Should Have Been Kings

Another post from 2009 that deserves a second airing. Mention The Rationals to any longtime Detroit rock afficiando and you'll like be greeted with tears of joy for your interest, followed by tears of sorrow over their lamentable fate. Read the story and hear the band's music, particularly 'Guitar Army' and you'll understand why. Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you...

The Rationals
A2, Michigan's Once Finest Beat Combo
Friday, July 22, 2011

The greater Detroit area has always been a hot bed for outstanding musical talent. In the jazz idiom, the Motor City gave us the likes of Kenny Clarke, Yusef Lateef, Tommy Flanagan, Elvin Jones, Curtis Fuller, and Donald Byrd. Along with them, the list also includes Paul Chambers, Jimmy Garrison, Pepper Adams, Bennie Maupin, Frank Rosolino, Kenny Burrell, and of course the members of the Tribe collective who were featured in these pages previously. Additionally, nearly all of the early Motown artists were born and bred in the city as well, and you're no doubt familiar with many of the names in that talented crew. Detroit City also gave us soul shouters like Barrett Strong, Jackie Wilson, and Hank Ballard, along with the ultimate funkster and super freak, George Clinton. In the well documented rock arena, the gritty Motor City spawned the kick ass, all out assaults of The Stooges, MC5, The Amboy Dukes, Scott Richard Case (a.k.a. SRC), and The Up, not to mention Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, and many others. The trend continues even today to include new additions such as The White Stripes and The Detroit Cobras. But one of the absolute greatest bands to emerge from the cultural triangle of Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Ypsilanti (home to three major university's within a 40 mile radius) were a Beat group that failed to reach the same level of national acceptance as their contemporaries ---- the fabulous Rationals of A2, Michigan. Although huge among their regional audience, the band quite regrettably never succeeded in moving up to the next level, leaving them to remain a mere (but beloved) footnote in the annuls of Midwestern rock n' roll. Forming in 1962, singers/guitarists Scott Morgan and Steve Correll led what was to become one of the saddest tales of an extraordinary band that managed to only flirt with stardom, never quite managing to find wider acclaim outside of their immediate environs. The story is a convoluted trail of mismanagement, bad luck, legal quagmires, and poor timing, but I'll try to explain it nonetheless.

Along with ? and The Mysterians and Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels before them, The Rationals were among the first of their regional peers to emerge from the garage and into the spotlight in the mid-1960's, an exciting proto-punk/blue-eyed soul teen combo who grew up amidst the heady milieu of British Beat and Motown Soul. The perfect Mod band, complete with crunchy guitars, moptops, smart matching suits, soulful crooning, and plenty of attitude in the form of teenage angst. Born in the age of AM radio, The Rationals were primarily a singles band, producing the bulk of their recorded output for a variety of small labels with zero promotion and poor distribution, travelling to neighboring towns to play weekend sock hops and all ages dance halls, hawking their platters to local radio stations along the way in the hope of breaking one of their 45's to a broader listening audience. In frontman Scott Morgan, the band was blessed with a powerful lead singer who not only had pipes, but also the necessary charisma to front the perfect pop combo, a worthy adversary to Steve Marriott and Rod 'The Mod' Stewart.* Young guitarist Steve Correll had already done his homework absorbing the flair of greats like Pete Townshend, Dave Davies, and Creation's Eddie Phillips to become a Stateside equivalent. Adding the underpinnings of bassist Terry Trebandt and drummer Bill Figg, the rhythm section supplied the propulsion and groove that allowed the quartet to easily vacillate between wild rave-ups and spirited R&B, employing Beatle-esqe harmonies behind the expressively emotional crooning of Morgan, a righteous soul man if ever there was one. Harboring the ultimate garage band approach, The Rationals could potentially be categorized as an amalgamation of the best of The Small Faces, The Kinks, early Who, The Young Rascals, The Yardbirds, and pre-psych Pretty Things, as well as offering a healthy dollop of Stax/Motown soul. A dream jukebox of danceable, sweaty, pumped up, soul stirring, ass shaking, kinetic energy primed to explode at any moment! Yet recognition outside of the Tri-City area remained elusive for them, largely as a result of their well intended, but misguided management who kept them locked into the same stylistic bag at a time when their local contemporaries were morphing into grungy Stooges, or quasi-psychedelic prophets.

