LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

·    Mention the Rationals to anyone who was a teenager in Michigan during the 1960s and you will hear impassioned testimony to a group unlike any other. This punchy quartet from Ann Arbor ruled the state during the mid-1960s with a blend of rootsy garage and exciting blue-eyed soul. The handful of records they cut have become totems of cool to garage fanciers the world over.

 

·    “Think Rational!” is therefore amongst the most eagerly awaited of all 1960s rock anthologies, collecting together for the first time the incomparable sides the Rationals cut under the auspices of their manager and mentor, the enigmatic Hugh ‘Jeep’ Holland. From early Brit-influenced rockers like ‘Look What You’re Doing To Me Baby’ and ‘Feelin’ Lost’, through garage soul like ‘Hold On Baby’ and their big hits ‘Respect’ and ‘I Need You’, to psychedelically-tinged items like ‘Sunset’, this 2CD compilation covers the group’s entire output between 1965 and 1968.

 

·    In addition to all the singles on A-Square and Cameo, we hear the rare promo 45 cut for a Detroit men’s clothing store, as well as tracks from the Rationals’ 1968 fan club LP (two known test pressings) and many unissued goodies like ‘Gotta Go Now’ and ‘Poor Dog’. “Think Rational!” is manna from heaven to anyone with an interest in vintage Detroit, or the best 1960s rock, full stop.

 

Track listing:

Disc One:

1.     FEELING LOST

2.     LOOK WHAT YOU’RE DOING (TO ME BABY)

3.     SOMEDAY

4.     GAVE MY LOVE

5.     I NEED YOU

6.     I WANT TO WALK WITH YOU

7.     LITTLE GIRLS CRY (DEON’S SONG)

8.     GLORIA

9.     BE MY GIRL

10. LEAVIN’ HERE (VERSION 1)

11. MEDLEY: SMOKESTACK LIGHTNIN’/INSIDE LOOKING OUT

12. SING

13. TURN ON

14. IRRATIONAL

15. LOOK WHAT YOU’RE DOING (TO ME BABY) (DEMO)

16. SOMEDAY (DEMO)

17. GAVE MY LOVE (DEMO)

18. OUT IN THE STREETS (REHEARSAL)

 

Disc Two

1.     RESPECT

2.     HOLD ON BABY

3.     I GOTTA GO NOW (OUT ON THE FLOOR)

4.     SAID I WASN’T GONNA TELL NOBODY

5.     (HAD YOU TOLD IT LIKE IT WAS IT WOULDN’T BE LIKE IT IS, OH NO) NOT LIKE IT IS

6.     KNOCK ON WOOD

7.     LEAVIN’ HERE (VERSION 2)

8.     POOR DOG (WHO CAN’T WAG HIS OWN TAIL)

9.     TEMPTATION’S ‘BOUT TO GET ME

10. LISTEN TO ME

11. I NEED YOU

12. YOU GOT IT MADE

13. HA HA SONG

14. SUNSET

15. PART TIME LOVE

16. OUT IN THE STREETS