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“Get Ready” by Rare Earth

I first listened to Rare Earth and their hit “Get Ready” while still in college in the late eighties, on a rock compilation album. One unusual thing about the song was the amazing bass solo that concluded the song. But little did I know that the bass solo was only the tip of the iceberg and that there was more to this amazing song and the album from which it came, which I will get into in a moment. First some details about the band.

“Rare Earth” was a rare thing in the history of Motown because not only were they one of Motown’s few white bands (maybe the second band but not the first) but because they also played rock. Most Motown bands with the exception of a few were, into Pop and R&B. Coincidentally Rare Earth’s big hits were cover versions of songs of other Motown artistes like the The Temptations but they had their own hits too. The beauty of their music was their unique sound, using Saxophone, Bongo’s and a lead guitar played very differently.

Get Ready was their second album, and their first after signing with Motown. The title track is their most requested and played of all their material.

1. Magic Key
Just note how the guitar wakes up on this album and song, just as an engine would, coughing and spitting as it starts. It then wails and howls throughout the song. The electric guitar is used like this throughout the album. Lovely sixties beat and a lovely wake-up call to the album. Lovely drumming too, the main beats reminding you of the typical late 60’s early 70’s rock beats used in songs like Beck’s “New Pollution”.

2. Tobacco Road
Well sung song and sung with style. The song finishes well too with some humorous lines. This is a slower song but one that showcases the talents of the instrumentalists decently well. Nice mini solos from Saxophonist and keyboardist.

3. Feelin’ Alright
Lovely bass riff that holds the song together from the start till the end. Nice guitar solo. Before the second solo you can hear “…excuse me while I play my axe..”

4. In Bed
A short song but the duration justifies the material.

5. Train to Nowhere
The music really starts off like a Train in motion, moves along and concludes in style. The solos in between the singing where the drums is played with a heavier bass beat is lovely and worth listening a second time. Check out the unison of the bass and snare drum during these solos.

6. Get Ready
Welcome to the killer title track and a great rock recording. Normally this song is condensed and played in its 4 minute version but listening to the smaller recording is such a shame when you realise what is in store in the 20 minute plus version. A very rare recording in the history of rock music and for a recording as this for its time, it is probably the first and only song that features solo’s from most of the band’s instrumentalists namely, bass, keys, guitars, sax, and drums. On the LP version this track occuppied all of side B. At around 11 minutes into the song (after the bass, keyboard solos)during the guitar solo, the drummer changes his beats to avoid the monotonous offering from him. Increase the volume on your music system and concentrate on the beats to find out how beautiful they really are. Bass and drum then provide accompaniment culminating with the drum solo in the end. Simply awesome!

The only “corny” thing about this recording is the very artificial applause that is thrown in at the end of every solo to give the song a “live” feel. This could be easily avoided or done better. Let us hope it is corrected in a future release.

The musicians on this album are - Gil Bridges on Flute, Saxophone and Vocals, Kenny James on Keyboards, Rod Richards on Guitar, and Vocals, Pete Rivera on Drums and Vocals and John Parrish on Bass.

Rare Earth is popular in Germany. Though many of the original members are no more they play regularly at the Lady Luck Casino, Bettendorf, Iowa (February/March)and with members of Iron Butterfly and Sugarloaf perform at the Tutty Baker Festival at Freeport, Illinois. I narrowly missed the former but I was there for the festival at Illinois in 1998. I am not sure how regular they are the second venue though.

You can find a live version of “Get Ready” in two parts on You Tube. Check out the links below. The song is done differently and with a different line-up as the band went through several changes over the years.

Part 1
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kUG07cwpDZs

Part 2
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vo5svnNHer4

You can purchase Rare Earth’s Get Ready at Amazon.

Better still download the album for free at UnlimitedDownloadCenter.com.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. New reviews to be posted soon.

“A Sense of Place” by Eric Tingstad

I am glad I finally made this post. It has really been a very long time.

One of the qualifications for an album to appear on great-anonymous-albums is that it needs to have at least 75% filled with good numbers. This album doesn’t carry that many good songs but the the ones that are good as so good that I couldn’t afford to give it a placing here. Add to it the anonymity of the artist and I thought it was a must to have it reviewed here.

