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The Rationals were an American rock & roll band from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Rationals formed in 1964 and first recorded a single for a local label, A2 Records, in 1965. After scoring a local hit with the tune "Gave My Love", they recorded a cover of Otis Redding's "Respect. This won them a contract for national distribution by Cameo/Parkway, and the single ended up reaching #92 on the Billboard Hot 100. Unfortunately, the record didn't break everywhere in the U.S. at the same time, so it had a tough time making a decent showing on the national charts. Several further singles, including "I Need You" and "Hold On Baby", were successes in Michigan but didn't catch on nationally. Lead singer Scott Morgan was asked to join Blood Sweat and Tears, but he declined the offer. The group's only full-length, a self-titled effort, arrived on Crewe Records at the beginning of 1970, and the group split up soon after; Morgan went on to play with several other Detroit-area groups over the next three decades, including Sonic's Rendezvous Band (with Fred Smith of MC5) and several of his own bands.

In 1995, John Sinclair released a live recording of a 1968 Rationals benefit concert entitled Temptation 'bout to Get Me. Sinclair also named his book Guitar Army after the Rationals song of the same name.

The band's cover of Carole King's co-written I Need You was also featured on the compilation Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968.

When serious collectors compose lists of the top shoulda-been-bigger bands of the '60s, the Rationals are often among them. Coming out of the same Ann Arbor, MI scene that gave birth to the MC5 and the Stooges, the group's forté was a sort of garageish take on blue-eyed soul, built around the fine R&B-hued vocals of frontman Scott Morgan. Their mid-'60s singles, however, didn't break in many areas outside of Michigan (where they had some big local hits), and by the time they got to record an album, they had long since passed their peak.

The Rationals actually predated the MC5/Stooges by quite some time, both chronologically and stylistically. When they began recording for the local A2 label in 1965, they were, like many garage bands, heavily influenced by the British Invasion, although they gave their material a more soulful flavor than most similar units. "Gave My Love" was a chart-topper in Ann Arbor (and a hit in Detroit), as was a follow-up single of "Respect" (which predated Aretha Franklin's version). Picked up for national distribution by Cameo/Parkway, it nudged into the lowest regions of the national charts as well.

Similar distribution of follow-up singles by Cameo and Capitol found them pursuing a more blue-eyed soul-oriented direction on cuts like "I Need You" and "Hold on Baby," followed the same story: big success in Michigan, nothing doing elsewhere. Morgan turned down a spot in Blood, Sweat & Tears, and the Rationals finally got an album out on Crewe in early 1970. By that time, though, their moment had passed: their best work was behind them, and attempts to modify their energetic pop/soul approach for the psychedelic album market were ill-fated.

The Rationals broke up in the summer of 1970. Morgan continued to build his cult credentials over the next 25 years on sporadic recordings with Sonic's Rendezvous Band (which also featured the MC5's Fred Smith), the Scott Morgan Band, and Scot's Pirates. Licensing hurdles prevented their batch of fine '60s singles for A2, Cameo/Parkway, and Capitol from being reissued on a coherent anthology until Big Beat Records released the fine two-disc Think Rational! in 2009, which included most of the key tracks the group recorded between 1965 and 1968.

THE RATIONALS
1960's Unreleased Tracks

Scott Morgan
Terry Trabant
Steve Correll
Bill Figg

Tracks 1-3 are from an early 1965 demo tape
Track 4 is an alternate version of this track, which was their first single on the local A-Square label.
Tracks 5-6 are unreleased original songs from mid 1965
Track 7 is an alternate version of this track, which was the other side of their first single.
Tracks 8 and 10 are unreleased cover versions.
Track 9 is an alternate version of the b-side of their second A-Square single
Tracks 11-16 are from original 1960's acetate discs that I once personally owned. All are unreleased
and all are different from any commerically released versions of those songs. "Sunset" and "Temptation
'Bout To Get Me" are early versions from 1968, "I Need You" is an alternate take of the single track, complete with an
extra verse edited from the 45 RPM release.

The source for tracks 1-10 was a rare test pressing for a projected Rationals LP that never
materialized. Only two copies of this test pressing are known to have survived, one with a
band member and one with a private collector.

01. Irrational [Demo]
02. Wayfairing Stranger [Demo]
03. Jam [Demo]
04. Look At What You're Doing To Me [Alternate]
05. Someday [Unreleased 1965]
06. Be My Girl [Unreleased 1965]
07. Gave My Love [Alternate]
08. Gloria [Unreleased]
09. Little Girls Cry [Alternate]
10. Smokestack Lightning [Unreleased]
11. Poor Dog [Acetate Discs]
12. Sunset [Acetate Discs]
13. Temptation 'Bout To Get Me [Acetate Discs]
14. Listen To Me [Acetate Discs]
15. I Need You [Acetate Discs]
16. Part Time Love [Acetate Discs]