney and Meatloaf were co-written by Ray. What prompted this? Did Ray have surplus material which was unsuitable for Rare Earth, or was he approached to write for the project?


I realise it was probably against the Motown culture, but maybe a solo album from one or more members of Rare Earth or a post Rare Earth John Persh album (although I now know he was Pywacketting by that time) might have been interesting. Easier said than done, I know, as these things can cause internal friction. However, it seems to me that RE were not short of internal material but the heads at Motown preferred the use of staff writers and producers, Norman Whitfield being the obvious example. 


I don't know if it was just because Ray and Mark joined Rare Earth at about the same time but I always felt that the pair worked well together. Given that it is documented that Mark was quite creative but his material was considered unsuitable for Rare Earth, again the Rare Earth label could have been an outlet for some of that work.


I just wondered if anything like this was ever considered?. To spin the question another way around, how many good songs written by the band, individually or collectively, fell by the wayside and never made it to vinyl?


Incidentally, I recall an album released on Rare Earth by a guy called Keef James called One Tree or Another. At the time I couldn't help wondering if it was connected with Kenny James who'd not long left the band. After all, he'd changed his name once before. I since learned it wasn't him of course. 


 



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Ralph Terrana
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Dave,
Russ and I were making plans to record Ray Monette along with Mike Cambell as a duo called Mike and Ray. It was about this time that we signed Stoney and Meatloaf. Motown was hot to get an album out on this duo so we had to put a hold on M&R. Because M&R were good writers they sort of became part of the team and offered some good songs for the album. Of course Ray did most of the great guitar work on all the recordings.

I think we had many good ideas to bring the Rare Earth label to fruition but time didn't allow for this to happen. Motown was making serious overtures about leaving Detroit and the label got pushed aside in the shuffle. Harry Balk tried to promote a deal to have the label and Studio B left in Detroit for us to work. A great idea that eventually was turned down by the company. I always regretted that decision. I'm sure once we hit our stride we would have come up with some monsters.

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Ralph Terrana
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Incidentally, Keef James was not related to Kenny James.

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Ralph Terrana
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Speaking of Stoney, there was a time the company was putting pressure on me to drop Meatloaf and concentrate solely on Stoney. I wouldn't hear of it though and told them that the two were a duo and that I wasn't about to change the concept.

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Mike
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Ralph Terrana wrote:

Dave,
After Stoney and Meatloaf split up, Stoney went on to sing back-up with Bob Seger. She then did some local club gigging in and around the Detroit area. Somewhere along the way she hooked up with the band Little Feat and has been their lead singer for several years. The band appeared here ( Monterey Peninsula ) a couple of months back and Stoney and I got to have a happy reunion.


Ahh yes! Shaun Murphy smile



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RAY MONETTE
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DAVE,

I'LL EXPAND A LITTLE ON WHAT RALPH SAID.JUST BEFORE STONEY AND MEATLOAF WERE SIGNED TO MOTOWN,WE WERE ALL WORKING IN THE STAGEPLAY "HAIR",WHICH HAD A SIX MONTH RUN IN DETROIT. MARK OLSON WAS THE MUSICAL DIRECTOR,BABBITT WAS ON BASS,I WAS ON GUITAR, AND STONEY,MEATLOAF,AND MIKE CAMPBELL WERE ACTING. IT WAS ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY.....WE HAD A BALL DOING IT.

AT THE SAME TIME OUR BAND "SCORPION" ,WHICH WAS BABBITT,ANDREW SMITH,MIKE CAMPBELL, AND MYSELF ,WERE SIGNED TO MOTOWN. WE HAD RECORDED FOUR SONGS. WHEN STONEY AND MEATLOAF GOT SIGNED,WE DECIDED TO GIVE THEM THE FOUR SONGS THAT WE HAD DONE. THEY OVERDUBBED THEIR VOICES ON THEM. THE BACKROUNDS ON THE SONGS ARE MIKE AND MYSELF DOUBLED A FEW TIMES.

MARK JOINED RARE EARTH SHORTLY AFTER THIS,AND ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS I JOINED A FEW MONTHS LATER WAS BECAUSE HE WAS IN THE BAND. MARK WAS ONE OF THE FINEST KEYBOARD PLAYERS THAT I'VE EVER KNOWN,AND...ONE HELL OF A GUY!

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Martin G
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Dave,

I hate to admit it, but for once in my life I completely agree with Richard. My favourite non-Rare Earth 45 on the label is also Mickey Denton's Just Another Morning [the album version by the Originals is nowhere near as good], and my favourite album is also Matrix [but don't buy their single on Motown without hearing it first].

