The Complete Motown Singles Collection Vol. 12b: 1972
This is the final volume in this excellent, comprehensive collection and it contains far more quality material than many reviewers have given it credit for. It is actually one of my favourites in the series, full of surprising and interesting rarities, alongside some true classics from Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Gladys Knight & The Pips and Marvin Gaye.. Yes, Motown always gave us those, even in 1972.
"Listen to what's happening at Motown"
"You'll hear the times change"
These were accompanying quotes on promotional posters in 1972 for Diana Ross, The Four Tops, Eddie Kendricks and The Supremes. Motown were certainly hammering home the point with a strong mallet. Now settled firmly in Los Angeles, it was all about change - change in music and, hopefully, change in society. That can be clearly discerned here, in the songs, some of their messages and their changing styles. As on the previous collection, we could hear that soul music was changing - Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Michael Jackson - all ploughing new furrows. Nowhere is this better exemplified for Motown than on this collection of 45 rpms.
While there is lots of undoubted quality on here, it is clear that it tails off somewhat as the collection progresses. The best material is to be found in the first three-quarters.
⭐ Star hits
💠Hidden gems
Disc One
The Supremes - Your Wonderful Sweet Sweet Love/The Wisdom Of Time ⭐
The Wisdom Of Time is a laid-back, sleepy soulful groove featuring some gentle guitar and another great vocal from Terrell. It carried a political edge in its plea for racial tolerance and harmony but overall the vibe is all very tuneful and relaxing, even hippyish. The spoken bit in the middle is delivered by Cindy Birdsong.
The Festivals - Green Grow The Lilacs/So In Love
Green Grow The Lilacs (also covered on Motown by Soupy Sales, The Originals and Joe Harnell is a delightful, uplifting rendition of the song by this Dallas, Texas three-man vocal group. It has a real late sixties feel to it. A sort of hippy airiness, a mid-song brass break and a harmonious chorus that probably makes it sound somewhat out of date by 1972. It's still a good one, however. It is one of those that I just can't help but liking and indeed singing along to.
So In Love is more contemporary in its breezy but lush seventies soul vibe. I like the bit where the tempo ups in a smooth jazzy style near the end of the song.
Billy Proctor - What Is Black/I Can Take It All ðŸ’
As we know, 1972 was prime time for black consciousness, particularly reflected in Motown's output. This wonderful song is a complete unearthed gem. Billy Proctor delivers a moving song to his blind younger brother about how beautiful he is and how proud he should be of the skin colour that he can't see. The song is sung in proper gospel-soul style and has a robust brassy backing. I love the line "black is the good smell of our mama's cooking and black is you boy - and you're so good-looking". You tell him, Billy. "Black is your birthright - a gift you have been given". This meant a lot in 1972. All power to the sentiment. This sort of positivity really was a comparatively new thing, incomprehensible as that may seem today. Songs like this have a real context to them.
I Can Take It All is completely different in style, having a lively Four Tops circa 1966-68 Northern Soul type beat and a strong vocal that showed that New Jersey singer Proctor could handle different vocal styles. It is a shame that he didn't ever really make it.
Michael Jackson - Ben/You Can Cry On My Shoulder ⭐
Ben is incredibly cheesy, of course, but it is so nostalgic for those of us who grew up at the time of its release. I was thirteen when it came out. So, I believe, was Michael Jackson. The rear cover of the Ben album showed Michael on his bike - that could have been me at the same time.
You Can Cry On My Shoulder is a mightily pleasant and surprisingly upbeat number with a nice, melodic bass line and some sweeping orchestration.. Once more, Jackson “owns” the song, his voice already sounding more mature in delivery, if not yet in its pitch. Changes were afoot all over the place and Michael Jackson's development into a solo artist was just one of them.
Jermaine Jackson - That's How Love Goes/I Lost My Love In The Big City ðŸ’
I Lost My Love In The Big City is a deceptively dark tale of a young girlfriend of Jermaine's going off to the big city to see fame and fortune and falling prey to no-good men. Its bright and lively tune hides its sad story. As so often on this collection, I find myself thinking that this is one hell of a credible deep cut. There is so much great, underrated and now almost totally forgotten material here it blows my mind.
Jerry Ross Symposium - Duck You Sucker/It Happened On A Sunday Morning
Jerry Ross was a white musical director/orchestra leader. Duck You Sucker was the soundtrack to a 1971 spaghetti western starring James Coburn and Rod Steiger. It is full of typically western-style strings, but also some strange "shom-shom" vocal additions and some female wailing backing vocals that remind me of the Aqua Marina tune in Gerry Anderson' Stingray kids' programme.
