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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 8, 2013 9:57:58 GMT -5
Motown Month continues. As I've mentioned before, Motown became well known for it's signature sound. But, not all of its groups followed that sound. Some evolved from it, like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. But, some never really followed it in the first place. This was especially true in the 1970s and 1980s, when the times had changed and the Motown Sound had become retro. One of the most successful acts from this time was The Commodores. The band was originally signed to the more rock-oriented MoWest imprint before moving over to the main label. And, they had always explored a sound that was as much country-influenced as R&B. For every hard, funky Commodores number like “Machine Gun” and “Brick House,” frontman Lionel Richie delivered mellifluous, twangy ballads like “Sail On,” “Easy,” “Still,” and the 10-million-selling single “Three Times A Lady.” But, today we're looking at one of the funky numbers. Here's "Brick House." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 9, 2013 9:24:20 GMT -5
Motown Month, continues. Today's it's Rick James, bitch! Now, he's had an interesting career, not including the cocaine and that time he kept a woman tied up in his house and tortured her. He got his start in music in the 1960s rock scenes in upstate New York, Canada (where he worked with a pre-Buffalo Springfield Neil Young), and California. But, he didn't become famous until he went to work for Motown, reinventing himself as a Prince-like impresario during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He had his biggest hit with the funky track "Super Freak," but I'm gonna focus on another hit of his, one that isn't as overplayed as "Super Freak." So, here is "Give It To Me Baby." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 10, 2013 9:52:04 GMT -5
Motown Month continues. Time for a little theme week in this theme month. Now, so far, this has been a sausage fest. But, there were a lot of female acts who worked for Motown. In fact, some of the label's most famous acts were girl groups. So, let's honor them with The Ladies Of Motown Week. And, we start with The Supremes. Few acts benefited from the Motown combine (the etiquette lessons, the style consultations, the teams of skilled songwriters and session men) as much as The Supremes, and few exemplified so clearly how difficult it became over time for Gordy to control his employees. Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard first caught Gordy’s attention when they auditioned for him as teenagers, though he made them keep re-auditioning before he finally signed them. Then Gordy pushed them to try out different styles, and to tour incessantly on the cheap before the group finally came up with a hit, “Where Did Our Love Go?” With Gordy pushing Ross as the lead, The Supremes got on a roll in the ’60s, scoring with a string of offbeat “Love” songs: “Baby Love,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Love Child,” and more. However, Ross’ rise to prominence irritated Wilson and Ballard, who were used to sharing the spotlight; and her closeness with Gordy didn’t exactly endear her to her labelmates, either. She was known to steal bits of other Motowners’ acts, and to passive-aggressively manipulate people to get the songs and attention she wanted. But, that was all behind the scenes; the public only saw the results: catchy, heartfelt songs like “Come See About Me” and “Reflections.” And, today, you're getting one of those catchy love songs. Here's "You Can't Hurry Love." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 11, 2013 9:36:38 GMT -5
Motown Month continues. And, so does The Ladies Of Motown Month. Today, we have one of the label's first big acts: Martha And The Vandellas. They were one of the groups that helped define the early Motown sound: a chugging rhythm section, honeyed vocals, and inescapable hooks. The group also benefited from receiving the full attention of the Motown machine, which groomed their image, promoted them aggressively, and handed them hits by the songwriting and producing team of Brian Holland, Edward Holland, and Lamont Dozier (the source of many of the label’s biggest songs and collectively known as Holland-Dozier-Holland) and others. During the early days of the label, the group produced several hits, including “(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave,” “Dancing In The Street,” and “I’m Ready For Love.” But, their success didn't last. By decade’s end the group was troubled by internal tension, the departure of Holland-Dozier-Holland and other supporters, and Gordy’s decision to focus on other acts. Still, they had a few hits in late 1960s. And, here is one of them: "Jimmy Mack." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 12, 2013 9:39:03 GMT -5
The Ladies Of Motown Week continues. Today, we have another girl group that showed that Motown was going to be just as successful with its female artists as with its male ones: The Marvelettes. However, they weren't as successful as The Supremes or Martha And The Vandels, mainly because Motown was behind those two groups more than The Marvelettes. Despite coming in third for attention, the group managed to produce several hits and a strong catalog that showed that even though the Motown factory system didn’t always know how to promote everything it put out, it still produced strong products. And, here is one of those songs: "Please Mr. Postman." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 13, 2013 8:16:01 GMT -5
