The Complete Motown Singles Collection Vol. 11b: 1971

This second part of Motown's 1971 singles collection reflects a year that as very much a bridging one of hard-hitting social message songs sitting side by side with ones from the developing funk genre along with some solid soul numbers and several "blue-eyed soul" offerings. It was a schizophrenic time for Motown. The Detroit glory days were over and the move to L. A. was imminent. Treading water. You can hear it in the whole collection.

⭐ Star hits

💠 Hidden gems

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Disc One 

The Messengers - That's The Way A Woman Is/In The Jungle 

A strange one to open this collection with. White group The Messengers go all garage rock with That's The Way A Woman Is, a song that has a refrain that puts me in mind of Human Beinz's 1968 cult hit Nobody But Me. The song is thoroughly catchy, however, try keeping still to it.

In The Jungle has stereotypical "jungle" drums and, although relatively enjoyable it is more than a little bit corny and very much of its time.

Jr. Walker & The All-Stars - Take Me Girl I'm Ready/Right On Brothers And Sisters ⭐

Another stone cold Jr. Walker corker here in the stonking sax-laden soul/pop of Take Me Girl I'm Ready - the first Jr. Walker single I ever bought. It is a wonderful tune. Classic Motown. However, it doesn't always make "best of" Motown lists and it should make every single one. From its blaring, bull-horn sax to its joyous vocal it's a genuine diamond of a single.

This was 1971 and it was the beginning of the era of funky "message" protest songs from artists like Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and The Undisputed Truth. Walker and his mates get in on the thing with the delicious piano, drums and sax groove of Right On Brothers And Sisters. The song carries a message of racial harmony consistent which much of the period's soul output.

The Originals - Keep Me/A Man Without Love

Keep Me (originally recorded in 1964 by Liz Lands and written by Berry Gordy) is one of the best of The Originals' many ballads featuring a nice saxophone solo and some equally impressive piano, not forgetting the vocals. Subsequent listens find me liking it more and more.

A Man Without Love is also a top notch one, to be honest, with a deep, warm and emotive ambience. It is another grower of a song. The Originals have never been one of my favourites due to their preponderance of somewhat pedestrian ballads, but these two are good ones. They are immaculately played and sung. 

David & Jimmy Ruffin - Lo And Behold/The Things We Have To Do

This single collaboration between the Ruffin brothers was actually never released. Lo And Behold was a James Taylor song from his second album. I would expected a combination of these two wonderful, soulful singers to be something absolutely knockout and while this is certainly not bad, not at all, it just not hit the heights that I thought it would have. That said, listening to it again, its strength and soul of delivery comes across stronger with each listen. The brothers have perfectly captured the song's devotional aspects.

Jimmy Ruffin felt that the soul hollering of The Things We Have To Do would have better suited Sam & Dave circa 1967. Listening to it I can sort of understand where he was coming from. It is definitely more 1967 than 1971. 

David Ruffin - You Can Come Right Back To Me/Dinah

David Ruffin on his own did not chart with the Smokey Robinson-produced robust soul of You Can Come Right Back To Me. I love Ruffin and pretty much everything he recorded, but there are many others better than this one. Look, it's ok, but just ok. 

Dinah is marginally better. It is a Smokey Robinson song that dated from 1968. David's delivery on both songs is as soulful as you would expect it to be, but neither are absolute killers.

Stoney & Meat Loaf - It Takes All Kinds Of People/The Way You Do The Things You Do 💠

Yes, you did read that right. Meat Loaf. Six years before he finally struck gold with his piece of theatrical rock bombast in Bat Out Of Hell, here the young fat boy teamed up with white girl singer Stoney on a pumping, pounding serving of gospelly soul in It Takes All Kinds Of People that reminds me in places of Sly & The Family Stone's Everyday People.

Containing an almost identical intro to the 'a' side The Way You Do The Things You Do eventually turns into a cover of Smokey Robinson/The Temptations' classic song. Once more, it has boundless vitality and energy. Meat Loaf and Stoney also recorded Who Is The Leader Of the People but Motown eventually dubbed Edwin Starr's vocal over theirs (see 12b). Meat Loaf, it is said, walked out on Motown in disgust, went on to appear in the Rocky Horror Show and the rest is rock history......Stoney went on to back Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper and Little Feat as a singer, so she didn't do badly either.

