RATING GUIDE
90-100% Excellent
80-90% Very Good
60-80% OK/Good
50-60% Is it worth it?
Below 50% forget it
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This is Northern Soul!
THE MOTOWN SOUND Vol. 1
Debutante 530 818-2
Track listing
1 Think it over and be sure (a.k.a. Reconsider) Brenda Holloway
2 Do I love you (Indeed I do)
Frank Wilson
3 This love starved heart of mine
Marvin Gaye
4 Goodbye cruel world
Linda Griner
5 Share a little love with me (somebody)
The Monitors
6 Forever in my heart
(a.k.a Come on back to me baby)
The Temptations
7 I'm still loving you
Kim Weston
8 Supremes
He's all I got
9 Just walk in my shoes
Gladys Knight & the Pips
10 Keep on lovin' me
Frances Nero
11 Crying in the night
The Monitors
12 You hit me (right where it hurt me)
Kim Weston
13 (Like a) Nightmare
The Andantes
14 A Thrill a Moment
Kim Weston
15 I'll keep holding on
The Marvelettes
16 Truly yours
The Temptations
17 When I'm gone
Brenda Holloway
18 Just a little misunderstanding
The Contours
19 No one could love you more
Gladys Knight
20 You ain't saying nothing new
Virgil Henry
21 Goodnight Irene
The Originals
22 I gotta find a way (to get you back)
The Temptations
23 What more could a boy ask for
The Detroit Spinners
24 It's to late for you and me
(a.k.a It's never too late)
Gladys Knight
CD Recommendation #7
This is Northern Soul!
THE MOTOWN SOUND Vol. 1
This compilation was put together by highly respect DJ Chris King who is the Northern scenes Motown afficionado par excellence. Not only did he compile the CD he was also involved in the mastering.
Like Chris King I'm also a die-hard Motown Man. It was the Sound of Young America that took me by storm and turned me into a young Mod by the Spring of '66. This was the era when the Mods turned to Soul music with a vengeance and abandoned the R&B sounds that been predominantly played in the preceding couple of years. I mention this little piece of irrelvant trivia because some of the tracks on this superb compilation were originally heard and played way back then. I've given the game away again! Superb compilation. This says it all. Without the impact Motown label(s) the Northern Scene may never have developed. Motown's influence on Black American Soul music was potent and important.
Creating a compilation to please everyone is impossible. Especially where Motown recordings are concerned. Motown produced so many high quality recordings that it was almost impossible for them to release everything. Notably much depended on Berry Gordy's policy of going for the big hit jugular. If it didn't fit in with his game plan of the day then it had to be abandoned. Well, thanks to a dedicated hardcore of Northern Soul Motown fans like Chris King the lesser known goodies were rescued from the Tamla Trash~heap to blaze a cult following.
Brenda Holloway is very much among the Northern scenes most popular women performers. Kicking off the compilation with Reconsider she provides a stormer to set the mood and remind us what a fabulous but underrated talent she was at Motown. A monster of dance record way back when it still pulls dancers out onto the floor with a frightening swell! 10/10. (What can I say? She stole my heart as a DJ back in the 60's when I first played Just look what you've done/Starting the hurt all over again on the green label demo I still play now!). I won't say I would have killed to have a copy of this back in the 60's but I might have sold my grandma into slavery...
I won't ramble on about the next track. You either love it or hate it. Most people, like me, love it: Frank Wilson's Do I love you (Indeed I do) ... indeed I do! By now everyone just about knows the story of this slice of Motown Magic. So I'll simply vote as would most of the majority with 10/10.
Marvin Gaye remains one of the Motown Masters. In my book he was a far more consumate performer than even Smokey Robinson. This love starved heart of mine is one of those track's, like the previous two, when you wonder what on Earth the Motown marketing men were thinking about when they passed it over. A late entry onto the scene rescued from the vaults of oblivion by someone with impeccable taste. Never available before 1994. A fabulous dancer! Unhesitatingly 10/10.
Linda Griner was one of Motown's lesser well known talents who was passed over in the special treatement stakes of early 60's Motown management. Her 1963 recording Goodbye Cruel World is an established Northern classic in mid-tempo mode. One of those songs with a strong story line of love gone bad but with the strength to move on inspite of the hurt. Again 10/10 but given the classic status of this rarity hardly surprising.
The Monitors never made it with Motown. Just like the Spinners they were relegated to the second rank. Well, there's nothing second rate or second class about Share a little love with me (Somebody). This is the quality staple of Northern's Motown palys. A great dance number that still has the magic working today. One of those records that has Motown stamped all the way through like Blackpool rock.10/10
The Temptations were prolific in their output to say the least. (Goodness only knows what other out-takes remain to be found in the depths of the Vaults!) Forever in my heart is a mid-tempo track that although a top drawer play is one of the weaker recordings on this compilation. Only a 9/10. (It's not that weak!!!)
I'm still loving you by Kim Weston is a can do no wrong record. Ecstatic chorus kicks off this powerful and emotional performance. Kim Weston displays the real feel on this and the whole is just dynamic. Simply gets better... can't get you out of my mind... absolutely so Kim! 10/10.