It Happened On A Sunday Morning is a very early seventies airy number with lots of strings and sweet female vocals. It is so very Burt Bacharach in its whole ambience, right down to the tasteful melodious brass solo in the middle. It sure don't sound like no Motown, sir, but it is pleasant all the same. Just don't expect it to sound like The Four Tops in 1966.
The Four Tops - It's The Way Nature Planned It/I'll Never Change
Talking of The Four Tops, here they are with their last single for Motown, something notable in itself. It is a big, powerful, muscular ballad with good old Levi Stubbs still letting us know he is the governor. As you would expect his vocal is pretty damn peerless.
I'll Never Change is a fine-sounding uptempo throwback to the Tops' halcyon days. Listen to this and it could be 1966-68 again, couldn't it? It was a quality way to say goodbye to Motown. They were truly one of the label's best. Nobody can really argue with that. Thanks guys.
Odyssey - Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love/Broken Road
You know, all this time I had thought this was an early single from late seventies/early eighties disco artists Odyssey. Wrong! It is a totally different group with the same name! They were a seven-piece multi-racial group from Los Angeles. Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love is an impressive, rhythmic ballad with hints of Blood, Sweat & Tears and Rare Earth. It is well-played and equally well sung.
Broken Road starts with a Santana-style Latin groove-out and some Aquarius-influenced typically early seventies hippy vocals. Some also very 1972 flute nicely enhances the song as well. Once more, deep cut fans - this is for you. Boy, this collection is a vault worth exploring.
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - The Night/Sun Country ⭐
Sun Country is yet another diamond of a rarity. It is even funkier than The Night. Its brassy funk keeps up for the whole song. You would simply not believe these songs were from the doo-wop Four Seasons from the sixties. Why, even Frankie Valli's legendary falsetto is slightly deeper, delivered in a way that you don't immediately think "that's Frankie Valli". Once you know then things are different, of course. This is another seriously praiseworthy "unknown" song.
Gladys Knight & The Pips - Daddy Could Swear I Declare/Can't Give It Up No More ⭐
Want some classic, kick-ass 1972 Motown Soul? Comin' right up....Daddy Could Swear, I Declare saw Gladys Knight in full-on funky attack in praise of her pugnacious. cussin' father, Merald Knight. It is three minutes of pounding soul. "Daddy couldn't read, daddy couldn't write, but one thing he could do right was swear... Lord have mercy....". You tell 'em how it was, Gladys. Good sweet Lord above I love this track. The track was originally recorded in 1971 but eventually ended up on the group's 1973 Neither One Of Us album.
Can't Give It Up No More is another wonderful slice of classic seventies soul featuring a gorgeous, warm gospelly vocal from the sumptuous soulful angel that is Gladys. She really was one of the great female soul vocalists of the time, yet she is strangely never regularly mentioned as being so. She's up there for me. Every time I hear her voice it gives a little shiver of satisfaction. This track is simply heavenly.
Disc Two
Stevie Wonder - Keep On Running/Evil ⭐
Evil is a slow tempo, low key but evocative number. It is archetypal Stevie, ballad-wise, instantly recognisable. He would put out so many songs like this over the next decade.
Michelle Aller - The Morning After/Spend Some Time Together/Just Not Gonna Make It ðŸ’
Who was Michelle Aller? She was (I think) a white singer who had a part in the Diana Ross movie Lady Sings The Blues. As a result, she put out some material on the MoWest Motown subsidiary label. The Morning After has her sounding like a deeper-voiced Diana Ross on what is certainly a fine single that never made it. It is another of those forgotten good ones.
Spend Some Time Together is more orchestrated, and built like a big show tune, but still not without soul. Aller had a really impressive voice.
Similarly, Just Not Gonna Make It (maybe an apt title for her career) shows her to have a more than competent voice. Once more, it has definite Diana Ross influences. That Ross-esque sound was clearly de rigeur at the time.
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Walk On Don't Look Back
Frankie's back. This time he is sounding more like the sixties Valli we had come to know and love. Trademark falsetto vocals dominate on this very sixties slice of Spectoresque street romance. Nothing remotely Motown or indeed 1972 about it, but if you love Frankie Valli you'll love it all the same.