The Ladies Of Motown Month continues. Today, we're looking at a bit of an anomaly. For one, there are men in this group; but the lead singer was a woman. So, it still counts. Second, we're looking at a group that didn't become famous through Motown. No, Gladys Knight And The Pips got their start on Vee-Jay Records and were a hit on the R&B charts for a good while. Then, Barry Gordy was to convince the group to sign with Motown in 1966. Though, it wasn't that hard of a sell. Motown was becoming very successful at the time. And, good sign of success is when established acts want to join your new label. Knight And The Pips reached an even wider audience for her gospel-tinged, deeply Southern soul, heard in songs like “That’s The Way Love Is” and “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” (both later even bigger hits for Marvin Gaye). But, the poaching went both ways. Knight never felt that she got the “crossover” push that Gordy’s favorite Ross received, and when Buddah Records came calling in the ’70s, Knight and her Pips jumped ship, and immediately scored their biggest pop hit with “Midnight Train To Georgia.” But, today, we're looking at one of their last hits with Motown: "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 14, 2013 9:26:16 GMT -5
The Ladies Of Motown Week continues. And, today, I want to talk about a man. Why? Because of the fine art of duet. Now, Marvin Gaye was one of the label's most successful solo acts. But, he also excelled as a duet artist. He recorded duet albums with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, and Diana Ross. However, his most frequent duet partner was Tammi Terrell, with whom he found a chemistry he never duplicated with anyone else. Terrell, who’d previously recorded as Tammy Montgomery and toured with James Brown, had some success as a solo artist but was never better than when playing against Gaye. It was like these two were meant to sing with one another. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, kicked off a run that included “You’re All I Need To Get By,” “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing,” and other enduring favorites. The team recorded three albums together, but their time together wouldn't last. Sadly, Terrell’s health cut their partnership short when she died of brain cancer at the age of 24. Still, the music remains. So, here is Terrell and Gaye with "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 15, 2013 10:31:28 GMT -5
The Ladies Of Motown Week continues. Today, we're looking at another one of Marvin Gaye's duet partners: Mary Wells. Though, Wells was also pretty successful as a solo artist as well. In face, she was briefly one of Motown’s biggest stars, lending her beguiling voice to early-’60s hits like “You Beat Me To The Punch” and “Two Lovers.” The biggest hit of her career occurred in 1964 with “My Guy.” The Beatles sang her praises and invited her to open for the group the same year. Then, Wells, sensing she might be better off elsewhere and feeling there might not be room for her as The Supremes’ star ascended, left the label to seek her fortune elsewhere. It never really worked out, and her relationship with Motown remained bitter until her death in 1992. The songs, however, are some of the brightest from the first phase of the label’s existence. And, here is that big hit of hers: "My Guy." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 16, 2013 10:17:04 GMT -5
The Ladies Of Motown Week has come to an end. And, we finish with Brenda Holloway: a woman who's career came in last in Barry Gordy's rankings of importance because of his insistence on making Diana Ross a star. So, it's fitting she's last. Ironically, though, Ross owes at least some bit of her fame to Holloway. Holloway’s stunning ballad “Every Little Bit Hurts” found a fan in Dick Clark, who asked for Holloway to be a part of his touring show “Caravan Of Stars.” Gordy agreed, with the condition that Clark take The Supremes, whose song “Where Did Our Love Go” was just about to break, Gordy felt. By the end of the tour, The Supremes were huge. And, while Holloway was asked to open for The Beatles the following year, she was never given Motown’s best material, and her career floundered. Before she left the label, Holloway co-wrote and recorded one of Motown’s enduring classics: “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” which was minor hit in Holloway’s version and then a smash when Blood, Sweat & Tears covered it two years later. However, I'm going to post the song that brought her success in the first place. Here is "Every Little Bit Hurts." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 17, 2013 9:30:06 GMT -5
Motown Month continues. Now, I don't know if you've noticed this; but most of Motown's artists are black. Shocking, I know. But, they weren't all black. There were some white people who worked for Motown as well. And, we're going to spotlight them. Here's White People In Motown? Week.
