The Rationals - Temptation 'Bout To Get Me (1968)

The Rationals emerged in the mid-'60s out of Ann Arbor, in matching uniforms, to score with a succession of 45 singles for A-Square. On this album they are captured live in the Fall of 1968 at the Grande Ballroom, during their post-mod period.
"Holy fuckin' MOLY! An absolutely SMOKING live set from Detroit's Rationals, recorded at the Grande Ballroom in October, 1968, while opening for the MC5. The first time I heard this CD, it had me up against the opposite wall, clutching my chest in gasping, wide-eyed, Fred Sanford-ish disbelief; 'Elizabeth... I'm comin to see you!' This is an absolutely fantastic portrait of the best band ever to come outta Detroit forging their own very unique blend of firey white-boy soul and urban psychedelia. Scott Morgan's unbelievably soulful, larynx-shredding lead vocals and Steve Correll's genius punky-funk guitar duke it out for the spotlight throughout the disc, creating an almost angry tension on some tracks, and putting a very unique high-energy spin on chestnuts like Screamin Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You," and Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle." The level of freneticism is taken down a bit on "Ha-Ha," a gorgeous piece of acoustic folk-soul featuring Morgan on flute (not at all dissimilar to Autumn Stone-period Small Faces), and a cover of the Knight Brothers1965 soul hit "Temptation "Bout to Get Me," both tracks to surface the following year on the bands self-titled LP for Crewe. My favorite track, though, has got to be "The Instrumental," an absolutely MANIC jam piece that sounds like one of those boring Grateful Dead jams on about 20 pounds of amyl nitrate. The band sustains an absolutely amazing intensity level throughout the performance -- great stuff, great great stuff. To paraphrase John Lennon, 'we shoulda been there.' "- Gary Pig Gold / Dead Flowers
Only digital snobs will turn their noses up at the raw sound 'cos the gig is fiery and loose and tautly-wound and lysergically freeform, all at the same time. - Goldmine
If you like the MC5 live, or The Stooges, you'll dig this! - Bad Trip

Total Energy Records
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