Edwin Starr - Who Is The Leader Of The People/Don't Tell Me I'm Crazy
Big old Edwin comes a-thumpin' in big time here on a huge, politically-aware number that hits us right between the ears. Edwin had the perfect voice for these War-style rants, delivering them to us like a crazed, sweating preacher. Again, I love it. No, I really love it. Try keeping your feet still to it.
Don't Tell Me I'm Crazy had also been recorded by The Spinners, Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Fantastic Four. Edwin's version is suitably robust, with that distinctive Northern Soul vibe he always seemed to inject into his material. He had many hits on the Northern Soul circuit. This one fitted that particular bill perfectly.
Bob Babbitt - Gospel Truth/Running Like A Rabbit
Bob Babbit was a white session bassist who played for the Funk Brothers on many occasions. This was his only single, and it as never released, so this is a real, copper-bottomed rarity. His wonderful bass introduces the magnificently uplifting instrumental Gospel Truth, a number that just gets your spirits up without the need for words.
Running Like A Rabbit, another instrumental, sure is funky, with wah-wah guitar to the fore and Babbit's bass rumbling melodically along in nice rubbery style. With both these tracks one is in true Motown rarity territory, no doubt about that.
Eddie Kendricks - If You Let Me/Just Memories
If You Let Me was a Four Tops number from 1968 that eventually appeared on their 1972 Nature Planned It album. It has a deeper than deep bass, nice brass, a sumptuous cymbal sound and Eddie's voice is gruffer in tone in places than usual although it's still high-pitched, of course. Jimmy Ruffin also covered it as well.
The brass-backed strident ballad Just Memories is, to be honest, a tad over-produced. Big orchestration was the name of the game in 1972. It improves by the end, though, with a fine bass/synth and piano appearing in the song's last minute and there's some nice percussion work throughout. There is something of The Delfonics about the orchestration, the chorus and Eddie's vocal rises and falls. Subsequent listens have found me warming to the song, I have to say.
The Supremes - I Guess I'll Miss The Man/Over And Over
The single's 'b' side was Over And Over, which has Jean Terrell sounding just like Diana Ross and it has a real late sixties feel to it, harking back to those Diana Ross & The Supremes years of 1967-69. I like pretty much everything the Supremes put out, so I'm fine with this. Terrell had a lovely, clear voice. There's a nice warm bass-line on the song too.
The Naturals - The Good Things (Where Was I When Love Came By)/Me And My Brother
The Naturals were from Detroit and originally called The Stylists, but changed their name as Philly group The Stylistics were making their name at the same time. The Good Things (Where Was I When Love Came By) is a Smokey Robinson-ish ballad that doesn't particularly stick in the mind, however. It's tuneful enough I guess.
Me And My Brother is more impressive, though, a socially aware, slightly funky number with airs of early seventies Four Tops about it. It has a definite California Soul vibe to it as well. You will know what I mean when you hear it. Whatever, I like it.
Syreeta - I Love Every Little Thing About You/Black Maybe ðŸ’
I Love Every Little Thing About You appeared, of course, on Stevie Wonder's Music Of My Mind album, and is covered here in typical Wonder style - lots of clavinet, funky cymbal work, wah-wah guitars, all helped by Syreeta's versatile voice. It is a convincing and nicely funky version, making for a good, lively single. It is very representative of that Stevie Wonder 1972-74 sound.
The mysterious Black Maybe sees the pace slow down completely on an aware and soulful late-night ballad, beautifully sung. It is possibly this collection's most mature, quality cut thus far. Proper album track material.
Disc Three
The Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone/Papa Was A Rolling Stone (instrumental) ⭐
Up next is an absolute classic. A track that proved The Temptations were anything but finished - as had been suggested by some - not for a while at least. Here you get the full twelve minute version. Papa Was A Rolling Stone has that intoxicating bass and slow burning funky orchestration of an intro before Dennis Edwards comes in with his legendary "it was the third of September..." opening line. Great stuff. Funnily enough, Whitfield first used the song with his other main group, The Undisputed Truth. Good as they were, this is the definitive version, no doubt about that. I really love the instrumental version that appeared as the (edited) single's 'b' side too.
The Jackson 5 - Corner Of The Sky/To Know
Corner Of The Sky has a vaguely funky, rhythmic backing and some uplifting vocals along with some Elton John-like harpsichord (I think) featuring on the intro. All the boys contribute vocally. It is a move towards a more mature Jackson 5 sound and is a proper soul-pop single. I like the flute bit in the mid-song backing too.