Stevie Wonder - If You Really Love Me/Think Of Me As Your Soldier ⭐

If You Really Love Me was the hit single from the Where I'm Coming From album - a jaunty, brass-driven number that is interspersed with some slow tempo typical Wonder ballad-like passages. It is catchy and enjoyable, the faster parts being the most appealing, where Stevie really hits his groove. It really was one great single after another - for years and years. 

Think Of Me As Your Soldier is a typical, slow tempo Wonder ballad of the sort he would do so much in the next ten to fifteen years. It has a melodic, easy-going appeal to it that I love. Nice sound quality as well. The Wonder songs were always well-presented, sound-wise. 

Eddie Kendricks - Can I/I Did It All For You

Can I is a lengthy, sweetly orchestrated soul ballad with a very mid-seventies feel and a simply adorable deep bass-line, although it surprisingly breaks out into some kicking, bouncy jazz after three and a half minutes before reverting back to the previous late-night groove. Unfortunately that section has been omitted from this 45 rpm version of the song, leaving it as just a slow ballad. There is a "long promo version" included on this collection, though, which is the full version and the best way to listen to the song.

I Did It All For You was a typical Jimmy Webb ballad, delivered in quality fashion by the consummate professional Kendricks. Personally, I preferred his work when it got funky, however. That said, there is a nice bit of fuzzy guitar introducing this one. It is a song that is winning me over with each play. It sounds so much better in the stereo format that we get on its parent album (Eddie Kendricks - 1971) as opposed to the mono 45 rpm single.

The Rustix - My Piece Of Heaven/Down Down

Another of Motown's rock/blue-eyed soul diversifications here. My Piece Of Heaven is a relatively soulful mid-pace rock song featuring a really good and extremely soulful vocal. The singer sounds black, but I'm not sure he is. It is the most soulful sounding of all the contributions in this period from these type of bands.

Down Down starts with some fuzzy guitar of the sort that Rare Earth often employed. It is another powerful number, more rocky than its 'a' side, with some nice bar-room boogie pano on there too, giving it a Leon Russell/Elton John vibe with hints of The Band and Traffic in there as well. Oh, I nearly forgot the stonking guitar solo half way through.

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Disc Two

Diana Ross - Surrender/I'm A Winner ⭐

At this point, Diana Ross was still putting out classic Motown pop-soul singles, such as the soaring Surrender, she hadn't gone down the easy-listening route as yet. The song was not a hit in the USA but I am familiar with it because it went top ten here in the UK.

I'm A Winner is a pulsating number, full of deep bass, muscular drums and full-on punch, something actually quite unusual for Diana Ross. Her vocal is among one of her strongest. The funky guitar break in the middle is almost Nile Rodgers-esque before his time. This track bubbles and boils on quite a high heat, certainly as far as Ross is concerned, as I was saying. She didn't often get as down 'n' dirty as this. She tells us that she is a gambling girl and she has hit the jackpot. You tell 'em.

Valerie Simpson - Can't It Wait Until Tomorrow/Back To Nowhere 💠

Motown songwriter Valerie Simpson took on two of her own compositions with Nickolas Ashford here. Can't It Wait Until Tomorrow is a big, brassy, percussive and mightily soulful shouter of a song. From its semi-spoken intro, Valerie ain't taking no shit here, no sir. Full-on gutsy soul for you, comin' right up. It positively drips with it.

Back To Nowhere is more of a late-night smoocher that Simpson admits they wrote with her performing it in mind.

Lodi - Happiness/I Hope I See It In My Lifetime

This collection seems to be full of Motown's West Coast dabblings. Lodi were another such group. Happiness is another serving of upbeat country rock. It is a vaguely Beach Boys-sounding breezy and harmonious rock number, featuring some Byrds-ish jangly guitar riffs. All these songs from this group and others were listenable but none of them made it as hits. They are just sort of good album track material as opposed to obvious chart hits. 

I Hope I See It In My Lifetime is a lower key number than its 'a' side. Again, it is a fine album track with a delicious bass-line and overall chilled-out vibe, man. Repeated listens find both tracks growing on me. One should never dismiss anything too early, should one? As Creedence Clearwater Revival may say, I'm stuck in Lodi again!

