The Supremes singing 'The House Of The Rising Sun' is less than inspiring and their version of Peter & Gordon's 1963 UK number 1 single 'A World Without Love' sadly doesn't get any better, although their cover of the Beatles' 'A Hard Days Night' does fair somewhat better and justifies a replay on the CD player. What does standout is their rendition of Smokey Robinson's 'You Really Got A Hold On Me' (although this isn't a Mersey track??) and immediately we are immersed in some real Motown before being brought back to earth with another poor attempt at two Beatles songs in 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' and 'Can't Buy Me Love' which left me totally cold and totally convinced that this really wasn't the Supremes singing was it?

'A Little Bit Of Liverpool' was issued at a time when Motown was staring to break across the globe and was arguably in competition against the Beatles/Stones/Who etc. etc., and it may have been a potentially lucrative move for Mr Gordy to hit the UK with their own songs, but the result I suspect was very poor sales and also given that the LP is not one of those 'must have' items it tends to suggest that the vast majority of dedicated Motown fans will/have given this album a very wide berth indeed - sorry!

'TCB' on the other hand is a classy piece of Motown cabaret which was broadcast on US TV at the time, and those of you who have had chance to see the show via the many bootleg video's doing the rounds at the moment will surely agree that this is in a different class altogether than the previously mentioned LP. Ross is at her irresistible best as the girls perform some of their greatest hits in 'You Keep Me Hangin' On' and 'Stop In The Name Of Love' which were already classics by the time this was recorded. It is not necessarily the hits where Diana and the girls reign supreme (excuse the pun) but their versions of easy listening classics which are delivered with pinpoint precision as she delivers as stunning version of 'Somewhere' and 'A Taste Of Honey'.

The Temptations on the other hand had not long lost one of their key front men (David Ruffin) only to be replaced with Dennis Edwards who stayed with the group for many a year and is the voice on the groups hits between 1968-1975. They too had a magical talent of taking non Motown songs and turning them into masterpieces of easy listening as they take on 'Hello Young Lovers' and their duet with Diana and the girls in 'The Impossible Dream' demonstrating both groups at being able to really sing. In-between all this the Temptations deliver a few of their own hit singles with 'I Know I'm Losing You' and 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg' to name but two.

'TCB' was a televised cabaret show of the highest order featuring two of the biggest groups Motown could provide. Having seen the video of the show I can confidently say that they would have won over thousands of new middle aged fans who would have been thrilled at what they saw. The producers of the show were very clever in ensuring that there was a perfect balance of material to suit both Motown and easy listening fans, and they certainly delivered on the night.

I am not normally a fan of live albums but his one must take exception as being something rather special. It was an album that I ignored at the time and some thirty years on it has been a pleasure to re-visit TCB with a different perspective.

Now why couldn't the aforementioned album have been of the same quality?. Worthy of purchase for TCB alone!

Rating 8/10 (TCB)
          4/10 (Liverpool)