The most important detail about Back To Earth <\/i>was Jerry LaCroix replacing lead singer Peter Hoorelbeke\/Rivera. This change made an overlooked masterpiece, \u201cDelta Melody,\u201d possible. <\/p>\n
Before getting to the music, there are three facts about Rare Earth that I should mention. First, Rare Earth was Motown\u2019s first all-white band that produced hits. Second, Motown named its rock label after the band. Third, the late and great Gil Scott-Heron mentioned Rare Earth in \u201cThe Revolution Will Not Be Televised.\u201d Here\u2019s what Heron said: \u201cThe theme song (of the revolution) will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.\u201d <\/p>\n
That\u2019s a helluva reference. For one thing, Heron puts \u201cthe\u201d in front of the band name, and it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if he did this intentionally. Look at the four names cited before Rare Earth: all famous white singers. Heron could have chosen any white band to represent the white group, but he went with Rare Earth. This choice strongly suggests to me that he found Rare Earth a perversion of Motown. If Heron had referenced The Doors instead, for example, his statement wouldn\u2019t have been as provocative or appropriate. <\/p>\n
I mean no disrespect to Heron when I say that I find Rare Earth valuable. Five years after \u201cThe Revolution Will Not Be Televised,\u201d Rare Earth released Back To Earth<\/i>, and 36 years after that I found myself listening to the album\u2019s fourth track, \u201cDelta Melody,\u201d as I was leaving the Mississippi Delta this summer. I damn near cried. <\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve never visited the Delta, you are missing out on a unique bittersweet experience. The region is flat and poor; it\u2019s almost as if God slapped the land ages ago and it never recovered. The catch is that the Delta, while home to some of the most impoverished people in the United States, has incredibly fertile land and culture. You can see for miles on the road, and the people in the Delta are much like the land: what you see is what you get for the most part. When I leave the Delta, I am relieved and happy to see hills again, but another part of me feels I shouldn\u2019t have left. <\/p>\n
\u201cDelta Melody\u201d is a great summation of these mixed feelings. It was written by Doug Duffey, a native of Monroe, Louisiana, which is part of the Louisiana Delta (Duffey\u2019s website says Monroe is in the Mississippi Delta \u2013 regional definitions are flexible things). Duffey\u2019s chorus is as authentic as they come: \u201cI miss the sweet delta melody \/ It haunts all my dreams \/ And it feels me with sadness \/ \u2018Cause I miss the gladness \/ That each day brought to me.\u201d It\u2019s a strange thing when something sweet haunts you, but that\u2019s what the Delta does. <\/p>\n
So back to my original point: lead singer Jerry LaCroix joined Rare Earth at the right time for \u201cDelta Melody.\u201d LaCroix is also a native of Louisiana, and although he wasn\u2019t born in the Delta, I know he experienced it. According to his website, he grew up in the parish of La Salle, which borders the Louisiana Delta. But really, LaCroix\u2019s vocal is enough evidence that he knows the Delta. In contrast, original Rare Earth lead singer Peter Hoorelbeke (who would change his name to Peter Rivera) grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He would have never been able to deliver a song like \u201cDelta Melody.\u201d <\/p>\n
LaCroix was also a great fit for Back To Earth\u2019s <\/i>concluding track, \u201cCity Life,\u201d a song about leaving a city\u2019s neon lights behind and working one\u2019s way back home. \u201cCity Life\u201d is the second best song on the album, mainly due to LaCroix\u2019s delivery and Barry Frost\u2019s energetic drumming. Incidentally, Frost also replaced Hoorelbeke. Rare Earth\u2019s original lead singer was also the original drummer. <\/p>\n
The remainder of Back To Earth<\/i> isn\u2019t as powerful as \u201cDelta Melody\u201d or as interesting as \u201cCity Life,\u201d though \u201cWalking Schtick\u201d is an enjoyable instrumental that sounds like Weather Report. The two singles, \u201cIt Makes You Happy (But It Ain\u2019t Gonna Last Too Long)\u201d and \u201cKeeping Me Out Of The Storm,\u201d have serviceable moments, but they\u2019re rather generic. The other three tracks are the weakest. Their titles say all that needs to be said: \u201cHappy Song,\u201d \u201cLet Me Be Your Sunshine,\u201d and \u201cBoogie With Me Children.\u201d <\/p>\n
Back To Earth <\/i>will never be considered a great album, but it would be a shame if \u201cDelta Melody\u201d is never recognized as a brilliant song that coincided with a major line-up change of Rare Earth. If you doubt the song\u2019s authenticity and power, just play it while you\u2019re leaving the Delta. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":30759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8748],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-42433","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rare-earth","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42433"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}