The Four Tops - MacArthur Park (Parts 1 &2)

However much I love the Four Tops - and I do - I have never liked the song MacArthur Park. Split over two 45 rpm sides makes it even worse. It just doesn't work. Sorry. Levi Stubbs vocal is peerless, of course.

Richard "Popcorn" Wylie - Funky Rubber Band (Parts 1 & 2) 💠

Richard "Popcorn" Wylie had been knocking around Motown ten years earlier and here he returned, anticipating the embryonic funk style with this excellent piece of James Brown-style getting on down. It uses the "work it" exhortation that Dave And Ansil Collins used on their 1971 UK reggae chart topper Double Barrel. The track is funky as fuck, as they say (or as I say!).

The instrumental 'b' side cooks on just as high a heat. Actually, thinking about it, this was actually quite ground-breaking stuff for 1971. Funk hadn't quite caught on yet. Not quite. Almost. Blaxploitation was literally just around the corner, though - can you dig it? Sho 'nuff.

My Friends - I'm An Easy Rider/Concrete And Clay

More early seventies blue-eyed pop for you here. I'm An Easy Rider tries to get in on the head out on your bike on to the road easy rider thing of the time, but it is pretty feeble, to be honest, particularly in its twee-sounding organ backing. Yet again, though, further listenings finds me softening to its charms.

Concrete And Clay is not the Unit Four Plus Two sixties hit, but another song altogether. It doesn't really do it for me at all, despite some Who and Joe Cocker vibes in places and some excellent fuzzy guitar. It sounds far more 1967 than 1971. Maybe I'm being a bit unfair. I'm listening to it again and quite enjoying it!

Chuck Jackson - Who You Gonna Run To/Forgive My Jealousy 💠

We get a welcome return to soul here. Who You Gonna Run To actually dated from 1964 and Mickey McCullers. Even the 'b' side was from 1968. Releases like this, despite having a certain amount of quality, reflected the fact that new material was in short supply. That said, it grinds away nicely, Edwin Starr-style. Jackson had a great voice. Very strong.

Also Starr-esque is Forgive My Jealousy, which is a good, fuzzy guitar backed number, it has to be said, on which Jackson's vocal is gruffly appealing. It has a feel of 1968 about it although it still stands up well in 1971 against some of the material on this collection. It's a good one.

G. C. Cameron - Act Like A Shotgun/Girl I Really Love You 💠

Now for some top notch funky soul from this ex-Spinner (he was the vocalist on It's A Shame). Act Like A Shotgun is a wah-wah and fatback drums-backed brassy funk grinder. Like Chuck Jackson's stuff above, it reminds me of some of the stuff Edwin Starr released in the same period. Motown got the funk sho' 'nuff.

Girl I Really Love You is an impressive soulful ballad in The Stylistics style.

Sunday Funnies - Walk Down The Path Of Freedom/It's Just A Dream

Walk Down The Path Of Freedom is a funky piece of blue-eyed, crazy, organ-driven psychedelic soul-funk. It sounds as if they have employed Joe Cocker on throaty vocals. It is as crazy a freakout as Motown probably ever put out.

It's Just A Dream is a pretty unremarkable, wishy-washy, hippy-ish number with nothing like the oomph of its 'a' side.

The Elgins - Heaven Must Have Sent You ⭐

Now for a re-released bona fide piece of Motown Heaven. Dating from 1965, it takes you right back there as soon as you hear it. It stands out in the midst of this collection as having a totally different sound. It is the only stereotypical Motown song on here. It reached number three in the UK charts in the late summer of 1971 and invariably appears in Motown "best of" playlists. Classic stuff. 

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Disc Three

Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler/Wholly Holy ⭐

In 1971, Marvin Gaye released the ground-breaking and now iconic album, What's Going On. Now, the hundreds of Motown three minutes and less singles of the 1960s were indeed ground-breaking pop music heaven. However, this is a different beast altogether. Building on the social conscience songs that The Temptations had begin to record in the late 60s, Gaye tapped in to both the urban, dispossessed African-American experience and also the pointless horrors of the Vietnam War with this piece of work. It was both a diatribe against contemporary social and political conditions but also an extolling of God's love. Nowhere is this better expressed than here on the socially concerned Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler and its devotional 'b' side Wholly Holy.

