Rare Earth Greatest Hits And Rare Classics

[Donahue Granados]

Ihave to admit that I still miss Eddie. I am also a conga player who grew up on Eddie's riffs. I saw him four times and was mesmerized each time. I play his solo's over and over. A few years I wrote an article to DRUM mag. on the 10th anniversity of his death. But they never published it. If anyone is interested I'd like to share it here:

I remember seeing the sleeve credit to Eddie on the Doobie's LP and having mixed feelings. I was delighted that his talents had resulted in him being approached by another class act, but at the same time I was worried that if he gained a higher profile Rare Earth might lose him. That's how important I felt he was to Rare Earth. I sometimes wonder how he compared with Motown's own Eddie "Bongo" Brown for natural talent?

It is pure magic to listen to "Get Ready" on the "In Concert" album and just marvel at Eddie's playing. Peter's drumming is rock solid as always and there's some tambourine from Gil, but all the while Eddie is filling in the background then coming to the fore to link the different solos together. It really is superb how Peter, Eddie and John Persh worked as a ryhthm unit and it must have been nigh on impossible for the audience not to respond. Whilst Ray, Mark and Gil always delivered on the lead instruments I'm sure the result would not have been quite so impressive without Eddie.

Incidentally, listening to "Get Ready", those 23 minutes just fly by and has anyone else ever picked up a voice on about 22 minutes shouting "You gotta go"? Was that one of the guys in the band or maybe one of the organisers? I doubt anyone in the audience could have wanted that song to end.

Thank you for your kind words. I agree, Eddie made the group unique and their choice of songs and driving beat were perfect for the conga and timbale. Interesting that they never had a Latin sound. Just pure rock. In a way I really liked the use of the conga in their straight away rock format. It was all dynamic and driving.

I am curious about Eddie's death. Peter Rivera (in his book) seems to think it was a combination of alcohol and neglecting his diabetes medication. Eddie just gave up on life. But I wonder why? Family issues? Mental health issues? Financial? If anyone has any insights I'd sure like to know. I would also like to know if there are any web sites about his life. He never ventured far from the group and never seemed to self-promote. I really know very little of him other than his playing. Maybe his music speaks for him.

EDDIE AND MARK OLSON WERE VERY MUCH ALIKE IN MANY WAYS.THEY WERE VERY CLOSE IN SPIRIT,AS I WAS TO BOTH OF THEM.THEY WERE BOTH VICTIMS OF EXCESS.THEY WERE BOTH LIKE SHOOTING STARS SHINING BRIGHT IN THE SKY UNTIL THEY BURNED OUT AND DISAPPEARED.THEY WERE BOTH GREAT TALENTS.

MARK LEFT US FIRST,AND IT WAS A HUGE BLOW FOR EDDIE.I REMEMBER ONE OF THE LAST THINGS I SAID TO EDDIE WAS,DON'T LEAVE US WE NEED YOU HERE.HE WAS VERY FRAIL AND NOT TAKING CARE OF HIMSELF AT ALL,AND SAYING THINGS LIKE I'LL BE WITH MARK SOON.HE REASSURED ME THAT HE WASN'T GOING ANYWHERE.WE TRIED TO GET HIM HELP,BUT HE WOULDN'T TAKE IT.THEN HE WAS GONE.

EDDIE WAS ONE OF THE BEST PERCUSSIONISTS I'VE EVER SEEN,INCLUDING EDDIE BONGO BROWN,BOBBY HALL,AND TREATY WOMACK.AND....CONSIDERING HE PLAYED CONGAS AND TIMBALES WITH THE COWBELLS THROWN IN,HE SURPASSED THE OTHERS.

I JOINED UP IN OCT. OF 1971 AND EDDIE WAS ALREADY THERE.I'M PRETTY SURE HE HAD BEEN PLAYING WITH THE BAND FOR SOME TIME BEFORE,BUT HE WAS MADE AN OFFICIAL MEMBER JUST BEFORE THE "ECOLOGY" ALBUM.THAT WAS THE ONE BEFORE "ONE WORLD" WHERE MARK AND I CAME IN.

Its strange, but when I saw Eddie's face on the brilliant One World cover, he struck me as a very serious looking chap that you probably wouldn't want to tangle with. Contrast that with the picture on the Grand Slam sleeve where he seems to be enjoying the photoshoot to the max.

I was pleased to hear that Ray considered Eddie to be better than all the Motown bongo boys. That's a huge compliment. Its such a pity that DVD wasn't around in the 70s to capture one of those Rare Earth shows.

Knowing how Motown had a policy of trying out songs with different artists, it would be interesting to know if RE ever got to record any alternative versions of War, Ball of Confusion, Papa Was A Rolling Stone etc during the period when Norman Whitfield seemed to be working with Rare Earth, The Temptations, Edwin Starr and Undisputed Truth. For example Smiling Faces was probably better known as an Undisputed Truth single, even if we think RE did it better!

As a Producer I bet Ralph has some opinions on Motown's Quality Control system. It must have felt great if they approved your material for single release but very frustrating when it was rejected. I seem to recall they weren't very favourable towards Marvin Gaye's What's Going On?