There's always been a tendency to sneer whenever the Supremes are mentioned amongst some Northern followers. (You sad bunch of weeners! I bet you never bother to listen to their albums). He's all I got is one of those tracks which Berry Gordy must have blanked on when he heard it. If ever there was multi-million international big hit that missed the gravy train then it was this recording! Thank God that the guy occasionally blundered big time! A great dancer that pulls hardened Motown lovers onto the floor even now and one of my firm favourites to go on the turntables at the right time to please the crowd! 10/10.
Gladys Knight is my personal Empress of Soul. Just walk in my shoes is just so good that the thought of giving this masterpiece less than 10/10 would be about as remote as someone winning the lottery without buying a ticket. You can dance to it. You can sit and listen to it. You will always be impressed by the performance of Gladys and her men.
By the time we get to track 10 and Frances Nero doing Keep on Lovin' Me you begin to realise how well Chris King has sequenced this compilation. What a natural follow on play and with an equally potent vocal and lyric. Talk about Cloud 9 stuff. 10/10 without hesitation. Again, Frances Nero was a talented that was so terribly underrated by the company.
The Monitors second offering on this CD is Crying in the Night. This is an established oldie on the Northern scene and a classic spin. A typical Motown arrangement and with the usual Tamla instrumentation but never just another record. Exhudes class all the way and monotonously 10/10.
Kim Weston follows with her version of You hit me (Where it hurts me). This is one of my top 20 Motown records. I equally love the Alice Clark version and have no preference over either version. Just so superb. What the Motown sound was all abou in my book. I would have bought the CD for this track alone. 10/10. Dance your feet down to your knee caps...
The mega rare Andantes Like a nightmare makes a welcome appearance. It's an excellent record but not outstanding in my book. It deserves a 10/10 but for all its mega rareness and 3k+ values it's only on a par with all of the other max scorers on this CD. Sounds like I'm doing it down a bit but I'm not! Honestly!
Kim Weston is back again quickly with her ever popular A thrill a moment. I'd probably be lynched if I even joked about giving this less than full marks. And I wouldn't joke about this much loved number. On the slow side but packed with soul and worth every bit of its 10/10.
The Marvelettes make their only appearance on this compilation next. I'll keep holding on from 1965 still keeps people out on the dance floor and deserves to be an essential inclusion.Sorry, 10/10. Boringly but then we're talking creme de la creme of Motown's lesser well known dance favourites.
O.k. so I'm going to give the Temptations Truly Yours a 9/10. It's very good and still has -pulling power when played but I have other favouritesof theirs which I feel are better. (e.g. Don't look back). It's a shame the two Tempts tracks are the low scorers so far but even with a 90% rating they achieve high scores. Not their absolute max best but still pretty damn good.
Track 17 sees Brenda Holloway making her second appearance on the compilation with When I'm gone. Just a brilliant performance from one of the Northern scenes favourite lady singers. Just magic. I would also have liked to see Just look what you've done as well I suppose lines of inclusion/exclusion have to be drawn somewhere. Another 10/10 .
Just a little misunderstanding by the Contours appears next. Full monty 10/10. Just watch the floor fill at a venue like the Ritz (Brighouse) when this comes on... A Northern evergreen par excellence. No one ever seems to tire of hearing this song. A timeless classic.
The Empress of Soul is back with No one could love you more. Well, 10/10, for Gladys Knight and her men, yeh?
Ah, and so to a real rarity! Virgil Henry's You ain't saying nothing new. For some peculiar reason I always seem to associate this as one Tony Bank's favourite spins. The really interesting history to this record is that it was not one of Motown's home grown productions. It was licenced from Heritage/Collossus and then re-issued. A real monster and one I love to spin myself. Guess what? Yep. 10/10.
Goodnight Irene by the Originals was a regular spin at the Plebs Club in Halifax back in 1967. I have to confess it's not one of my favourite Motown tracks and that's why it gets an 8/10. I've never really thought of it as being in the same league as Suspicion which is inherently a much superior number. It ought to have been on this compilation but even so Goodnight Irene still rates an 8/10.
Another Temptations track makes its appearance next. I gotta find a way (To get back to you). Not one of their greatest number. Typical Tempts sound. Classy as always but not one of their most outstandings songs. Oh, dear. 8/10. Honestly, I do like the Temptations! Truly... I just don't think these are their strongest numbers...
The Spinners make their only appearance on the penultimate track with What could a boy ask for. Sheer brilliance! A great dancer packed with a thoroughly joyful performance. Awesome record that has thesame kind of pulling power as the Contours classic. 10/10.
Gladys Knight round's of Volume I with It's too late for you and me. The Empress makes it 3/3 on this compilation with a 10/10.
So what do I really think about the compilation? With a 98.5% rating I think it's dog rough and should be avoided.... Only joking!!!! This CD cannot be recommended highly enough. It's difficult to make a compilation that will appeal to everyone. And then there will always be someone who quibbles about their personal favourites being missed out (ah, hem, guilty your honour) but this is simply a top notch selection. Unashamedly and unreservedly recommended as an exellent compilation.