Welcome to the World of Riot on Motown is very good, but for some reason I can take or leave Puzzle. However the two albums on RE by Sunday Funnies are well worth investigating, also Rustix.

Going on from what Richard wrote about Mowest, I was in the audience at the
Four Seasons concert at the London Palladium when Frankie Valli announced that the group had signed to Motown. For some strange reason, the whole audience booed!

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UK Dave
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I think I'm right in saying that Frankie Valli didn't see any chart action under Motown. Maybe the London audience realised it wasn't a good career move.


Thought I'd share this Rare Earth label info whilst the Forum is in a lull. Some time ago I found a Motown Alumni website. The following acts were listed as being signed to the Rare Earth label:


Brass Monkey, Cats, Ken Christie and the Sunday People, Kiki Dee, Michael Denton, Vincent Dirirco, Easybeats, God Squad featuring Leonard Caston, Wes Henderson, Danny Hernandez and the Ones, Chris Holland and T Bone, Howl The Good, Impact of Brass, Keef James, Lost Nation, Magic, Chrystal Mansion, Messenger, My Friends, Allen Nichols, Other People, Poor Boys, Power of Zeus, Pretty Things, Dave Price, Puzzle, Rare Earth, Rustix, Blue Septor, Sounds Nice, Dennis Stoner, Stoney and Meatloaf, Sunday Funnies, R. Dean Taylor, Toe Fat, U.S.O., Virgil Brothers, John Wagner Coalition, Wolfe, XIT,

http://members.aol.com/maainc/

I suspect there are some errors in their spelling, but I can't be certain. I seem to remember a Dave Prince rather than Dave Price, Blue Septor could be Blue Sceptor, Chrystal Mansion could be Crystal Mansion. There are also some notable omissions such as Road, Dan the Banjo Man, Fat Mattress and no doubt several others. I know some of these were EMI label British bands released in the US on Rare Earth under licence. All the same, there's some interesting names I've never heard of here.

The Motown Alumni listings also include HUB as being signed to Motown, which Peter Rivera discussed on another thread.



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John
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Dave
The Night was a massive hit in the UK but was on the MOWEST label whilst in Germany it was actually on the Rare Earth Label.  I thought Valli and the four seasons move to Motown was a good one, I love the songs they put together whilst on it.

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Martin G
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Dave

Who Loves You, December '63 (Oh What a Night), and Silver Star were all written during 4 Seasons' stay at Motown, but Frankie Vallli could not get them released.

The reason that Road does not appear on the Rare Earth listing is because in the U.S. their album was released on Motown's Natural Resources label.

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John
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Martin
When you think how well those songs did in the charts and how great they sounded it shows Motown got it wrong for not seeing the potential.

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UK Dave
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John

I'd forgotten about The Night single on Mowest despite having it in my collection. I always liked that song. I seem to think I bought it when it came out, but it did nothing at first. Later it found its way into the top 10 in the UK. I hadn't realised the German version wa on Rare Earth.

Martin

The Alumni includes acts signed to all of the Motown labels, including Natural Resources. Road still weren't mentioned. I don't think the list is exhaustive and I downloaded it a couple of years ago when maybe it was still being put together.

To compile a list of everyone who ever appeared on a Motown Corporation record would be a daunting task, but it does make interesting reading.



 



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Puzzle Fan
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Richard wrote:

Dave,

There were some interesting things that came out on the label, and some stuff I just can't listen to, the Crystal Mansion LP falls into that catagory, just awful production.  The albums put out from the British bands (Pretty Things, Toe Fat, Sounds Nice,

UFO, etc) were just licencing deals with EMI so they were not  Motown artists.

But sayng that, one of the Pretty Things albums (can't remember which one) was voted Rolling Stone Magazine album of the year and that was a very prestigious award at the time. My fave non Rare Earth album has allways been Matrix, I just love that record.

In my book the best 45 on the label, again other than the band themselves was the single by Michael Denton, Just Another Morning.  The b side is a corker as well, he had cut records for Impact and was also in The Casinos but to this day I have never understood why he did not release a whole album while he was with Motown.

Motowns choice of which act got released on which of their labels has always been a mystery to me, for example the brilliant band Puzzle who had albums out on Motown should have had their stuff on Rare Earth, as should the wonderful band Riot instead of the Motown label, a few of the Mowest releases were perfect for the Earth label too.  If only Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons releases had come out on Rare Earth it would have done no harm at all to the labels profile.

Oh and  if nobodys ever heard the album by Power of Zeus you should cos it  ROCKS!.

Richard

 

 Hi, thanks for the nice comment about Puzzle. My Uncle was the piano player in the band. On the back he's the guy in the center with the white jacket on.



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