To Know is a delicious, slow tempo soul groove, written in an Al Green mode by Deke Richards, with Michael's voice showing those slightly deepening tones. The bass and brass sounds are wonderful on here.
Rare Earth - Good Time Sally/Love Shines Down
Rare Earth were a Motown rarity in that they were an all-white, initially five (soon to be six) piece multi-instrumental band that specialised in lengthy jam-style rock workouts and catchy cover versions of other songs (including Motown ones). Good Time Sally is a typical piece of early seventies riffy rock that certainly contains none of the soul or funk influence of much of the group's output. It rocks solidly, like The Who, full of riffs and cowbell hits and concerns a good time girl, a common theme for the period.
The sleepy Blood, Sweat & Tears-ish 'b' side, Love Shines Down, was not included on the album release of the time, Willie Remembers, despite being in possession of a stonking horn solo and one hell of a bass-line.
Valerie Simpson - Genius/Silly Wasn't I/I Believe I'm Gonna Take This Ride
Silly Wasn't I is a soft soul ballad written by Ashford after a girl left him a note saying she thought they were in a relationship - "silly wasn't I?", she wrote. He turned it into this song, writing it, oddly, from her spurned point of view!
I Believe I'm Gonna Take This Ride is a chunky soul mid-pace number that very much sums up the sound of soul in 1972. Simpson delivers a fine vocal, but apparently Berry Gordy wasn't too impressed, wanting the pair to stick to songwriting. I guess they did ok so it didn't matter too much, but these are still good tracks.
Thelma Houston - What If/There is A God
Five years before her chart breakthrough with the disco single Don't Leave Me This Way, Thelma Houston released several quality, but now almost forgotten singles. What If is a beautiful, flute-augmented, vaguely country-styled soul number that has a big brassy chorus. Thelma's churchy, gospel roots are clear in her emotive vocal delivery. There are also some very Burt Bacharach-esque early seventies sounds here too.
Thelma goes full-on gospel on the vibrant, uplifting There Is A God, which is full of backing vocals straight from the church and Thelma's vocal is asking for a witness as she testifies. This will make even the most ardent non-believer question themselves.
The Undisputed Thing - Mama I Gotta Brand New Thing (Don't Say No)/Girl You're Alright/With A Little Help From My Friends
Girl You're Alright is a deep but sweetly soulful ballad that just sounds so typical of early seventies soul. It oozes quality from the very first notes.
The Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends, as Joe Cocker showed, leant itself perfectly to a soulful interpretation. That is what we get here, and a convincing one it is too, including a Cocker-influenced rock guitar intro. In fact the whole song sounds a lot like the Cocker one, right down to the backing vocals.
Lesley Gore - She Said That/The Road I Walk
Sixties pop hit vocalist Lesley (It's My Party) Gore gave us a Bacharach meets country ballad in the nice, but distinctly un-Motown She Said That. It is a tragic and dark tale of suicide, subject matter that belies its airy, pleasant melody.
The Road I Walk is a delicious serving of gospelly soul which sees Gore sounding not a little like Diana Ross. The song would probably have been much better suited to Thelma Houston or Gladys Knight, however.
The Crusaders - Spanish Harlem/Papa Hooper's Barrelhouse Groove
Another surprising appearance, jazz-funkers The Crusaders spent some time on Motown in this period. Their instrumental take on Ben E. King's Spanish Harlem is saxophonically sublime, and has a superb stereo sound, one of the best in this collection.
Papa Hooper's Barrelhouse Groove. is a brassy jazzy piece of instrumental funk which has something of Blaxploitation soundtrack vibe to it. Love the piano breaks.
Disc Four
Stevie Wonder - Superstition/You Got It Bad Girl ⭐
You've Got it Bad Girl is a lovely, soulful, jazzy and Moog-augmented number. Archetypal slow-pace Stevie.
Sisters Love - You've Got My Mind/Try It, You'll Like It ðŸ’
This collection really doesn't disappoint in its sheer volume of wonderful deep cuts and You've Got My Mind is a superbly dark and funky groove worthy of Grace Jones' eighties work. Believe me, it cooks - big time. It was written by Pam Sawyer and Gloria (Tainted Love/Marc Bolan) Jones.