The name Eric Tingstand may hardly ring a bell in many people’s minds but Eric and his collaborator Nancy Rumble are Grammy Award winners in the New Age category. Eric is a classically trained guitarist and plays fingerstyle guitar and Nancy accompanies him on Woodwind instruments such as the Oboe and the English Horn. Their music classified more under New Age is full of classical overtones and traditional folk sounds like music from the Scotish Highlands, American Indian etc. Eric’s more popular albums are made in collaboration with Nancy Rumble but this one is a pure Eric Tingstad one.

This is an album that is soothing, relaxing and has a calming effect on your nerves. A very good album for a long ride in the woods or in such places where there is green, wide spaces or pastures or by the sea or anywhere where the beauty of the nature surrounds you.

Review of the best songs followed by the not so good ones, in the order of sequence on the album.

1. Appalachia Calling - A pleasant starter setting the ground for what’s to come.

2. Monongahela - A song that seems to take off where the opener left following a similar rhythm. However this time more pleasant tunes pour forth from the guitars.

3. A sense of place - The Title track is a stealer and the first one I go for when I play this album. Listening to this song just the day before I left my previous job and company (hopefully my last) made me immensely sad. Everytime I listen to this song the pleasant feelings are different. Best off if you listen to it when you are unwinding or trying to relax and not in the mood for something like Van Halen. A very soothing number. Credit goes to the saxophone player on this number too.

5. Magnolia - Beautiful twin guitar acoustic treat. Soft and lovely.

7. Caste by the Lough - The flute is heard on this number augmenting the guitars and it sounds only as beautiful as the guitars.

8. Sissinghurst - Another lovely number smooth and slow with lovely tunes.

11. In Moonlight Blue - A lovely number to end the album. Piano is heard on this lovely composition. Other intruments, violin/oboe/horn are used too, to make this a lovely concluding number.

The rest of the songs aren’t bad but I cannot put them in the same league as the other seven reviewed earlier.

4. Spirit of the Rydal Mount - Qualifies more for a filler but it isn’t a bad song.

6. Sovereign of the sea - Begins wth long chord strumming. Very rhymy and slow.

9. American Blend - Faster and more upbeat than other songs of the album but also becomes the odd one out. Not impressive either.

10. The Craftsman - Again not a bad one but qualifies for filler status only.

As I wrote earlier the album is seriously worth a listen for the first seven songs I reviewed. You won’t go wrong on them.

Listen to MP3 clips of the songs here.

For more information in Eric, his band and his works check out www.erictingstad.com.

You could download the album for free at UnlimitedDownloadCenter.com.

Never forgotten. It is just that I have been busy with work and a number of personal things that have taken a lot of my time. I have temporarily halted my personal blog and may even shut it down for want of time. However, great-anonymous-albums.com will go on. Watch this space. New post coming soon. I just updated to Wordpress’s new version and it has already done some damage to the existing content. Need to do “damage repair” first.

“Beyond Expression” by Finch

Not a very artistic or impressive cover art for an album but that only belies what lies beneath in the record/CD.

By the way, it’s been a long time since I made a post. I have been busy mostly due to the move into my new home. Now that I have almost settled posts on great-anonymous-albums.com should come quicker but let me see.

If someone were to say to you that the greatest keyboardists of the world were John Lord (Deep Purple), Keith Emerson (Emerson Lake and Palmer), Rick Wakeman (Yes) and or Tony Banks (Genesis) then you could tell that persion that it is like saying that the only beautiful women in this world are the ones who end up in the top 5 of the Miss Universe and Miss World pageants. It is unfortunate that whenever we talk or write about rock music we look only towards the U.K, U.S.A/Canada and a few other english speaking countries. But doesn’t that make it outrageously silly that non-english speaking countries hardly have anything to do with rock or rock n’ roll. What were other musicians doing in other countries at the same time when the “rock” revolution” were going on? Simple answer: They were into “rock” as well. But lack of english speaking and poor marketing (barring a few big bands such as ABBA, A-Ha from Scandinavia, AC/DC, Inxs, Men At Work from Australia, the Reggae legends from the Carribean and several other similar groups) many great bands from other nations have hardly been given their due.

