Song of the Day: Rare Earth, “Get Ready”

Song of the Day 1 Minute

In the late ’60’s, Berry Gordy decided to branch off from his successful Motown and Tamla Records and start a label specifically for white rock acts. The fitrst band he found was Rare Earth, and named the new label after them. Their first album was 1970’s Get Ready, and the entire Side 2 of the LP was an extended jam on The Temptations’ hit from several years before, “Get Ready.” They wanted to issue a radio edit of the song as their first single, but Gordy chose another song from the album, “Generation, Light Up The Sky,” which failed to chart. Gordy then issued a three-minute edit of “Get Ready,” and it readched #4 on the Hot 100, #2 on the Cash Box singles chart, #1 in Canada, and #20 on the R&B chart, meaning it did better than the original. The album side was popular on Album-Oriented Radio stations, because the DJ could put the song on, run to the bathroom, go down to the sandwich shop for a sandwich, a can of pop, and a pack of cigarettes, and be back in time to queue up the next record. Listen to this when you have about 22 minutes…

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

22 thoughts on “Song of the Day: Rare Earth, “Get Ready””

  1. Hi, John!

    I owned that Rare Earth album and played the devil out of it, especially side 2 with this fantastic extended jam of “Get Ready.” A drummer myself, I was amazed that the band’s drummer had the stamina to keep going that long. I love how the guys laugh at the end of the song. Thanks for posting this, John, and for visiting Shady’s Place again today. It’s nice to know that you and I share much the same taste in music. :)

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    1. We had a DJ in Chicago named Bob Dearborn, and at 10 PM he’d play an extended album track. This would come up every couple of weeks, and since I was pretty much broke in high school I’d listen to that. Never thought to record it, but then, I didn’t have a tape deck and didn’t want to mess with trying to record it with a microphone (people had this habit of walking into my room and talking to me…).

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  3. I was always on the lookout for long song versions, but never bought this album back in the day even though I’d heard the full version of “Get Ready” and liked it. I remedied that a number of years ago when I got the album on CD. It’s a nice addition to my collection, but I haven’t listened to it in years.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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    1. They did a lot of Motown covers, and did them well. Again, kind of like Vanilla Fudge (that’s the second time I brought them up this week; maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something).

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      1. Go listen to Vanilla Fudge…or eat some… I know what you mean though. They are similiar. When Todd Rundgren started to produced them they toned down a little bit.

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