YOU'RE MORE THAN WELCOME.TO SAY WE GO BACK A WAYS IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT.40+ YEARS!!!!! HARD TO BELIEVE ISN'T IT?? MAYBE THAT'S GOT SOMETHING TO DO WITH TRYING TO REMEMBER THINGS.....YOU THINK?? I KNOW A LOT OF MY MEMORIES HAVE FADED.

THE ONLY FOOTAGE FROM THOSE DAYS WOULD BE THE TV SHOWS,AND I SAW A FANS FILM OF GET READY ON YOU-TUBE.IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ABC HAS NEVER SHOWN CAL-JAM AGAIN.WHAT A STAR STUDDED CONCERT THAT WAS!!

Mr. Guzman was actually talking with me privately, outside of the building where the group had gathered to sign autographs and chat with fans. I had mentioned to him how badly I'd been trying to find a way to get the California Jam footage of them released on VHS. You couldn't even find a bootleg of it, and, since I had already had a bootleg of Emerson, Lake and Palmer's performance at the Cal Jam, I knew that *someone* had to have that footage some place. I am a drummer/percussionist myself,(the kind like Carl Palmer was of ELP days) so Mr. Guzman and I shared some discussion about how fun it is playing with all the ''toys'' percussionists play with.

I feel very fortuante to have had the opportunity to have met him, and now that I learn for the first time, when he passed away, I feel even more fortunate. He was such a down to earth person. I would never have dreamed ina million years that I would be meeting the person whose entire face appears on the cover of the "Ecology" LP/CD/ !

I also had the pleasure of speaking briefly with Mr. Monnette, who said something that made me depressed for weeks, and still bothers me to this day, because it is so untrue. I told him that I thought when he joined the band, that they "really took off." He replied "Yea", pointed his finger into the air, then made a downward spiral gesture and said "Right down".

Mr. Monnette, if you read this by any chance at all, I just want you to know that you are one of the *MOST gifted guitarists I have ever heard. I firmly believe that your guitar playing was what took Rare Earth to the top. You guys were so ahead of your time, and you opened the doors for so many 70's bands. I have heard other musicians say that you guys were the ones paved the way for groups like Average White Band, and others.

One of my favorite Rare Earth tunes is "Thoughts"/ "Fresh from the can", and its because of the guitar! I wore that side of the album out, playing that tune over and over as well as absolutely destroying my copy of Get Ready from "Rare Earth in Concert". The section of the LP where your guitar solo was, had turned white from overplay! I wore that record out! You are absoluetly phenominal, Mr. Monnette.

There are so many memorable solos by Ray but one I particularly like is on the Midnight Lady album on the track called Do It Right. It's not particularly one of RE's standout tracks but I do like Ray's solo.

As for keyboards, Kenny James was fine but I liked Mark a whole lot better. He added some great organ and piano which still sounds fresh today. One of the things I learned from this forum was that Mark played sax as well. A man of many talents.

AS I SAID BEFORE,AFTER MARK PASSED,EDDIE WAS NEVER THE SAME.HE WENT ON A DOWNWARD SPIRAL WHICH ENDED WITH HIS DEATH.IT STILL HURTS EVERY TIME I THINK ABOUT MY TWO BROTHERS.THEY WERE BOTH SO TALENTED,AND SUCH GOOD PEOPLE.

WHEN MARK AND I JOINED THE BAND WE WERE BOTH AT THE TOP OF OUR GAME.MARK JOINED FIRST,AND ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS I CAME IN WAS BECAUSE HE WAS WITH THE BAND.WE HAD BEEN DOING MANY PROJECTS TOGETHER: STUDIO WORK,LOCAL GIGS,AND THE STAGEPLAY "HAIR",WHICH RAN FOR 6 MONTHS IN DETROIT.WE WERE TOLD BY THE PRODUCERS THAT WE HAD THE STRONGEST BAND IN THE COUNTRY.OF COURSE WE HAD BOB BABBITT,AND ANDREW SMITH WITH US TOO.

STEVE, THOSE WERE SOME TOUGH YEARS DURING THE TIME THAT YOU TALKED ABOUT.I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I SAID THAT TO YOU.YOU MUST HAVE CAUGHT ME AT A REALLY BAD MOMENT.NOTHING COULD BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

I have to admit it, when I first bought "One World" and saw yours and Mark's images on the cover, and then saw your names on the back of the jacket, I didn't know what to expect. I was not then--and still am not big on ''change''. When I opened it, and heard Rare Earth's version of "What'd I say" then, the guitar work in "The Seed" and "Under God's Light"-- I was HOOKED! I couldn't get enough of that album.

Something I have always wanted to ask you is, what effect(s) did you use on your guitar in "The Seed"? It sounds like a flanger, but, they didn't have those back then, ( did they?) and, I have very little knowledge of guitar. That is the most awesome guitar solo.

There are 3 guitarists in my life who caught my ear, and they are in this order: Ray Monnette Steve Howe, and a guy not really terribly known called Peter White, who played with Al Stewart. There is just something about the sounds produced by you 3, individually, that really touches my heart.

Concerning that night in Galion, Ohio... if you have a secondary private email address "Hotmail'', ''yahoo'') you would like to share, I would like to share why I think it highly probable that you were having a bad night there. Let me put it this way... Mr. Guzman wanted to get out of the room we were all gathered in, where the fans were, so we could chat.

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