LP Review: Dreams/Answers and Get Ready
DREAMS/ANSWERS
Released: 1968
LP Charts: nada
Released on Verve Records, this album went nowhere. Nonetheless, Dreams/Answers has a bunch of songs that merge psychedelic pop and soul. It also begins Rare Earth’s penchant for covering Motown classics, which ain’t surprising given that they’re from Detroit.
The opening medley of “Stop/Where Did Our Love Go” melds together two Supremes classics. Although not a Motown classic, Rare Earth does a similar trick by covering Wilson Pickett’s “6-3-4-5”. Both tracks are heavy on the funky drumming with the latter also having a chirping organ that adds much to the groove. Reminds me of Jimmy “Bo” Horne’s “Dance Across the Floor” which came out 10 years later.
Not everything hits the mark so well, though.
“King Of A Rainy Country” veers harder into psychedelic pop vocals with lesser results than the soul covers. Still a decent track compared to what comes next…
“New Rochelle” finally delves into the firmly average, but it does have an interesting string arrangement. “Land of Nod” is a weird excursion into psychedelic mod music. And “Mother Oats” is flat-out weird psychedelia that begins kinda sweet but then has some goofy-ass talking. And the less said about “Yesterday On Third Avenue” the better. The cover of the Coasters’ “Searchin’” is maniacally frantic, not to anybody’s betterment sadly.
Rare Earth regroups with their first stab at the Temptations’ “Get Ready”. It’s not much different than a slightly updated version that appeared on their next album. Well, except for length and funkiness. This first edition is a mere 2:54 and is peppier, while the version soon-to-be-covered below removes the horns and relies more upon the rhythm section.
Dreams/Answers’ final song, “Sidewalk Cafe,” is another psychedelic rock workout that would be soon grafted onto the updated version of “Get Ready” on the next LP.
ALBUM GRADE: D+
A wild hit-and-miss album as the band was clearly trying to find itself.
Song Scores
Stop/Where Did Our Love Go: 7/10
6-3-4-5: 7/10
King Of A Rainy Country: 6/10
New Rochelle: 5/10
Land of Nod: 5/10
Mother Oats: 5/10
Red Apple: 5/10
Get Ready: 7/10
Morning: 5/10
Searchin’: 4/10
Yesterday On Third Avenue: 3/10
Sidewalk Cafe: 6/10
GET READY
Released: 1969
LP Charts: #4 R&B, #12 pop
After their one-off record with Verve, Rare Earth got a deal with Motown and Get Ready gave the band some bigtime success as they hit upon their signature blend of rock and funk. Motown even named its new rock-oriented subsidiary label after Rare Earth. So Rare Eath was technically on Rare Earth Records.
Anyways, their blend of funk-rock still needed some more perfecting.
“Tobacco Road” tries, and mostly fails, to ignite some good time blues. I don’t hate it or anything, just a meh song.
The main offender in not hitting the funk-rock mark, though, is an updated version of “Get Ready”. This update is a loooooooooooooooong jam. 21 minutes and 30 seconds. I’m sure this gargantuan monstrosity was great live for drugged out audiences, but the studio version is a slog. The song does start out pretty fun, but unsurprisingly you’re left pretty much exhausted once the whole thing gets done. Even cutting the thing in half woulda done wonders because there are some interesting moments like the guitar work around the 12-minute mark.
Anyhoo, the full-length edition is definitely something you only spin every once in a great while, but the single edit released as a 45 was a BIG HIT reaching #4 on the pop charts and drove sales of the album to platinum status. I wish they had found the sweet spot of having a cut around 12 or 13 minutes for the LP. Alas.
Now to the stuff that truly does hit the spot. “Magic Key” has some leftover elements of sunshine psychedelic pop from Dreams/Answers and it kicks ass.
The cover of Traffic’s “Feelin’ Alright” basically set the template for every soul and funk version hereafter. The Jackson 5, the Ohio Players, and Bar-Kays all essentially build on what Rare Earth did here.
“In Bed” is a mellow funk-rock tune. Love the electric piano that softens up the song.
“Train to Nowhere” is a short jam that appropriately has drumming mimicking the chugging of a choo-choo train.
ALBUM GRADE: B-
This barely gets a B-. The only true lackluster song is “Tobacco Road”, but it’s not bad, just lackluster as I said. And the bloated “Get Ready” is very good until they run the groove into the ground around the 13-minute mark… and then proceed to keep going despite any obvious need to do so.
Song Scores
Magic Key: 7.5/10
Tobacco Road: 5.5/10
Feelin’ Alright: 7.5/10
In Bed: 7/10
Train to Nowhere: 7/10
Get Ready: 6.5/10