Try It You'll Like It is equally funky and out there. It has hints of Betty Wright's Clean Up Woman. I love it. Marvin Gaye also recorded it in 1972. I had this to say about his version - "Some more great funk can be found on the cookin' Try It, You'll Like It. It was such a shame that quality material like this remained hidden away for so long. It is the different nature of these songs that make it (the unreleased You're The Man from 1972) the better album to its predecessor (Let's Get It On from 1973), for me. It is superior to Let's Get It On too, for that matter. I know I will be in a minority of one with that opinion!"
Repairs - Songwriter/Fiddler
Motown dabbled in another white, Burt Bacharach-influenced vocal/acoustic group here. It was quite typical of much of their approach in 1972, as they attempted to diversify. Songwriter is a nice, melodic and unthreatening song, but Motown it ain't, is it? Hell, it's not even soul!
Fiddler is a good country rock and folky song that once again represented what Motown were trying to do. I like it. It is very 1972 but it remains totally and utterly incongruous on this collection. Vocalist Sukie Honeycutt has a Sandy Denny timbre to her voice. You couldn't get more folky than that. There's some fine guitar on the song as well. Also, the song is nearly five minutes long, hardly traditional 45 rpm fare.
Bobby Darin - Average People/Something In Her Love
Two appealing ballads from veteran white vocalist Darin but their incongruity is clear and obvious. Quite what Motown's aim was in releasing this sort of material unclear, really. Average People is the better of the two, Something In Her Love being somewhat syrupy.
Celebration - Since I Met You There's No Magic/The Circle Again ðŸ’
Thankfully, some 1972-style funky soul returns in the form of multi-racial group Celebration's Since I Met You There's No Magic, a track that features a sort of speeded-up version of the bass-line from The Temptations' Papa Was A Rolling Stone. There are big hints of The Undisputed Truth in here too. It is like psychedelic gospel, if there could be such a thing!
The Circle Again features a female vocalist who actually sounds like a young Michael Jackson. The song is Jackson-esque too, Jackson circa 1972, that is. It is a bit schmaltzy for my taste, however. I much prefer the 'a' side.
G.C. Cameron & Willie Hutch - Come Get This Thang/My Woman ðŸ’
Deep cut Heaven here on Come Get This Thang, a rousing James Brown-ish brassy duet that didn't actually see the light of day as a release, which was a shame. It is pure funk, 1972 style - raw, edgy and soaked in the grime of the urban streets. It is one of the funkiest cuts on the collection. Great stuff. G. C. Cameron was an ex-Spinner and Willie Hutch was better known as a longtime Motown producer.
Just as funky was the upbeat love song My Woman, a cut that remained unreleased until 2013. A true rarity here for you. It is another of those track in the collection that surprises me due to its sheer quality. Sure, it's no outright classic but it is funky as fuck, as they (or I) say. Put it on any playlist of obscure seventies funk.
Jermaine Jackson - Daddy's Home/Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)
Jermaine is back, but this time disappointing ever so slightly with this cover of a 1976 Shep & The Limelights slow, sentimental doo-wop era ballad. Apparently Motown wanted more ballads for Jermaine to release but surely they could do better than going back eleven years, given the quality of soul songs out there in 1972? It was a big hit, so what do I know?
Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) had already been done by Kim Weston and The Isley Brothers, of course. Jermaine does it justice, however, and I'll take it above the 'a' side all day long. It is vibrant, soulful and fun.
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - I Can't Stand To See You Cry/With Your Love Came
Far more typical of much of the group's output was the extremely attractive, more upbeat and lyrically smart With Your Love Came. Smokey's wonderful voice soars and his mates back him up in suitably harmonious fashion. Goodbye then lads - sweet harmony indeed. It had been a hell of a decade. Shop Around, Mickey's Monkey, The Tracks Of My Tears, Going To A Go-Go, The Tears Of A Clown, I Don't Blame You At All.....
Bobby Darin - Happy (Love Theme From Lady Sings The Blues)
Old Bobby's back once more with another lachrymose, Sinatra-esque ballad. It's not we're here for, is it? The guy can sing, though.
Disc Five
Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man/"T" Plays It Cool ⭐
Jay & The Techniques - Robot Man/I'll Be Here ðŸ’
Jay & The Techniques were a sixties multi-racial group, a bit like the UK's The Equals. Some of them reunited here. Robot Man is an absolute stonker of a lively track in a Rare Earth/Undisputed Truth/Temptations psychedelic soul style. Singer Jay Proctor had a strong voice and the backing vocals and instrumentation are impressive too.
