Universal Music appear to be keeping their promise and commitment to Motown fans in issuing rare and collectable items from the vaults at Hitsville. April sees the release of two very important titles from the early days of Motown's history the first being the long awaited set from singer/songwriter Barrett Strong whose hit single 'Money' which apart from being covered by other artists such as the Beatles was a blue-print for the future hits on the label during the remainder of the 1960's.
I wonder if Barrett ever imagined just what impact his hit single would have on the record buying public at that time, and more especially the impact that his song writing talents would have on fellow Motown artists too.

This new CD showcases Barrett's complete early recordings for Motown as well as including ten unreleased recordings from the vaults. If you are looking for northern soul rarities on this disc then I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news as there are none. The recordings from this disc are centred around 1959-1963 long before any of the big dance tunes were even thought of, indeed on close inspection even the Funk Brothers were still cutting their teeth on Berry Gordy's dream sound that would take another couple of years to develop before the record buying public lit the blue touch paper on a sound that exploded onto the pop/r'n'b charts of the US and Europe.

The aforementioned hit 'Money' will need no introduction to most readers but there are some interesting tunes to be found for those fans who took interest in the birth of the Motown sound. Take 'I'm Gonna Cry' for example which was a raw sounding cut from 1960 with backing vocals not too dissimilar to the Miracles' 'Shop Around' hit of the same year and an immaculate pleading vocal delivery showcasing Strong's powerful vocals. Many of these tunes border on doo-wop and blues as opposed to the Motown sound of the mid sixties. I particular like the Sam Cooke influenced 'Whirlwind' a 1960 US issued Tamla 45 with a great rock and roll styled arrangement that would have influenced all and sundry at that time.

The opening bars to track eight 'You Got What It Takes' from 1961 will have your feet tapping in no time at all and is equally as strong a track as Marv Johnson's version for the label and has since established itself as a classic from the sixties since the pop smash cover by the DC5 in 1965. 'Lets' Rock' is another uptempo Sam Cooke influenced rocker complete with honky tonk piano and a blistering sax solo that was to become a trademark of the Motown sound in years to come. Quite often you find when you hear a song for the very first time you compare it with another similar sounding song and 'Do The Very Best You Can' is a very strong mid tempo affair sounding so much like the Skyliners 'Since I Don't Have You' and given that that is a great song in itself!!!.

Onto some of the unreleased tunes you'll find 'Tell All Your Friends' a typical early sixties pop/doo-wop affair although I'd love to know who is providing the backing vocals as it doesn't sound like the Andantes etc. and whilst not being a very commercial song nevertheless had me returning to it time and time again. Having recently met the Funk Brothers I was particularly interested in listening out for various group members on these recordings and 'Believe It Or Not' has some neat guitar work (presumably from Joe Messina/Eddie Willis) who utilised some very memorable guitar riffs on those great Motown hits.

Other tracks previously unreleased may do little to move the average listener but the closing song 'What Is Love' has a brilliant guitar riff and one suspects the Beatles will have used this style on many of their excellent album tracks during their early days. You will need an acquired taste for this CD and connoisseurs/completists will find this an invaluable addition to their Motown collections - its a bit too early for my personal liking.

Barrett Strong went on to become a major song writer/producer for Motown later on in the sixties where after teaming up with the great Norman Whitfield became responsible for writing Marvin Gaye's million seller 'Grapevine' as well as 'Just My Imagination' for the Temptations in 1971 amongst many others.

Rating 6/10