Rare Earth, Willie Remembers… (1972)
Rare Earth was the first all-white band to have a hit on the Motown label. They had some hits, even, by covering things by The Temptations – you know basically white-washing the whitest of the black labels. The woke crowd would have a field-day with this shit today. And (probably) fair enough. Back in the hippie-daze it was probably all in good spirits and just another jam-band of no-feel blues-rockers aiming for enlightenment or at least just hoping to get laid and have a good time (hey, same thing, right?) Anyway, it’s funny (to me) hearing this now. With no real context beyond what I’ve heard from this era and what I can read up on this band. I bought this on a whim. There’s some okay stuff here, the band five albums deep. And I was just curious – having for years known the name but none of the music. There’s nothing here that blows me away. Nothing here that offends me. But when they stretch out and jam and really go for it maybe the only difference between them and something like Ween is the subversion. That counts for a lot of course. The triple gatefold LP is an over-celebration of white hippie-dom.

Sample Track: I Couldn’t Believe What Happened Last Night

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown