"Get Ready" is a Motown song written by Smokey Robinson, which resulted in two hit records for the label: a U.S. #29 version by The Temptations in 1966, and a U.S. #4 version by Rare Earth in 1970. It is significant for being the last song Smokey Robinson wrote and produced for the Temptations, due to a deal Berry Gordy made with Norman Whitfield, that if Get Ready did not meet with the expected degree of success, then Whitfield's song, Ain't Too Proud To Beg, would get the next release, which resulted in Whitfield more or less replacing Robinson as the group's producer.
In 1969, Motown's rock band Rare Earth released a cover version of the song as a single. Rare Earth's version of "Get Ready" was the band's first recording for Motown, and was based upon a version of the song it performed as the closing numbers to their live performances. In the live show, each member of the band performed a solo, resulting in a twenty-one minute rendition of the song. It has been debated on whether the actual recording for the album was really recorded at a concert. It has been noted that the audience sounds throughout the song are repetitive and canned. This has been done before with The Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie released on an album with party crowd noise dubbed in.
The band wanted to release "Get Ready" as a single, but Motown declined at first, issuing the unsuccessful "Generation, Light Up the Sky" as the ...
