Various
Artists
Cellarful of Motown Vol. 3
Universal/Motown
UK Release Date: October 2007
Already in the shops in the UK and causing a predictable storm as we
speak. Volumes 1 & 2 were well received from Motown fans worldwide
and again this latest offering will not disappoint. Crammed full of
soulful grooves the majority of which are from the glory years at
Hitsville, and most of the great names are featured here from the
Spinners, The Contours, Stevie, The Miracles, Brenda Holloway, and the
Fantastic Four just to name a few. Never before I have reviewed an
album where I have
included so many audio links for you to sample but the only way to
fully appreciate the songs here are to give
them an immediate listen.
Opening with a storming dance track for the delectable Ms. Brenda
Holloway entitled 'Your Walking Out With My Heart' a fabulous Sylvia
Moy/Henry Cosby composition from 1966 which will be picked up on the
northern soul scene faster than a fiddlers elbow. Click on track 2
below to sample the most amazing track from Motown stalwarts The
Miracles with 'This Love Will Never Die' which tempo wise, reminds you
so much of their 'Whole Lot Of Shaking' this song is literally
fantastic considering it wasn't written by Smokey but part written by
Ivy Jo Hunter amongst others. To say the Miracles are on 'fire' is an
understatement to say the least. Even though these tracks are in the
main appearing on CD for the very first time you can hear samples of
other hits within some of the songs such as the Spinners at track
number 8 where their classic 'I'll Always Love You' is almost being
replayed across the whole song - oh! and by the way, Ivy Jo Hunter
wrote
this gorgeous dance track for the group in November 1965.
I'm still learning to accept the San Remo Strings' storming
instrumental
take on the Temptations' 'Get Ready' as for me its a touch too fast for
my own personal liking, but lovers of the Wigan Casino tempo will lap
this up. Never before have we been treated to so much rare Motown on
one CD and those who have followed the music of the Contours will
listen in disbelief as they tear up the speakers with 'Jealousy Is
Creeping Up On Me' a perfect northern soul dancer if I ever heard one.
This time Mickey Stevenson/Moy/Cosby are at the song writing helm
making it a guaranteed cracker.
There's no getting away from the fact that for many Stevie Wonder's
glory years were between 1965 - 1968 and he was right in the middle of
the action when it came to stamping his mark on a good record and he
gets a look in on this CD with 'At The Go-Go' written by Smokey &
Bobby Rodgers complete with Stevie's trademark harmonica break -
wonderful! Two years ago I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing
Chris Clark and was delighted when Universal Music issued her anthology
and when you hear her version of Tammi Terrell's 'Come On and See Me'
(using the same backing track) it's not surprising that Paul Nixon made
the right decision in ensuring that this track got a placing on this
CD, as it appears that there
was no room left on the aforementioned set from Chris, hence why it
wasn't included.
Speaking of the late Tammi Terrell Motown collectors are well aware of
her single 'Just Too Much To Hope For' sat on the flip side of her
American '45' 'This Old Heart Of Mine' - well this time the legendary
Monitors have a crack at a version of this great song and as predicted
it's fabulous as can be heard by clicking audio link 13.
Carolyn Crawford is a name known to most via her collectable releases
circa 1964 and not to miss out on this new volume do we find her on an
early sounding recording with some neat piano work from the Funks
entitled 'Too Young, Too Long' written by Ivy Jo Hunter and Mickey
Stevenson, this really captures the magic of the early Motown sound and
a clear indication of what was to come in the following years. Compiler
Paul Nixon points out that the Temptations track here 'Come Back My
Love' looks to be the last archived track from this super group in the
vaults and although this sounds a little dated it is nonetheless a
cracking vocal delivery from the great late Eddie Kendrick's - it takes
a few plays to hook you but!!!!!!
Opening side 2 of this marvelous compilation is a Frank Wilson
composition for Ms. Holloway again with the uptown northern soul dance
track 'We'll Keep On Rolling' a song that was just tailor made for the
scene and how could such a track be kept from the public domain for so
long?. Judge for yourself from the audio clip. J.J. Barnes (always a
favourite) recorded very little for Motown after his old label Ric-Tic
was bought out by Motown during the 1960's and although the previous
volume in this series featured material from Barnes, he again
gets
his name on the playlist with a Dean/Wetherspoon song entitled 'I'm
Here Now That You Need Me' . JJ for me always sounded at his very best
on those mid-tempo numbers and this track suits his repertoire to a tee.
There's three songs from the pen of Holland Dozier Holland the first a
take on the Four Tops hit 'Something About You' by Debbie Dean, as well
as 'Can I Get A Witness' by Blinky Williams, and 'Honey Boy' by Little
Lisa otherwise the main songwriters on this CD appear to be centered
around Ivy Jo Hunter/Stevenson/Dean/Wetherspoon and they appear again
for Paul Peterson as he takes on their song 'Farewell Is A Lonely
Sound' a song that Jimmy Ruffin enjoyed success with. I guess the real
gem on sound two must be with songwriter and producer Ivy Jo Hunter who
in March 1965 recorded the fabulous punchy 'Don't Stop Loving Me' that
again was tailor made for the dancefloors. Ivy Jo was not only a master
producer and writer he cut a pretty mean vocal too - what a pity he
didn't record more material that we know about.
If there's one song that keeps drawing me back to the replay button it
has to be the Lollipops 1969 song 'Sweet Sweet Love' cut at Golden
World and set to raise a few eyebrows when more people hear it (watch
Richard Searling start playing this if he's not already doing so on his
Smooth
FM Saturday tea time show) this is absolutely gorgeous! I've included
an audio clip at track 9 for your attention. The great Bobby Taylor
(who appeared up here in Wales the other week) has always been a
favourite of soul connoisseurs and his take on 'Cindy' (also recorded
by the Temptations) is so reminiscent of the late David Ruffin in many
ways recorded in 1968 around the time of 'Mama'
Another track that took me by storm was the Marvelettes who over the
decade had recorded some stunning material for both singles and LP's
and 'Little Girls Grow Up' from 1965 is as perfect as it gets. A
wonderful arrangement and vocal delivery - included here as an audio
sample. Two final storming tunes for your attention to close disc 2
first up is the Headliners 'This Is Goodbye' from the pen of Moy/Cosby
a song that could have sounded good on Stevie Wonder and the Funk
Brothers must have had a ball recording this with all and sundry in the
snakepit on fire. Finally, a cover version of the Miracles' 'Going To A
Go-Go' from the Supremes AND Brenda Holloway. Say no more!
You simply cannot afford not to have a copy of this excellent CD.
Enjoy.
Rating 10/10
TRACKLISTING
- DISC 1 -