Customer Reviews

Very Best of

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If there's any chance Motown reads these reviews, perhaps they can be persuaded to release "Rare Earth In Concert" on CD. When I was a teenager in the 70s, I mail-ordered the concert album from a record club, knowing virtually nothing about Rare Earth. It turned out to be a favorite of mine and, indeed, a classic. Today they're making TV commercials using (or abusing) Rare Earth, and lots of people don't even know who's singing.

Listening to this album is very frustrating if you've heard the original long versions of the songs. It's like one of those "Classical Music Samplers" where you only get to hear the first three minutes of Beethoven's Fifth. Okay, so Rare Earth is NOT Beethoven, but you get the idea! Until Motown ever releases the concert album, this collection will do. At least it gives you Rare Earth's hits on one (and only) CD. But personally, I could have done without cuts 7 - 14, leaving room for longer versions of the classics.

Its great to see a Rare Earth Greatest Hits CD, but I would really love to see Motown Release Get Ready, Ecology, and Especially One World on CD, I was 10 when that album came out and its all scratchy now from playing it so much! The Studio Version of What I say kicks! and Under God's Light is Awesome! Motown, If your reading this, make us Rare Earth Fans Happy and Release all the Rare Earth Albums on CD, Especially One World!

If your a listener who has not exerienced the long versions of these great songs, your in for a extreme treat! Unfortunately, your not going to experience them here...so skip this and track down the extended versions....they are WELL worth the lookup!

Why is it so hard to keep a decent best of Rare Earth in print?

If you are looking for the single versions of the hits that you remember hearing Rare Earth then this compliation is for you, or the Greatest Hits and Rarites, which has more songs but sound on that is pretty bland. There's more of a brightness to Get Ready and the mono versions of I Know I'm Losing You and Born To Wander sound very good. Also, you can get minor hits like Hum Along And Dance, Good Time Sally and Big John Is My Name. Some purists would rather go with the long versions of Get Ready and Ma and I Know I'm Losing You, to which the long version is 10 minites of pure funk freakout, courtesy of Norman Whitfield, who like the Temptations, got more out of Rare Earth, than anybody else in the Motown field.

The long versions can be found on the The Millenium Collection. Either way you need a best of Rare Earth in your collection.

This is by far the best collection of Rare Earth there was. I say was cos' it looks like at the writing of this that it is now out of print..(sad). luckily I do own it. What makes this the best one of all is the inclusion of "Every now and then we get to go on down to Miami". This song was never released as a single but should have been. Every song on here is a winner, you've got the hits and the best of (almost) album tracks. But if Mowtown happens to read this please....please release the entire catalog using 24 bit, these guys deserve it..since there's 2 or 3 original members gone now.

...still get over? When they're GOOD at it, that's why. If there had been a law stating; "No entertainer shall remind the audience of any other", rock'n'roll would have lasted about 18 months in the late 'Fifties and all the artists good enough to have careers would have been absorbed by other genres. Rare Earth didn't do a thing Three Dog Night and Grand Funk Railroad hadn't already done (as well as the Rascals before that), but they were damn good players and that was all that was necessary. The only thing that puzzles me about this group is how a blond-haired drummer/ lead singer named Pete started out being named Rivera (obviously Hispanic) and ended up being named Hoorelbeke in later albums (sounds Dutch to me). You listen to the vocals and it's the same guy, not two different guys. The thing that bothers me is that I used to have a complete collection by Rare Earth, but I lost the first self-titled album years ago. There aren't but two or three titles still available, but that ain't one of 'em. The centerpiece song "Get Ready" was a side-long number, and from the number of titles here, this version must be an abridged one.

This is a good sampling of Rare Earth but some of the electricity is missing here. It can only be found on "Rare Earth In Concert" which was a double LP put out in the '70's by Motown. This is one of the finest , energetic live albums ever put out - the fact that it includes the 23 minute version of "Get Ready" is a bonus ! ... Whatever happened to this on CD ? Can anybody out there let us Rare Earth fans know where a copy can be found ? Seems Motown missed the boat on this one ... In the meantime , this collection is as good as you are going to find.

Updated September 2008:

There is a dizzingly plethora of Rare Earth compilations, studio albums and even bootlegs available here on Amazon. However, this CD is one of three that has the best audio available.

The other two superior audio CD's are The Millennium Collection & Ma. Purchased with this "Very Best" CD, one can assemble a pretty thorough and satisfying Rare Earth anthology. The Millennium disc is also the only "best of" CD to offer the long-jam LP versions of "Get Ready", "Ma", "(I Know) I'm Losing You" & "What'd I Say".

However, this CD is worthwhile to purchase, as especially Rare Earth's great version of "Tobacco Road", along with several other tracks, sound better on this CD than on any other Rare Earth release.

This situation took an even more complex turn with the 2008 Hip-O release of Fill Your Head: The Studio Albums 1969-1974, which has the complete five primary albums, Get Ready, Ecology, One World, Willie Remembers & Ma, plus singles and rare tracks.

Unfortunately, however, the audio on that set is NOT on a par with the three afore-mentioned CD's above. If you are considering laying out the sixty dollars required for that set, I strongly suggest you link to it and read my review and the caveats involved with its purchase.

Lastly, the audio on the Fill Your Head set is identical to the 2004 The Collection CD, but I don't recommend that disc, either. I have also posted a review on that disc.

If you are interested in the best audio, hopefully all these reviews will assist you in navigating the confusing course to finding superior sound.

Also, as this CD not appears to be OOP, and with the issuance of the Fill set, the likelihood of further Rare Earth compilations or remastering becomes more remote. So, if you want this CD, don't delay picking this up before it escalates in price. It has also been deleted by the BMG Music Club site.

What a throwback. Growing up in middle school with Rare Earth was kewl, considering the other rockbands were just to heavy to dance too. ''Celebrate'' and their remake of ''I'm Losing You,'' fit the times - long solos, psychedelic atmospherics, and solid drumming.

RE was awsome back in the 70's. Pete Rivera (drummer/lead singer) was something special.There very best album however was "Rare Earth In Concert" Anybody know where to get it?