The ABC's of Motown.

In spite of the massive commercial success the Motown record label enjoyed during the '60s, there's an argument to be made for the early '70s as being its most creatively successful era ever.  And I am not just talking about Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder here.
After gradually starting to move their main operation from Detroit to Los Angeles in 1969 (to be completed in 1972), there just was no way turning back.



Evidence A: The Four Tops.

Commercially on an undeserved downhill slide, the Four Tops issued their most artistically accomplished album to date in 1970.  Peaking just outside the U.S. Top 10, its title track "Still Waters" was a 2 minute and 41 second triumph.
Even better still was the Tops' cover of Tommy Edwards' late '50s standard "It's All in the Game", which became their biggest '70s hits for Motown, excluding a collaboration with the Supremes, before they left the company for greener pastures at ABC-Dunhill a couple of years later.
But perhaps the strongest cut on the album was a love song (of sorts) to Motown's new hometown, the gorgeous "L.A. (My Town)".

 

Never a proper single in its own right though, it belatedly appeared as the B-side to "A Simple Game" (1972), one of the Tops' last Motown singles until their return to the label in the late '80s.  

 

   

At ABC-Dunhill from 1972 to 1978, the Four Tops produced a fine body of work, especially during the first half of that period under the firm guidance of producers/songwriters Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter.
Arguably the greatest Motown vocal group of all time, The Four Tops' name will, as it should be, always be synonymous with Motown.

 

Evidence B: The Supremes.

 

After parting company with their charismatic leader - one Diana Ross - in early 1970, the Supremes' future prospects were somewhat in doubt.  Especially after Motown boss Berry Gordy had vetoed Ross' successor Jean Terrell and "washed his hands" of the group altogether. 

Nonetheless, the aptly named "Right On" L.P. appeared in the spring of 1970, its lead-off single "Up the Ladder to the Roof" having just previously hit the U.S. Top 10.

 

  

In hindsight at least the change was all good.  Prior to Ms. Ross' departure the Supremes sound had become stale and, notwithstanding the fact that their records did not always feature all of the Supremes, somewhat soulless.  Surely Las Vegas boomed, but at what cost? 

Further Jean Terrell-led albums followed: "New Ways, But Love Stays" (1970), "Touch" (1971), "Floy Joy" (1972), as well as an Jimmy Webb (mostly)written & produced album (all of which were collected on the marvellous "This is the Story - The '70s Albums, Vol. 1, 1970-1973 - The Jean Terrell Years" Hip-O-Select CD set from a few years back), not to mention several albums' worth of collaborations with the almighty and previously praised Four Tops.

 

 

And although the hits became fewer and appeared further in between than in their '60s Ross-led heyday, the excellence of said material is indisputable.  "Stoned Love", "Nathan Jones" and "Floy Joy", to name but few, all became size able hits in their own right.

To make a long story short, The Supremes continued to record for Motown well into the disco era, although with diminishing commercial returns.  But one of their most rewarding recordings appeared on their self-titled 1975 album and, as far as I know, wasn't even issued as a single: Lambert & Potter's perhaps aptly named disco-lite opus "It's All Been Said Before"...

 

 

 

Evidence C: The Miracles.

 

Another Motown vocal group left in the lurch by its fearless leader at the turn of the '70s, although Smokey postponed his amicable departure from the group after the then three year old Stevie Wonder catchy co-write "Tears of a Clown" surprisingly hit #1 hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1970.

 





Three years later though, the inevitable could no longer be postponed.  A position as the vice-president of Motown awaited Smokey, as well as a looming lucrative solo career.

His replacement Billy Griffin made his recording debut as a Miracle on the "Renaissance" album in 1973.

A great yet unfairly overlooked album at the time, and so was its follow up "Do it Baby" (1974), although its funky title track became a Top 20 U.S. hit - the Miracles' first in three years.

 

 

But, as often is the case, the best was yet to come.

The Miracles' next album, 1975's "City of Angels" (Yet another Motown love letter to L.A.), is undoubtedly their strongest and also yielded their biggest post-Smokey hit in the disco stomper "Love Machine" - a U.S. #1.

 

 



Other highlights included the unintentionally hilarious early pro-gay paean "Ain't Nobody Straight in L.A.", which contains this unforgettable nugget: "Homosexuality is a part of society, I guess that we need some more variety..."   

