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Rare Earth's first album "Get Ready" came in a rounded top sleeve in the USA - rather like the American gravestone head sleeve of 'S.F. Sorrow' by The Pretty Things (1969 in the USA) or the British Zippo lighter sleeve of 'Catch A Fire' by The Wailers in 1972 on Island Records. This mini card box imitates that US 'Get Ready' shaped packaging (the British LP in 1968 didn't have that).
Released in the USA in September 2008 on Hip-O Select B-0003636-02 (Barcode 602498643426) - the lid of "Fill Your Head: The Studio Albums 1969-1974" by RARE EARTH has the words LIMITED EDITION embossed in gold on the rear (3000 copies worldwide) and inside is a concertina-effect card sleeve that depicts all 5 albums covers front and rear when fully folded out. The 3 discs themselves sport the distinctive red Rare Earth logo on each while the 32-page booklet even pictures the Tamla Motown special offers inner bags that came with some early 1970s albums.
There's a huge amount of
stuff on this cool American import (a shaped 3CD Mini Box Set) - so let's get
straight to the funky downbeats and Rare Earth details...
Disc 1 (77:45 minutes):
1. Magic Key [Side 1]
2.Tobacco Road
3. Feelin' Alright
4. In Bed
5. Train To Nowhere
6. Get Ready [Side 2]
Tracks 1 to 6 are the debut
album "Get Ready" issued August 1969 in the USA on Rare Earth RS-507
and January 1971 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11165
(Tracks 7 to 15 are BONUS
single versions from the various 5 studio albums)
Track 7 is "Generation
(Light Up The Sky)" which is the A side of Rare Earth 5010 issued November
1969 - also on the O.S.T. to the film "Generation"
Track 8 is "Get
Ready" the 7" single edit issued April 1970 on Rare Earth 5012
(the single edit is 2:50
minutes long, while the full album version takes up all of Side 2 at 21:35
minutes)
Track 9 is "(I Know) I'm
Losing You" - the 7" single edit issued July 1970 on Rare Earth 5017
(the single edit is 3:42 minutes long, while the full "Ecology" album
version is 10:52 minutes)
Track 10 is "When Joanie
Smiles" the non-album B-side to "(I Know) I'm Losing You"
Track 11 is "Here Comes
The Night" which is the non-album B-side of "Born To Wander"
(from "Ecology") issued January 1971 on Rare Earth 5021
Track 12 is "Hey Big
Brother" is a non-album A-side issued November 1971 on Rare Earth 5038
Track 13 is supposed to be
"Love Shines Down" the non-album B-side to "Good Time
Sally" (on "Willie Remembers") issued October 1972 on Rare Earth
5048 - BUT A MASTERING ERROR repeats Track 1 "Magic Sky" albeit a
little shorter
Track 14 is
"Chained" which is a non-album A-side issued May 1974 on Rare Earth
5057
Track 15 is "Fresh From
The Can" is the non-album B-side of "Chained"
Disc 2 (73:40 minutes):
1. Born To Wander [Side 1]
2. Long Time Leavin'
3. (I Know) I’m Losing You
4. Satisfaction Guaranteed [Side 2]
5. Nice Place To Visit
6. No.1 Man
7. Eleanor Rigby
Tracks 1 to 7 are their 2nd
album "Ecology" issued June 1970 in the USA on Rare Earth RS-514 and
July 1971 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11180
8. What'd I Say [Side 1]
9. If I Die
10. The Seed
11. I Just Want To Celebrate
12. Someone To Love [Side 2]
13. Any Man Can Be A Fool
14. The Road
15. Under God's Light
Tracks 8 to 15 are their 3rd
studio album "One World" issued June 1971 in the USA on Rare Earth
RS-520 and October 1971 in the UK on Rare Earth SREA 4001
Disc 3 (77:30 minutes):
1. Good Time Sally [Side 1]
2. Every Now And Then We Get
To Go Down To Miami
3. Think Of The Children
4. Gotta Get Myself Back Home
5. Come With Your Lady
6. Would You Like To Come
Along [Side 2]
7. We're Gonna Have A Good
Time
8. I Couldn't Believe What
Happened Last Night
Tracks 1 to 8 are their 4th
studio album "Willie Remembers" issued October 1972 in the USA on
Rare Earth R-5431 and March 1973 in the UK on Rare Earth SRE 3008
9. Ma [Side 1]
10. Big John Is My Name [Side 2]
11. Smiling Faces Sometimes
12. Hum Along And Dance
13. Come With Me
Tracks 9 to 13 are their 5th
studio album "Ma" issued May 1973 in the USA on Rare Earth R-5461 and
September 1973 in the UK on Rare earth SRE 3010. Both "Willie
Remembers" and "One World" make their CD debut on this 3CD set
while the 1971 live double "Rare Earth In Concert" issued on R 534
isn't featured at all (studio only).
There's an essay by noted
writer SCOTT SCHNIDER on the group - all album artwork featured again in full
colour - session details, discography info - all of it very tasteful done -
pretty much as you would expect from this top notch reissue label. Against it -
I'd say that the packaging is a card sleeve and therefore too prone to crushing
- it would have been better in a book form - like the wonderful and far more
robust Jimmy Cliff and Muddy Waters sets on Hip-O Select (see reviews). The debut album "Dreams/Answers" on Verve in 1968 and the Live Double from 1971 "Rare Earth In Concert" are both missing from this set.
But as ever with HIP-O SELECT
the collector/fan goodies come with the SOUND. Remastered from the Motown Archive tapes by
SETH FOSTER at Universal Mastering Studio East - the sound is full, detailed
and wonderfully clean. I would say though that the first Disc is slightly hissy
in places - especially on the debut "Get Ready" and the mastering
error is sloppy for sure.
A cross between Rock and Soul
- RARE EARTH were difficult to categorize - a sort of rockier version of The
Temptations meets the funkiness of Blood Sweat & Tears meets The Undisputed
Truth's social documenting of urban America - a lethal combination if ever
there was one. Take tracks like "Born To Wander" (lyrics above) or "Big John Is
My Name" or the cool Instrumental "Fresh From The Can" – these are fantastic
nuggets that both Soul and Rock fans would want to own. "Long Time
Leavin'" and "If I Die" are fabulous too. You could argue of course that the side-long tracks "Get Ready" and "Ma" are period indulgences - but frankly Frank - I kinda dig that.
One reviewer has expressed
extreme disappointment with the sound - but I don't hear that. I would say
though that the song quality does taper off as you get to the end - but with
43-tracks in all - I can't help but think that fans of the band, Tamla lovers
and soul-rock junkies everywhere - will absolutely eat up this set. Unfairly
dismissed at the time (especially in Europe) - hopefully this 3CD box set will
make people reassess.
In their ongoing trawl
through the Motown archives - and despite reservations about packaging, content
and sound - in my mind - this is yet another good HIP-O SELECT reissue.
Dedicated fans will have to have it - casual buyers, however, should stick to
the "Best Of". And Hip-O should offer an immediate refund and
replacement copy for the offending mastering mistake on Disc 1...
PS: Here in 2026 (almost two decades after the 2008 reissue event) - "Fill Your Head: The Studio Albums 1969-1974" by RARE EARTH is a bugger to find in anything other than extortion money (I've seen copies for over six hundred quid). Shop around - and hopefully someone like Cherry Red UK will license these Universal based Hip-O Select Remasters and give us the RARE EARTH Box Set that has been lacking all these years?
