#rare earth

[coolthingsguyslike]

[affiches-concerts]

Rare Earth, Doobie Brothers, Portland, OR, 1973.

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #21: 1970

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Simon and Garfunkel, The Carpenters, The Guess Who, B.J. Thomas, Edwin Starr, Diana Ross, The Jackson 5, Rare Earth, The Beatles, Frede Payne. End description]

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A major theme in doing these polls is that decades are rarely defined by the exact stretch of time. It's all arbitrary, and any kind of cultural change tends to take a while to kick into gear without waiting for the exact calendar date. The seventies, however, feels like the exception. Keep in mind that this is all coming from the benefit of hindsight, but many accounts I've read and heard describe the shift from the 60's to the 70's as being jarring. First, we need to address the losses. The transition to the 70's came with musical trauma. Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and many others would pass away between 1969 and 1970. The Beatles would permanently break up this year. Whatever 1970 was going to look like, it was going to be a decade without many of the artists that helped to define the previous era.

There is something from the sixties that was brought over into the seventies, however: The Vietnam War. By this point, it was becoming clearer to the general public that the war effort was less about any sense of patriotic duty, and more about President Nixon not wanting to be the first American president to lose a war. The anti-war movement wouldn't just be populated by the anarchists or the hippies. However, the movement won't get as much traction in the top of the mainstream music charts as it did before. War by Edwin Starr, occupies a strange space in the early seventies as well as a strange space in Motown Records. Originally recorded for The Temptations, the track was covered by Edwin Starr out of fear that the original version would damage the group's crossover appeal.

Motown and its divisions will continue to reign supreme (or The Supremes...I'll stop) this decade as the label introduces the nation to a new flock of superstars. In addition to Diana Ross' solo debut, we're also seeing the introduction of The Jackson 5.

It's really hard not to apply a narrative to the songs listed above. As I keep saying, trends are rarely that neatly-defined and we're just looking at the very tip of the most popular/mainstream in doing these polls. But I can't help but notice that most of these songs are about learning to cope with some kind of hardship. Again, that's probably just a coincidence, but I think it's neat.

Also feel free to check out the twenty minute album version of Rare Earth's Get Ready, if you're like me and you're disappointed that Iron Butterfly's 17 minute In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida didn't make any of the sixties lists.

[lisamarie-vee]

[randomberlinchick]

Rare Earth / I Just Want To Celebrate / 1974 California Jam

I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah Another day of living, yeah I just want to celebrate another day of livin' I just want to celebrate another day of life

Don't let it all get you down, no, no Don't let it turn you around And around and around and around and around Well, I can't be bothered with sorrow And I can't be bothered with hate, no, no I'm using up the time but feeling fine, every day That's why I'm telling you I just want to celebrate Oh, yeah

Y’all have a great weekend!

[plus-low-overthrow]

Diana Ross - My Baby (My Baby My Own) (Tamla Motown)

arr. Tom Baird, 1973.

Tom Baird was a new arranger on me, with another credit on this family themed LP, with ' Brown Baby' which impresses. Tom Baird was a songwriter for Motown in essence, although on their Rare Earth rock pop subsidery label. This LP also contains Ms. Ross' version of John Lennon's 'Imagine'.

[fuchinobe]

(2020, Sunshine Sound, F10001)

Bandcamp 

Context below the cut ⬇️

This is one of Walter Gibbon’s mid 70′s experiments with breaks. This particular drum break is taken from the beginning of Happy Song by Rare Earth, which was a rock song and not disco at all! You will find this break sampled in many other places if you know to look out for it!

Here is the track’s mention by Tim Lawrence in Disco Madness: Walter Gibbons and the Legacy of Turntablism and Remixology”. Journal of Popular Music Studies, 20, 3, 2008, 276-329.

Gibbons went on to DJ at Galaxy 21, an after-hours venue on Twenty-third Street, around late 1974, or possibly early 1975, and it was there that he began to play records such as Rare Earth “Happy Song” (drawn from the 1975 album Back to Earth), Jermaine Jackson “Erucu” (released by Motown on the Mahogany soundtrack in 1975) and the Cooley High soundtrack number “2 Pigs and A Hog” (also released in 1975), all of which contained prominent breaks. “Walter was so innovative,” notes Kenny Carpenter, who witnessed Gibbons forge his craft in Galaxy 21, where he worked the lights (and briefly dated the DJ). “He would buy two copies of a record like ‘Happy Song’ and he would loop the thirty-second conga section.” Hired to play drums alongside Gibbons, much to the irritation of the DJ, François Kevorkian recalls how listeners “would never hear the actual song” when Gibbons worked two copies of “Happy Song”. “You just heard the drums,” he adds. “It seemed like he kept them going forever, although I imagine it was actually about ten minutes.” 

Francois K, who drummed alongside Gibbons at Galaxy 21, created his own edit of the break in 1977 as one of his first works, sold initially as an acetate through Sunshine Sound.

This particular interpretation by Gibbons was never released to the public, but offers an interesting insight into the changes in structure and priorities that disco would undergo in the process of its eventual transformation into house music.

[aspho-dele]

Rare Earth - Get Ready - album éponyme - septembre 1969.

wink at @happyends

[breezingby]

Rare Earth ~ I Know I'm Losing You (full version)

. . . I’m Losing My mind...I’m Losing My Mind !!!!”

[soulmusicsongs]

My Sweet Lord - The God Squad Featuring Leonard Caston (Jesus Christ Greatest Hits, 1971)

[tfc2211]

Here Comes The Night Tobacco Road No. 1 Man Big John Is My Name (I Know) I'm Losing You In Bed Satisfaction Guaranteed Fresh From The Can Born To Wander Train To Nowhere Long Time Leavin' Get Ready

[lisamarie-vee]

[danbenzvi]

Just listened to: “Bullet Train (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”

Track listing:

Avu-Chan (Queen Bee) - “Staying Alive (originally performed by Bee Gees)”

Siiickbrain featuring Pussy Riot - “Power”

Englebert Humperdink - “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”

Alejandro Sanz - “La Despedida”

UPSAHL - “My Time To Shine”

Tamio Okuda - “Kill Me Pretty”

Big Fella - “Couple Of Fruits”

Carmen Maki - “Tokiniha Hahano Naikonoyouni”

Shuggie Otis - “Sweet Thang”

Song For Memories - “Five Hundred Miles”

Asakura Miki - “Holding Out For A Hero (Dance Version) (originally performed by Bonnie Tyler)”

Kyu Sakamoto - “Sukiyaki (the English language version you might know by A Taste Of Honey is a cover)”

Rare Earth - “I Just Want To Celebrate”

Dominic Lewis - “Momomon”

[bighermie]

This is a national security issue.

[singles-bar]

[waterandenergyrelief]

Panel Discussion on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.

Critical minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements are essential components of clean energy technologies, including wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles and battery storage. Rising demand for these minerals to fuel the renewables revolution presents risks, challenges and opportunities, particularly for developing countries. In response, Secretary-General António Guterres is leveraging the United Nations' convening power to assemble a diverse and representative group of governments and non-state actors to facilitate standards and safeguards, and embed justice, in the transition to renewable energy.

A newly established Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals -- co-chaired by Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Ms. Ditte Juul Jørgensen Director-General for Energy from the European Commission -- will develop a set of global common and voluntary principles to guide governments and other stakeholders involved in critical minerals value chains in the years ahead by addressing issues relating to equity, transparency, investment, sustainability and human rights.

UN-convened panel to address equity, sustainability and human rights across the value chains of critical energy transition minerals