The former is an effortless rhythmic groove, full of killer percussion, subtle saxophone, sweeping strings and Gaye's vocal gently griping about contemporary social conditions. It just sucks you in and gets right into your bloodstream. It is one of the most cool, lightly funky protest songs ever.

Wholly Holy has Gaye singing gently over a sumptuous saxophone as he begs for unity and commitment, both in person and spiritually. It is a musical stream of consciousness, but quite beautiful. These two tracks stand head and shoulders above the rest of the collection for their sheer ingenuity and class.

The Supremes - Touch/It's So Hard To Say Goodbye

Touch was a slow-paced ballad, albeit with fine vocals, and was bizarrely chosen as a single. It duly became the group's first non-top 40 single. It was a fine, sexy ballad but, let's be honest, it was an album track. Elton John was a big fan of the group, by the way, and loved the song. Cindy Birdsong said that she had known Elton since way back in his Reg Dwight days. It's 'b' side, It's So Hard To Say Goodbye, was also another top quality ballad with a Diana Ross-sounding vocal.

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Bless You/Hope I Don't Get My Heart Broke ⭐

Was there time in 1971 for one more copper-bottomed, joyful Motown classic from Martha Reeves & The Vandellas? Of course there was - the glorious joie de vivre of Bless You. That great Motown sound never dies with singles like this - that trademark beat, the deep, sonorous saxophone break in the middle and the soaring vocal. Motown heaven. Next to The Elgins' Heaven Must Have Sent You it is the most archetypal "Motown" number in this set. By 1971, though, it was beginning to sound a little anachronistic, however euphoric it is.

Hope I Don't Get My Heart Broke may be grammatically incorrect, but it is soulfully on the ball. Big and powerful. This was Martha Reeves last track on her last Vandellas album.

Jack Hammer - Colour Combination/Swim 💠

Colour Combination was a ground-breaking song about multi-racial love that paved the way for songs like Hot Chocolate's Brother Louie. It was the first Motown song to deal with such issues since Bobby Taylor's Does Your Mother Know About Me in 1968. While its sentiments are laudable it is also a fantastic, pounding stonker of a song.

Equally muscular, rhythmic and gruff-voiced is Swim. Check out that groovy bongo sound and the saxophone solo. Great stuff. These are two excellent deep cuts. 

Michael Jackson - Got To Be There/Maria (You Were The Only One) ⭐

This was Michael Jackson's first solo single. Motown wanted him to rival Donny Osmond. They needn't have worried. Just as vocal coach Suzee Ikeda said - "Michael is a much better singer than Donny Osmond". He proved her right. Of course, Got To Be There is just sublime anyway. I can't believe Berry Gordy etc thought it not to be the right choice at the time. It is one of his best songs, even though he was only twelve when he recorded it. Just astonishingly precocious, wasn't he?

Jimmy Ruffin's Maria (You Were The Only One) is covered highly convincingly, with some funky buzzy guitar backing and a gritty soulful atmosphere. Again, Jackson proves his mighty potential on this one. 

Diana Ross - I'm Still Waiting/A Simple Thing Like Cry ⭐

A huge number one UK hit here for Diana Ross with a song that is always considered a Motown classic yet isn't quite in the Dancing In The Street/Reach Out I'll Be There style. It is a sweet tale of childhood love delivered in appropriately sugary fashion by Diana. I can't say I have ever been an enormous fan of it, but it is one of those that has a function of bringing a feeling of pure nostalgia.

A Simple Thing Like Cry is a nice piece of bassy soul. Ross's vocal is lightly appealing over the sumptuous bass and percussion backing. It made for a fine album track on her 1971 Surrender album. It had some lovely string orchestration in the middle too. 

Suzee Ikeda - Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah/Bah Bah Bah

Who was it that did Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah on Phil Spector's Greatest Hits? Bob. B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans. That was it. Michael Jackson's vocal coach Suzee Ikeda does it in a similar fashion, albeit with a funky-ish backing here. 

Bah Bah Bah had been recorded by Diana Ross & The Supremes on their 1968 Reflections album. It is not as bad a song as its title may suggest, being a slow burning, vaguely mysterious number. Suzee didn't like it, or certainly her performance of it, at all. I disagree. I'm a fan.