And, we begin with Teena Marie. You may have heard of her, but she wasn't that big of a Motown act, mainly because she came to the label in the 1980s, long after the heights of Motown's influence. It’s a shame that a weakened Motown couldn’t make a bigger star out of Teena Marie, though that was as much a case of Marie being a musical and cultural misfit as Motown being in disarray. At a time when the R&B market was angling toward electro-funk and hip-hop, Marie was an old-fashioned soul woman (and white, to boot) without much of a market for her skills. After Rick James became one of Motown’s biggest moneymakers, he took on Marie as a project and had some success fitting her into his more fluid fusion of rock, soul, disco, and new wave. But someone with Marie’s voice and passion could’ve been huge in a different context. In the early days of Motown, the label got its records onto pop radio by disguising the race of its artists. It initially tried a similar gambit for Marie but couldn’t keep her under wraps forever in the era of Soul Train and MTV. Still she had some moderate success, and here is her biggest hit, "Lovergirl." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 18, 2013 10:15:11 GMT -5
White People In Motown? Week continues. Today, we're looking at another oddity in Motown: rock music. Motown had always diversified beyond the soul music that made it famous, putting out pop vocalists and country artists alongside its more famous artists. Though, you may not know about them because the label didn’t push them that hard. Motown invested heavily in one rock act, however: Detroit’s Rare Earth. Though it sounded closer to Iron Butterfly than Smokey Robinson, the group clearly knew and loved Motown, concluding its first album for the label with a 21-minute version of The Temptations’ “Get Ready.” Cut down to the length of a single, it gave the act a hit in 1970, and for a few years it looked like Motown might have some genuine rock stars on its hands. However, Rare Earth turned out to be more of a fuzzy oddity than a game-changer. Nevertheless, here is that one hit of theirs: "Get Ready." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 18, 2013 10:19:05 GMT -5
Bonus: Since it's Motown Month and today's song is a Motown cover, here's the original "Get Ready" from The Temptations. Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 19, 2013 9:27:26 GMT -5
White People In Motown? Week continues. Now, Motown was known for it's groups of male singers. And, this tradition kept on going all the way to the 1990s with Boyz II Men. The group moved to be one of Motown late successes. So, they tried again but this time with white people. And, that's where we got 98 Degrees. They were somewhat famous during the Rise Of The Boy Bands. However, NSYNC and Backstreet Boys were more popular. Why? I suspect it had something to do with the fact that they only 4 members as opposed to NSYNC and Backstreet Boys' 5. Now, the group was only with Motown for their first album, but it still counts. And, here is their first single, "Invisible Man." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 20, 2013 10:01:40 GMT -5
White People In Motown? Week continues. Now, as Motown got bigger, the label began creating subsidiaries, sister labels to release many more artists than the main label could handle. And, where many of Motown's white artists came from. They were signed to these labels that were owned by Motown that most people didn't really know about. Today's featured artist is one such band: The Rustix. They were signed to Motown's Rare Earth Records and were a blue-eyed soul band, which is a polite term for "white people making soul music." They only released 2 albums with Rare Earth and had a minor hit with "Can't You Hear The Music Play," which helps explain why you've probably never heard of them. Anyway, here is said hit. Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 21, 2013 9:41:16 GMT -5
White People In Motown? Week continues. Today, we're looking at yet another white person you had no idea was signed to Motown. And, for today, that person is Stoney. So, who is Stoney? Well, she's a woman, born Cheryl Murphy in Nebraska. Murphy wanted to be a singer and certainly had the powerhouse voice for that, but there isn't a huge music scene in Nebraska. So, she moved to Detroit, took the name Stoney, and pretty much moved around the local scene, waiting to be noticed. Sure enough, she was noticed by an employee of Motown in a touring theater production along with a more famous white singer you probably had no idea was signed to Motown as well: Meat Loaf. Yes, she caught her big break at the same time as the famous rotund rock star, known for such hits as "Bat Out Of Hell" and "I Can See Paradise By The Dashboard Light." The two were signed by Rare Earth Records, that rock division of Motown Records I mentioned a few days earlier, as Stoney and Meatloaf in 1971. The pairing was short-lived, and became defunct, as a decision of Motown management. Only Murphy was retained under contract after the breakup of the duo. However, it was Meat Loaf who went on to greater fame. Still, her pairing with him did produce one hit: "What You See Is What You Get." And, here it is. Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 22, 2013 9:20:19 GMT -5