Just how good is the upbeat soul-funk with a vague Latin rhythm of I'll Be Here as well? Stuff like these two songs are really high quality rarities. In 1972 even the unknown material was well worthy of praise.
Martin & Finley - Long Life And Success To The Farmer/Half Crazed
These two white vocalists were one of Motown's strangest signings. Long Life And Success To The Farmer is an appealing but bizarre hippy-like ecological paean to the agriculture industry. Surely one of the oddest subject matters for a Motown song?
Half Crazed is like something from a stage musical. It is a sad, piano-backed ballad. Haughtily delivered, it is a sad, dark song about the ill-treatment of a lion in captivity and other victims of the circus life. All most laudable in theory but its sadness renders it virtually unlistenable. Now, this is definitely up there with the most perplexing Motown song ever.
Jerry Ross Symposium - Take It Out On Me/It's The Same Old Love
The Jerry Ross Symposium return with Take It Out On Me, a slushy number previously recored by The Courtships (included on Volume 12a of this collection).
The bossa nova meets Bacharach It's The Same Old Love is very typically early seventies easy-listening. Not much more I can say about it other than it is airily pleasant.
The Courtships - Love Ain't Love (Till You Give It To Somebody/Oops, It Just Slipped Out
The above-mentioned Courtships plough a Delfonics/Stylistics furrow here. On vocals is Billy Proctor (see What Is Black? earlier in this collection). There is a very early Philly vibe to Love Ain't Love (Till You Give It To Somebody.
Oops, It Just Slipped Out puts me in mind of The Stylistics' Betcha By Golly Wow in its fuzzy, twangy guitar intro, its vocal and its overall feel. However, The Stylistics and the Delfonics got the hits and, for some reason, these guys didn't.
Rare Earth - We're Gonna Have A Good Time/Would You Like T Come Along
The rhythmic, quirky Would You Like To Come Along is inoffensive enough, but its AOR feel is certainly nothing special. Once again, however, the group's instrumental ability raises the song higher than it probably deserves - great piano, bass and guitar this time. Despite their detractors, Rare Earth could play, no doubt about that.
Wolfe - Ballad Of The Unloved/Two Cities
Another verified, bona fide oddity for you. Wolfe were a psychedelic rock band. Ballad Of The Unloved is an evocative ballad typical of its era (as an AOR rock ballad, not a soul one, however). It is not a Motown song in a million years.
Two Cities is a hippy-ish romp with contemporary social comment about time for change, an American shepherd and New York sheep (yes, what is that about?) that is, again, completely out of place here. It almost sounds like Jethro Tull in the "London" section near the end.
Puzzle - It's Not The Last Time/On With The Show
The brassy sound of Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago is attempted by another white rock group here. It's Not The Last Time is very much in that vein. But it's not quite as good.
On With The Show has a punchy, jazzy groove to it, particularly in the excellent trumpet solo mid-song. It sounds so Chicago it could almost be them, couldn't it? Neither these songs or those by Wolfe require further listening, if I'm brutally honest.
Diana Ross - Good Morning Heartache/God Bless The Child
I prefer the warm, bassiness of the equally slow-paced and jazzy God Bless The Child, however. While I am not the biggest Ross fan out there, I have to admit that these recordings stand out for their sheer class, particularly, coming as they do after the contributions from Wolfe and Puzzle. These songs suit the collection far more.
Marvin Gaye - I Want To Come Home For Christmas/Christmas In The City
Marvin's Christmas fare. I Want To Come Home For Christmas taps into the popular Vietnam-era theme of a soldier longing to get out of that hellhole and home for Christmas. It is a sad and moving but immaculately-sung ballad. Sleigh bells only appear briefly, it is pretty much soul all the way, meaning it can be listened to at any time of year, just as a soul song (although the Santa and snowflakes references may well inhibit that).
Definitely possible to be listened to in any season, though, is Christmas In The City, because it is a slow, funky, jazzy, vibe-ish instrumental. Presumably it is Marvin playing the freaky Moog synthesiser, as the song is credited to him.
Gladys Knight & The Pips - Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) ⭐
Included here on its own, as the last track of this wonderful series, Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) is a copper-bottomed, fully-authenticated classic and needs no introduction, with superb vocals from both Gladys and The Pips. It was the wonderfully-voiced Gladys and her group's final single for Motown, so, unwittingly, it was a goodbye from her too. Whatever, it is proper soul. Thanks Motown - for everything. I guess neither one of us wants to be the first to say it.....
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