The group formed in 1961 as The Sunliners, and, after changing their name to "Rare Earth" were signed to Motown in 1969. The band was the first act signed to a new Motown imprint that would be dedicated to white rock acts. The record company didn't have a name for the new label yet, and the band jokingly suggested Motown call the label "Rare Earth." To the band's surprise, Motown decided to do just that.
The main personnel in the group included Gil Bridges (saxophone and vocals ), Pete Rivera a.k.a. Peter Hoorelbeke (lead vocals and drums), John Parrish a.k.a. John Persh (bass guitar, trombone and vocals), Rod Richards (born Rod Cox, guitar), Edward "Eddie" Guzman (congas and assorted percussive instruments) and Kenny James (born Ken Folcik, keyboards). The personnel lineup changed considerably over the years, with three members of the group dying during the 1980s and 1990s, and the only original member currently left in the group is Bridges.
Rare Earth had a number of Top Ten hits in the 1970-1971 period, including covers of The Temptations' "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (which was used in the documentary video It's Time) and "Get Ready". The cover of "Get Ready" was their biggest hit, peaking at #4 on the US pop charts, a better performance than the original. They did not chart significantly after 1971, although they continued to record into the 1980s. Their 1973 album Ma, written and produced by Norman Whitfield, is considered their best overall work, and features their version of "Hum Along and Dance".
The group gained a bit of notoriety when it was mentioned dismissively in the lyrics to Gil Scott-Heron's landmark 1970 poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which included the line, "The theme song [to the revolution] will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Engelbert Humperdinck, or the Rare Earth."
Rare Earth, which continues to perform at corporate events and on the oldies circuit, appears to have had the last word, however; bits from their recordings have been used as samples on recordings as diverse as Beck's "Derelict", Black Sheep's "Try Counting Sheep", Peanut Butter Wolf's "Tale of Five Cities", Scarface's "Faith", NWA's "Real N****z Don't Die" and Eric B. and Rakim's "What's Going On". Their hit "I Just Want to Celebrate" was also used in a major national advertising campaign by Ford Motor Company. "Get Ready" was used on the soundtrack to EA Games Battlefield Vietnam.
There is another band with the same name:
2. Rare Earth began as an R&B band called the Sunliners in Detroit in 1961. Of the musicians who would be part of the band dubbed Rare Earth, only sax player Gil Bridges and drummer Pete Rivera were present. John Parrish joined on bass in 1962. Rod Richards became a guitarist with the group in 1966. Keyboardist Kenny James came into the fold the same year. After years of doing the club circuit, the group changed their name to Rare Earth and released Dreams/Answers on Verve. The album received little reaction and the group was picked up by Motown Records as the first act on their yet-to-be-named new label. Rare Earth suggested to Motown that the label name their new subsidiary after the band and Rare Earth Records was born.
When they set out to record their first album, they essentially ran out of material and did a 21-minute rendition of the Temptation's "Get Ready" to fill out the space. The album was making no headway on the charts for a long period of time. So they took the first three minutes of "Get Ready," released it as a single and it made its way into the U.S. Top Ten list, peaking at number four. Pulled along by the success of the single, the album also began to sell, breaking the Top 20, and Rare Earth's career was officially on its way. The second album, Ecology, was released in June of 1970, a couple months short of a year after "Get Ready" had been put out. Interestingly enough, Ecology was not really the group's second album, but their third. An album entitled Generation was recorded as the soundtrack to the film of the same name. When the film stalled at the box office, the album was shelved. Still, Ecology would yield not one, but two hit singles. The first was "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (another Temptations cover), which also broke the Top Ten. The second single, "Born to Wander," did not fare quite so well, but did make the Top 20. The album was catapulted to number 15.
Not wanting to lose momentum, One World followed almost exactly a year after Ecology, and yielded another hit single in a longtime classic, "I Just Want to Celebrate." The song peaked on the pop charts at number seven and the album broke the Top 50. They released a live album in December of the same year. For the next album, Willie Remembers, the group insisted on doing all originals, a move that was not common around the Motown camp. Unfortunately, for a band trying to prove a point, the album never reached the type of sales of previous records. Indeed, it stalled out at number 90, and the single "Good Time Sally" didn't even break the Top 50.
Motown tightened the creative grip on the group and original producer Norman Whitfield, who had worked with the group on earlier albums, was brought in to save the day. The resulting album, Ma, was released in May of 1973 and fared just a little better than Willie Remembers, peaking at number 65. The label was not pleased and sent the group into the studio to record with Stevie Wonder. That pairing did not really gel, though, and only two tracks were recorded, neither of which were released. Instead, the label sought to release another live album, trying to regain the spark that Rare Earth had had. That project also fell by the wayside, though.
What followed was a series of lineup changes and legal battles, and the group stopped touring altogether in 1974. The following year Rare Earth, in a new lineup, released Back to Earth. The album did a bit better than the previous one, reaching number 59 on the charts. The single, appropriately entitled "It Makes You Happy (But It Ain't Gonna Last Too Long)" stalled just outside the Top 100. A disco-oriented excursion entitled Midnight Lady was released in 1976, but failed to really go anywhere. To make matters worse, Rare Earth Records was discontinued altogether. The band had broken up by this time.