White People In Motown? Week continues. Now, I've featured white people who were making soul music, a musical genre that has been predominantly made by black people. But, the label also dabled in a musical genre that has been predominantly white: country music. Yes, Motown made country music, through it's subsidiary Melodyland Records (also known as Hitsville). It was short lived, but for a time in the 1970s, Motown was making country. They even had a hit with the label, thanks to country singer T.G. Sheppard. A high school dropout who ran away to Memphis, Tennessee at age 15, Sheppard got signed to Melodyland in 1974. The next year, he had a Number 1 country hit with "Devil In A Bottle." It was popular enough to become a minor pop hit as well. A few years later, Sheppard left Melodyland, but he got his start thanks to the Motown country sister label. So, here is "Devil In A Bottle." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 23, 2013 11:27:50 GMT -5
White People In Motown? Week concludes. And, we conclude with the most famous white person to be signed with Motown. Though, his fame doesn't come from his singing career. It just happens to be a superlative to his acting career. Yes, its an actor who got a wild bug up his ass and wanted to be a rock star. And, that actor is Bruce Willis. Yes, "Die Hard" Bruce Willis. Amazingly, the most shocking thing about Willis's musical career wasn't that he had one but rather that Motown allowed it to happen. In 1987, Willis released The Return Of Bruno, an eclectic gathering of R&B music sung by Willis, with backing musicians including Booker T. Jones, Ruth Pointer and The Temptations. And, it was a hit. The album peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Leadoff single "Respect Yourself" received considerable airplay, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 7 in the UK. There was even an HBO special, which featured Willis as a "rock icon" called Bruno, made in conjecture with the album. It was terrible. But, Willis's one hit isn't that bad. So, here is "Respect Yourself." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 24, 2013 9:34:10 GMT -5
Motown Month continues. Today, we're looking at one of the most famous examples of nepotism, though it was a bit accidental. Around 1984, Barry Gordy's son, Kennedy, wanted to be a singer. But, he didn't want to become one off of his dad's name. So, he changed it to Rockwell. When he got signed to Motown, his father had no idea. However, the executives who signed him knew, which why they gave him a contract in the first place. Still, just because he got signed didn't mean he was guaranteed to be a success. But, he did have a catchy song and a way to guarantee it be a hit: he asked his friend Michael to sing the chorus. And, it worked. Luckily for Rockwell, his friend Michael had the last name of "Jackson" and was currently the most popular singer in the world at the time. Of course, while that all gave him a hit, Rockwell had to rest on his talent to sustain his career into a success. Anyway, here is Rockwell's one big hit, the only thing anyone remembers him for, "Somebody's Watching Me." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 25, 2013 11:01:18 GMT -5
Motown Month continues. Today, we're looking at a person I've sort of talked about earlier. He was originally a part of another Motown band, The Commodores, before going solo. And, that person is Lionel Richie. The Commodores were known for their funky sound, but as Richie gained more influence on the band, the songs started going into a more country-influence pop sound. Eventually, Richie went solo to expand on this sound more and ended up becoming one of the biggest stars of the early 1980s. The height of his success came in 1983, when his album Can't Slow Down was released. It was a huge hit, spending over 3 years on the Billboard charts, going all the way to Number 1, and having all of its singles reach the Top 10, with 2 ("Hello" and "All Night Long" going to Number 1). It was one of Motown's biggest hits in the 1980s, which helped the label to keep chugging along as it had slowed down a little in the late 1970s. So, without further ado, here is Lionel Richie with "Hello." Enjoy.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Nov 26, 2013 10:02:42 GMT -5
Motown Month continues. As I mentioned yesterday, things weren't going so great for Motown in the late 1970s. Disco had taken over, replacing the label's brand of soul and R&B. But, things turned around in the 1980s. Thanks to the movie "The Big Chill" using famous Motown hits for the soundtrack, people were starting to get nostalgic for the label. Barry Gordy used this to put on a special for the label's 25th Anniversary. It was a big hit, thanks in large part to a famous Michael Jackson performance that made the special a much talked about event. This allowed Gordy to get a lot of Motown albums onto CDs since there was a big interest in them. And, the label was enjoying success from their current artists. Also like I said yesterday, Lionel Richie had a huge hit on his hands with his Can't Slow Down album. But, there was another group that was leading the wave of the Motown Resurgence: Debarge.
While the classic Motown system had more or less broken down by the time Gordy personally got involved with the sibling act DeBarge, the band’s extraordinary run of hits in the ’80s (including the solo smash “Who’s Johnny” from El DeBarge) briefly made it seem like Motown had another Jackson family on its hands. However, that wasn't the case. Instead, DeBarge was just another fleeting ’80s success, able to produce solid, radio-ready ballads and dance tracks, very few of which were as timeless as Motown’s best. Still, they were big at the time, which helped Motown out. But, there was one song of there's that has shown to have staying power: the exultant, Latin-tinged “Rhythm Of The Night,” a catchy tune that likely would’ve been just as big a hit in the 1960s and 1970s. It still gets a bit of radio play to this day. So, here it is. Enjoy.
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