“Get Ready” (Rare Earth) #4 6/13/1970

The first huge hit from a Caucasian act at Motown came from Rare Earth. Their remake of a 1966 Temptations 45 was to be issued by a new subsidiary of Motown. As a joke the group said the new label should be named after them, and Berry Gordy surprisingly agreed. Their drummer, Pete Rivera, was also the band’s lead singer. There’s a question as to whether the single was actually recorded live. Some crowd noise on the 21-minute album version does sound repetitive.