THE RATIONALS

I just found this on YouTube. A few months ago I posted a piece by Fred Smiths Sonic Rendezvous, the legendary band that recorded little and played basically in the Detroit area in the 80's. Fred Smith was one of the guitarists of the MC5 and married Patti Smith. The lead singer of the Rendezvous was one Scotty Morgan. Scott was original lead singer of the legendary, almost forgotten band from the Ann Arbor area named The Rationals.

In my mind they were the greatest white punk soul band of all time. Their first regional #1 hit in the midwest was their cover of Otis Reddings Respect, long before the Detroit Diva, Aretha Franklin made it into her feminist soul anthem. They took a while to record their first and only album. It was simply called The Rationals and it was an unqualified hands down masterpiece. By 1967, the band had matured musically and Scotty's voice had grown in depth and was one of the great white punk soul voices. He turned down a request to become the lead singer for Blood, Sweat and Tears in the pre David Clayton-Thomas version with Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield.

Their version of Temptations'Bout To Get Me is right up there with the original. Rod Stewart first heard the song he made famous, Handbags and Gladrags on the Rationals album. For my money, the Rats put him to shame! Why was this great American Soul Band allowed to be forgotten when so much trash lives on?

The Rationals deserve to be rereleased and re experienced and appreciated for the great artists they were!
The song on the You Tube piece is I Needed You. It was released after the album and became a #1 regional hit for the guys and briefly made Scotty the Soul Star Idol he deserved to be!