As fate would have it, though, this was not the end of Rare Earth. Instead, Barney Ales, who had presided over Rare Earth Records, started his own label Prodigal Records. He talked the group into reuniting to record the label debut. The resulting album, Rare Earth, was released in 1977 and made no real waves in the music business. Rare Earth got things together again for a marathon recording session the following year. That session yielded not one, but two albums. The first was Band Together, released in April of 1978, with Grand Slam following in September. Neither of those albums every really took off, either. The group essentially broke up in 1978, although a version of the original lineup was touring all the way into 1983. A different incarnation of the group, with just two original members, still makes the circuits.
I'm Losing You
Rare Earth Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ah, your love is fadin', I feel it fade
Ah, your love is fadin', woman I feel it fade
Ah, woman, woman your touch, your touch has gone cold
As if someone else controls your very soul
I've fooled myself long as I can
Can feel the presence of another man
It's there when you speak my name
It's just not the same
Ooh babe, I'm losing you
It's in the air
It's there everywhere
Baby, baby, babe, I'm losing you
When I look into your eyes
A reflection of a face, I see
I'm hurt, down-hearted and worried, girl
'Cause that face doesn't belong to me
It's all over your face
Someone's takin' my place
Ooh baby, I'm losing you
You try hard to hide
The emptiness you feel inside
Ooh babe, I'm losing you
I can't bear the thought of losing you
Ah woman, can't you see what I'm goin' through
I'm losin' my mind (losin' my mind)
And it's all because of you
I can't bear the thought of losing you
I'm losin' my mind (losin' my mind)
And it's all because of you
I can't stand the thought of losing you
In Rare Earth's song I'm Losing You, the singer expresses his fear of losing his lover to another man. He senses that her love is fading away and that she's been distant towards him lately. He even feels that there's another person controlling her soul, as her touch has gone cold. He tries to fool himself into thinking that everything is alright, but he can feel the presence of another man in her life.
The singer observes that whenever she speaks his name, the emotions aren't the same, indicating that someone else is occupying her heart. He notices that her face reflects another man's image, and he feels hurt, downhearted, and worried. He believes that someone has taken his place and is attempting to hide the emptiness she feels inside.
The singer can't bear the thought of losing his lover as he's losing his mind because of it. He pleads with her to see what he's going through and that he can't stand the idea of her leaving him. The song has a melancholic tone to it and captures the pain and anguish of losing someone you love.
Line by Line Meaning
Your love is fadin', I feel it fade
I sense that your love for me is disappearing
Ah, woman, woman your touch, your touch has gone cold
Your physical touch is no longer warm, it has become distant and emotionless
As if someone else controls your very soul
Your behavior suggests that someone else is manipulating your actions and thoughts
I've fooled myself long as I can
I have been in denial about the deterioration of our relationship for as long as I could
Can feel the presence of another man
I sense the influence of another man in your life
It's there when you speak my name
I can hear the difference in your tone when you address me
It's just not the same
The familiarity and warmth in our exchanges is gone
Ooh babe, I'm losing you
My fear of losing you is turning into a reality
It's in the air
The changes in our relationship are apparent and palpable in our environment
It's there everywhere
Every aspect of our relationship indicates that you are pulling away from me
When I look into your eyes
As I gaze into your eyes
A reflection of a face, I see
I see a reflection of a different face in your eyes
I'm hurt, down-hearted and worried, girl
I am deeply saddened, dejected, and anxious about our relationship
'Cause that face doesn't belong to me
The face I see in your eyes does not belong to me
It's all over your face
The emotions you are feeling are evident in your expressions
Someone's takin' my place
Someone else is slowly replacing me in your life
You try hard to hide
You make a conscientious effort to conceal the emptiness you feel inside
The emptiness you feel inside
The emotional void you feel within yourself
I can't bear the thought of losing you
The concept of losing you is more than I can handle
Ah woman, can't you see what I'm goin' through
Can't you empathize with my distress?
I'm losin' my mind (losin' my mind)
I am on the verge of losing my sanity
And it's all because of you
This is happening solely due to changes in our relationship
I can't stand the thought of losing you
The notion of losing you is intolerable
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Norman Whitfield, Cornelius Grant, Edward Jr. Holland
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
MattHatter
Officially the most far out performance I've ever seen on Ed Sullivan! (With Vanilla Fudge being the heaviest). Had no idea he allowed such a grandiose production as this.
Craig Harrell
Rare Earth were total badass. Funky, soulful...just a damn underrated band.
clubhead433
WERD!
arty
psychedelic cool
searchers
It always amazed me that Sullivan would put acts on his show that had no relevance to his own values and tastes. But he knew what was popular and what the audience wanted. He was the greatest showman since Ziegfeld.
Martin Hanley
Observant
travis willams
oh yeah blue eyed soul. back in the day.
Sarah White
yes he knew talent and he knew what the younger generation liked. he was a very good businessman that way . good instincts
willminkorea2010
Sullivan had great talent coordinators. One was Vince Calandra, who booked many of the musical groups, including the Beatles. There are interviews with him on youtube.
Sara Schroeder
I've always loved the music of Peter Rivera and Rare Earth. Have their first album. So glad Peter is still making fabulous music!