Nuggets: I Need You by The Rationals

Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled the 2 album set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years 1965 to 1968 and was a major influence on punk rock. Rhino Records reissued an expanded version of the set in 1998, with 118 tracks in total. I’m profiling and rating each of these 118 tracks, working backwards.

Track 71/118: I Need You by The Rationals
From: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Aphoristic Rating: 8/10

I NEED YOU – The Rationals [2:12]
(Ray Davies)
Personnel/SCOTT MORGAN: vocals, guitar * STEVE CORRELL: lead guitar, vocals * TERRY TRABANDT: bass, vocals * BILL FIGG: drums
Arranged by JEEP HOLLAND
Produced by JEEP HOLLAND for A-SQUARE PRODUCTIONS
Recorded in Detroit, MI [1965]
First issued as A² single #A2-402 (6/68)

The Rationals formed in junior high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. By 1966, when they were still in their mid-teens, they were playing gigs all over Michigan and adjoining states, and appearing on TV. They took their name from the mathematical term rational numbers, suggested by the older brother of guitarist Steve Correll.

Like many Nuggets bands, The Rationals’ career was a series of lost opportunities – they turned down a 1966 offer to sign with Atlantic Records, while in 1968 lead vocalist Scott Morgan declined an offer to front Blood, Sweat & Tears. Fellow Michigan musician Iggy Pop was a fan – he played bass drum on their single ‘Feelin’ Lost’ and later reused the lyrics of The Rationals’ song ‘Leavin’ Here’ on his 1980 tune ‘Get Up and Get Out’.

Confusingly, in a relatively brief career, The Rationals recorded two different songs titled ‘I Need You’ – a cover of a soulful Chuck Jackson song and a cover of an early Kinks song. It’s the cover of The Kinks song that’s featured on Nuggets.

‘I Need You’ is an overlooked early Kinks song – it’s a follow-up to their early garage-rock hits like ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘All Day and All of the Night’. Oddly, The Rationals’ cover was recorded in 1965 but wasn’t released until 1968. By this time it was an anachronism, left behind by three years of lightning-paced development in popular music. It’s a good song – The Kinks version is stronger to my ears, with a tougher sound and Ray Davies’ charismatic vocal. The Rationals’ version is also worthy, however; their lighter version sounds like early power pop.

The Rationals recorded their only full length album in 1970. Scott Morgan has remained in music, including a stint in the Detroit supergroup Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, with the MC5’s Fred Smith, Scott Asheton of the Stooges, and Gary Rasmussen of the Up. Fred Smith later married Patti Smith – the pair were introduced by Lenny Kaye, the collator of the original Nuggets album.

Read More

• Nuggets Song by Song
• 1960s Album Reviews