 

 

In spite of having a number 1 single and a Top 30 album on their hands their next album, "The Power of Music" (1976), failed to follow up its predecessor's success and became the Miracles' swansong for Motown.  A move to Columbia proved to be a failure as well and by the late '70s this legendary act had pretty much fallen off the radar.

Nonetheless, their legacy remains undisputed and although their '73-'76 Motown tenure isn't as universally lauded as their late '50s - 'early '70s work with Smokey Robinson, it certainly deserves a reappraisal.

 







Always Magic in the Air...

A few years ago I read Ken Emerson's amazing account of the Brill Buliding era, "Always Magic in the Air".  In fact, everyone even vaguely interested in the golden era (the early '60s) of American pop music should.  Furthermore, for every ill-informed idiot who claims there wasn't a whole lot going on Stateside until the almighty Beatles first crossed the Atlantic in '64, this should be a required reading.
Focusing on the masters of song, such as Leiber & Stoller, Goffin & King, Pomus & Shuman, Greenwich & Barry, Mann & Weil, Bacharach & David, and Sedaka & Greenfield, Emerson's tale was obviously an inspiration for the good folks at U.K.'s Ace Records, who launched their still-ongoing CD "Songwriter series" around the time the book was first published, in the mid-'00s.
Apart from the aforementioned songwriter teams, said series have also featured the early works of Neil Diamond and Phil Spector (separately, of course :-), plus career overviews of Boyce & Hart, Randy Newman, Sloan & Barri, Lee Hazlewood, Bert Berns, Chip Taylor, and Jackie DeShannon - to name but a few.
Of course every serious music enthusiast owns, for instance, Bobby Vee's big hit version of Goffin & King's "Take Good Care of My Baby".  But not everyone's aware of the fact that Dion recorded the original version of that little gem.  Well, Ace's compilers take both matters into account and include Dion's scarcely heard interpretation rather than Bobby's more familiar - and, frankly, better - one on their Vol. 2 collection of Goffin & King's compositions. 
There are numerous other similar examples of how these excellent Ace series both educate and entertain the listener. 
Digging for dusty obscurities ripe for (re)discovery is also something the Ace people obviously see as an often rewarding challenge.

 

Apart from the obvious highlights of the series (Goffin & King Vol. 1, Mann & Weil, Greenwich & Barry), personally I was also pleasantly surprised by the Sloan & Barri CD, as well as the Penn & Oldham, Jackie DeShannon, and Chip Taylor collections.  Previously something I thought were merely a few hit wonders, thanks to the Ace folks, I am now a proper fan.

Always magic in the air, indeed...

 



 

Links:

 

Ace Records

Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era

 

 



        

Albums that time forgot (1).

The Young Rascals/"Groovin'" (1967)

 

 

Issued at the very height of the Summer of Love, it's really absurd that this record isn't generally considered to be among that season's very best.  Obviously though, it's up against some fairly fierce competition ("Sgt. Pepper", "Surrealistic Pillow", "Headquarters", "Are You Experienced", "Younger Than Yesterday", "Forever Changes", etc.).

Nonetheless, it is one of those rare records where nearly every single cut is a classic.  The only song I have the very slightest of beef with here is also the only cover; namely Stevie Wonder's "A Place in the Sun".  Don't get me wrong, it's all very nice'n'smooth, but also so very unnecessary.  Why does a band that can come up with self-penned classics such as "Groovin'", "A Girl Like You", "How Can I Be Sure" (covered by everyone from Dusty Springfield to David Cassidy) and "You Better Run", all on the same album, need to cover anyone - even though it's a genius like Stevie Wonder?!  Well, I might be 45 years late, but I'm just asking... 

 

 

Their third and last LP as the YOUNG Rascals, "Groovin'" is also their best - bar none.  In it, all the elements of the unparalleled Rascals sound come together and blend perfectly.  Garage rock meets Pop meets Psychedelia meets Latin, via their ever winsome Blue-eyed Soul which no other band of any era ever bettered.

 

   

 

Unusual for albums made in the late '60s which were more often than not issued both in Stereo and Mono, this is a record clearly made just for Stereo.  One of its highlights, "Find Somebody" is a good example of that.

 



 

Apart from the obvious hits - AND "Find Somebody" - Gene Cornish's "I'm So Happy Now" and "I Don't Love You Anymore" are also eye-openers and prove that he was another songwriting force to be reckoned with within the Rascals' ranks, although Felix Cavaliere's and Eddie Brigati's songs were usually chosen as the singles.