The band soldiered on however (still a favorite among their local following) and over time, managed to appear on countless occasions as an opening act at the fabled Detroit Grande Ballroom, sharing the stage with the créme de la créme of the era. They were also able to transcend a few of their setbacks to record a full length album when they eventually manged to break ties with their management, releasing a self titled LP for the Crewe label. Again however, poor promotion and spotty distribution prevented it and them from finding the elusive stardom they so justly deserved. While their peers were growing in stature, The Rationals found themselves with too little, too late. As the major labels swooped through Detroit handing out contracts to anyone with more than an ounce of talent (those mentioned previously being the exception), Scott, Steve, Terry, and Bill had to swallow the most bitter of pills --- the acceptance that they were a crack band who through no fault of their own had managed come up a day late, and a dollar short. The first to emerge, but the last to succeed. By 1970, the band called it quits, demoralized and dejected after eight long years in the rock n' roll trenches, having gone from high school garage band to seasoned pros able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best. For those who have fond memories of the band, the saddest part surrounding the rich history of The Rationals is that their recorded legacy has never been officially compiled or reissued, not even to this very day. Locked up in litigation over ownership rights, the early singles and the LP have sat languishing somewhere in a vault, never to be heard again. And this despite reissues from a myriad of sub-par garage/punk/soul bands that also flourished during the era with not 1/10th the talent or excitement of The Rationals. If not a criminal oversight, the holding back of their music is certainly an unfortunate and unforgivable one. The Rationals were an exceptional band --- young, brash, electrifying, and extremely musical. It's time to step up to the plate and rectify this wrong once and for all. Overlooked in their lifetime, The Rationals were too great a band to be forgotten, and their recorded legacy can no longer afford to be neglected.

About The Music

The music included in the sets below is not entirely new in the blogging community. I was able to obtain many of the singles for the 'Anthology' set from Bruunski Beat and Pablo 'Pochola' Cazorla's Garage Music site. Mucho gracias, amigos. I'm not exactly certain just who might have been responsible for gathering them all up, but someone, somewhere in their infinite wisdom saw fit to collect as many of The Rationals 45 rpm releases that were available, and transfer them into a digital format (unofficially, of course). It should be noted that they are direct transfers from the original singles and therefore reflect varying degrees in vinyl quality. But what they may lack in fidelity is more than compensated for in the sheer vitality of the performances. For instance, check out 'Turn On,' which in reality was a simple radio jingle for an Ann Arbor men's shop called Danby's. Despite it's intent, the band tear into it like a house on fire, snarling their way through the two minute song as though their lives depended upon it. It's an incredible, and quite memorable listen. And although a few more singles are additionally available, I've only included those that are the most listenable (in terms of audio quality). I've also included a few tracks from The Rationals self titled LP which comes from my own library, and for which I'm proud to say has been in my possession since it's initial release some 30 years ago. Furthermore, I found two audio only performances on YouTube ('Hold On Baby' and 'Monkey Time') that came from a very small window in the 1990's when the band briefly reunited to play a benefit for the family of the late Rob Tyner, former lead singer for the MC5.

In addition to the extremely listenable and funky cover tunes they included, the Crewe LP was the last official recording by The Rationals, and it demonstrated a growing maturity in their original songcraft and playing abilities and gives a slight nod of the head to the psychedelia of the day. Beyond the use of an occasional special effect, the 'period' touch to which I elude manifests itself primarily in the form of each track having been loosely linked together with instrumental excerpts from the LP's finale, the exquisite 'Ha-Ha.' It's a simple gimmick, but hardly psychedelic. Rather, the record on a whole actually plays like a marvelous demo recording that showcases the many strengths and styles the band had mastered through the years. Listening to it today in hindsight can only make one wonder just what greatness they might have been able to accomplish had they been giving the budget, production, and the all necessary morale to continue on. But all in all, it's a superb LP. A real time capsule, and the type of record that would never get made today. It, along with the bands singles is music that is simply too good to forget as they're conceivably among the most exciting Beat combo you'll ever get to hear. Their catalog truly needs to be lovingly compiled and made available once again for the digital age, but until that day arrives ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Rationals as best I can.

*Morgan was actually tapped to replace Al Kooper in Blood, Sweat & Tears when Kooper left the band, but Morgan's loyalty to The Rationals, along with his friendship with Kooper prevented him from accepting. Who knows if the future of that band would have turned out differently had Morgan accepted the invitation.

The Singles Anthology

1.) Not Like It Is
2.) Temptation 'Bout To Get Me
3.) Handbags & Gladrags
4.) Something's Got A Hold On Me
5.) Barefootin'
6.) Feelin' Lost
7.) Little Girls Cry (Deon's Song)
8.) Respect
9.) Leavin' Here
10.) I Need You
11.) Look What You've Done
12.) Sing
13.) Gloria
14.) Poor Dog
15.) Turn On
(Darby's Men's Shop Radio Ad)
16.) I Need You
17.) Zippity-Do-Dah
18.) Leavin Here '67
19.) Out In The Streets
(Sing reissued as an instrumental)
20.) Smokestack Lightnin'/Inside Looking Out
21.) Hold On Baby
22.) Monkey Time



The Rationals
(Self Titled LP)

1.) Barefootin' (Segue)
2.) Temptation 'Bout To Get Me (Segue)
3.) Guitar Army (Segue)
4.) Something's Got A Hold On Me (Segue)
5.) Deep Red
6.) Sunset (Segue)
7.) Glowin' (Segue)
8.) Handbags & Gladrags
9.) Ha-Ha