One such band whose album is in review is Finch, the progressive rock act from the Netherlands who lasted only four years, from 1974 till 1978. The band was founded by Peter Vink on Bass (his inspiration, Chris Squire, bassist of Yes and also played the similar Rickenbacker RM1999 bass as his idol) and Beer Klasse on drums (influences - Mahavishnu Orchestra, Cream). After a few initial members they finally settled with the 19 year old wonder who auditioned on guitars, Joop Van Nimwegen (influences - Stewe Howe of Yes, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Alvin Lee, John McLaughlin), and Cleem Determeijer on keyboards who was pursuing music studies at the Academy of Music in his country.

Lack of vocals did not stop Finch from making music. In all they released only three studio albums. My pick of the three will be this one, “Beyond Expression” their second album. It was more matured than their debut. Certainly it will be difficult to believe this one came from Netherlands although the Dutch are aware that they were never behind the top bands of the times when it came to Progressive Rock. However to the rest of the world they remain anonymous. Finch did have some fan following during their world tours but they soon disintegrated and have been almost lost in oblivion.

This is one album worth a listen if you are into progressive rock. There are only three songs in this album and in true prog-rock style are timed 20.05 minutes, 8.51 minutes and 14.24 minutes. The music is a wonderful mix of great riffs, exciting moments, music played at incredible speeds, and music that is both exhilirating and beautiful in melody. Cleem Determeijer on keyboards and Joop Van Nimwegen on guitar stretch their instruments to the maximum and you cannot help admiring their talents.

A description of the three songs:

1. A passion condensed - 20.05 minutes
Not a very impressive 5 minute intro but let that not fool you into what’s coming. After that upto the 8.5 min mark the slow and mellow instrumental takes over and gets even more slower into an acoustic delight on guitar and keys till the 11.00 minute mark. Then drums and bass join in and culminates with a soul touching blistering lead guitar solo from the guitar prodigy that goes on till the 13.00 min mark only to fade into the acoustic tune started before the song. This goes on till the 15.00 minute mark. Then they are joined by drums and bass slowly taking the concluding tune using the lead guitar to its conclusion with soulful and great playing. At 17 mintues the tempo changes to a quicker pace this time Cleem on the keyboards doing the honours in the beginning and later joined by Joop. At 18.20 the organ and guitars trade classic licks to get back to the earlier tunes for a conclusion in style.

2. Scars on the ego - 8.51 minutes.
Starts of like a fire engine/police car sound gradually moving into a sound typical of 70’s deep purple/Uriah Heep with riffs, organ bass and drums and the works. 2 minutes after the intro a peaceful acoustic on piano/guitar remeniscent of Genesis in their progressive days goes on (making the tunes remind you of days of peace and serenity and of other such quiet days gone by). Bass and drum join lightly after 2 minutes but go full bloom when the lead guitar takes off for another soulful face-melter at 6 minutes and to return to the melancholic acoustic they started with. Once again they go back to the earlier 70’s sound riff then change the pace to a quick drum beat with muffled lead guitar doing its speedy works to be joined by some synthesized keys. both then join, and conclude.

3. Beyond the Bizzarre - 14.24 minutes
Starts in a slow organ style. Guitar joins the lovely tune. After the intro and at 3 minutes a different tempo and keyboardist takes over in another Genesis like tune. Guitar once again joins in and together play some tunes together in the only slightly boring part of the album. At 6 minutes the music stops and a melodious piano takes over, setting the scene for the next onslaught where the lead guitar takes the limelight. Others join in to make good music together. 8 mins later music changes course. You also hear some synthesized siren sounds from Cleem with ocassional bass and cymbals. A mini Pink Floyd effect fills the room. This is followed by acoustic sound guitar chords and piano/synthesizer. The acoustics are beautifully supported by cymbals/bass that soon turn into another instrumental with lead guitar taking lead. Meaningful tunes are belted out. Keys join to keep echoing the tunes till the musicians bring it to a nice conclusion.

Actually the descriptions of the songs have their best effect if you are listening to the music as you read. If you are looking for a rare album from a non-english speaking country that was missed, this is the one.

Check for Finch’s albums at UnlimitedDownloadCenter.com where you can even download it for free.