So "A Girl Like You", the album's opener and another Cavaliere/Brigati composition, became one of the record's biggest hits.  And as this following live performance from the Ed Sullivan Show on June 4th, 1967, goes to show - regardless of the screaming girls in the audience - The Rascals were an amazing bunch of musicians.  Their drummer Dino Danelli just might be one of the unsung heroes of '60s Pop.  

 



 

Curiously, "You Better Run" was more than a year old when it appeared on the "Groovin'" album.  Issued as a single in May 1966, it owed a lot more to the (Young) Rascals' Garage rock roots than the rest of the album.  The excellent "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" from the Young Rascals' self-titled debut LP is another good example of that particular side of the Rascals.  

Never mind The Kinks, along with Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Rascals were responsible for bringing Garage rock - a predecessor to Punk - into the American mainstream...and Top 10.

 

 

After "Groovin'", the Rascals certainly continued to make great singles, but, unfortunately, never made another great album.  Good albums - yes, but "Groovin'" remains their sole crowning moment in that area.  



 

tbc.



 

Harlem Shuffle. Or, How I Got Into Soul Music.

In 1987 I had landed what I thought was the ultimate dream job.  It was with a company which ran a few record shops, released records by local acts, and, best of all, imported records.  Which of course meant that I could sample pretty much everything my insatiable music-hungry heart desired.  On top of that, 25% staff discount was nothing to sneeze at...
I was in my early 20's and my tastes were widening.  I was beginning to feel more open to several types of music which I hadn't been interested in before.  One of those styles was soul music. 
Mostly, I credit Paul Weller's post-Jam group The Style Council with installing that interest in me.  I had pretty much everything TSC ever released and I just loved them.  Live, they covered stuff like Curtis Mayfield's "Move on Up" and on record they wore their influences on their collective sleeve.  For instance, I later found out, one of their best album tracks, "Headstart for Happiness", borrowed heavily from the Chi-Lites.



Motown had also entered my life.  I fell for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles in a big way via the double "Anthology" LP.
Thus, you might say I was ripe for the next step into the realms of classic '60s soul music.  And a co-worker at the aforementioned record company unknowingly pushed my in that direction by one day non-chalantly commenting that this record, "Harlem Shuffle", had been "the best record we imported last year".  My curiousity was raised.
The previous year - 1986 - the Rolling Stones had made a useless record, "Dirty Work", and its lead-off single had been a little ditty called "Harlem Shuffle", a semi-obscure '60s soul tune by the long-forgotten duo of Bob & Earl.  And of course Charly Records, then the leading British re-issue label, had the bright idea to cash-in on the Stones' good choice of a bad cover version by (re)introducing the original version to the record buying public at large by compiling an LP of similiraily obscure soul classics a couple of decades old.

Besides, the '80s was the decade that the advertising industry, especially in Great Britain, awoke to the lucrative possibilities of featuring an "oldie" in a TV commercial.  Jackie Wilson had this way unexpectedly been brought into the upper regions of the singles charts.  So had Marvin Gaye, and Nina Simone.  And then there was a phenomenon called "Northern Soul", which for years had existed as an underground fad among a chosen few in the nightclubs of Britain, but was now floating up to the surface as a viable tastemaker -  although for years the Brits (and, indeed, the world) had been buying Northern Soul classics such as Soft Cell's cover of Gloria Jones', err, glorious "Tainted Love".



But to make a long story short, "Harlem Shuffle - Sixties Soul Classics" (Charly R&B LP, CRB 1139, 1986) was an absolute eye-opener for me.  Besides Bob & Earl's timeless title tune, other highlights include Brenton Wood's Top 2 ("Gimme a Little Sign" and "Oogum Boogum Song" - certainly NOT the novelty song it threatens to be), the Soul Survivors sole hit "Expressway to Your Heart", Barbara Lewis' very best Atlantic sides ("Hello Stranger" and "Baby I'm Yours"), The Capitols' "Cool Jerk", Mel & Tim's infectious "Backfield in Motion", and the Shades of Blue sweet "Oh How Happy" - to name but a few.

And since that fateful day I was introduced to this wondrous music via this great compilation I am here tipping my hat to, I've been hooked...