Tom Clay - Whatever Happened To Love/Baby I Need Your Loving

A Detroit DJ (see Dave Prince later on) who specialised in dreadful voiceover recordings. Whatever Happened To Love has some mildly amusing and nostalgic childhood recollections, to be fair, but do I want to listen to it again. No. 

Clay talks again, about love, over the backing and chorus of The Four Tops' Baby i Need Your Loving. Is this awful too? You betcha. Talk over songs seemed to be the thing in 1971. I'm thinking of Les Crane's Desiderata hit from the same year. 

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - When Sundown Comes/Flower Girl/Satisfaction

When Sundown Comes is a gentle number that showcases Smokey Robinson's faultless voice. It is a beautiful song, particularly when its softly rhythmic percussion kicks in. It is not an instant "hit" song though, and it was replaced as a single choice by Satisfaction. Both songs are somewhat low-key.

Flower Girl is the punchiest of these three, featuring an excellent fuzzy psychedelic guitar, some nice brass, an improvised Robinson vocal and an all-over funky, freaky vibe to it. It was as psychedelic as Robinson and his buddies ever got. They almost sound like The Undisputed Truth or the Temptations. I love it. Get it on that deep cut playlist asap. It is very much the sound of Motown circa 1971. 

Satisfaction, the eventual single choice, is copybook laid-back Smokey fare. Smokey's voice is just sublime, as is the backing bass-line.

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Disc Four

The Temptations - Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)/Gonna Keep On Tryin' Till I Win Your Love ⭐

The pounding psychedelic soul of Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are) was also covered (perhaps unsurprisingly) by The Undisputed Truth. It suited them right down to the ground too. The Temptations released it as a single, however, and duly charted with it. It was pretty upbeat and poppy too, like an Edwin Starr number, even with a "good God!!" in the vocal. Nobody did this sort of thing like The Temptations, though, they wrote the book. Or Norman Whitfield did.

Gonna Keep On Tryin' Till I Win Your Love, is a string-orchestrated romantic number. It was also recorded by Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr and Marvin Gaye. That was something that happened so much at Motown. It is fabulously harmonious. Those vocals, man, oh wow.

Tony & Carolyn - We've Only Just Begun/I Can Get Away From You

Tony and Carolyn Rinaldi were a husband and wife team from Detroit. Here they cover a Carpenters classic, We've Only Just Begun, in competent, attractive style but they're not The Carpenters, so it gets rendered a bit pointless, seemingly. I really like the bit half way through when they segue into The Jackson 5's I'll Be There, however, so then the song becomes genuinely interesting.

I Can Get Away From You is a very early seventies piece of jaunty pop. It is perfectly listenable. Incidentally, Tony and Carolyn subsequently divorced. Oh dear. We've only just begun turned into the end for them. Tony then became an estate agent. 

Bobby Taylor - Hey Lordy/Just A Little Closer 💠

Bobby Taylor had been recording at Motown for years. Here he flies high with an inspirational gospel number in Hey Lordy. Taylor's performance is sumptuous. The piano has hints of Elton John's Border Song in it.

Just A Little Closer is pure, unadulterated, effortless soul of the highest order. I love the bass-line, the strings, the drums, Taylor's voice - everything. Motown deep cut Heaven here, everyone. Sing it, Bobby, sing it. You've got it, man.

Thelma Houston - I Want To Go Back There Again/Pick Of The Week 💠

Before her later seventies disco days, Thelma Houston released some really good songs for Motown, none of which made it, which was a travesty. I Want To Go Back There Again is a slightly funky, big production number with a fine chorus. It really should have been a hit. Thelma's voice is superb on this. Diana Ross recorded the song in 1973 for her Last Time I Saw Him album. It wasn't used though. Chris Clark recorded it too, (see the 1967 Volume). Hers was the first release of the song.

Pick Of The Week slows the tempo a bit on a luscious, warm ballad. Once more, Thelma's voice soars. Top quality soul. Thelma was a true professional. These recordings proved it too.

Rare Earth - Hey Big Brother/Under God's Light

A non-album single from Rare Earth. Hey Big Brother is a vibrant and catchy organ, drums and guitar-driven freakout of a song, full of early seventies psychedelic hippy good-time vibes. Only Rare Earth could really do stuff like this as well as they did. It cooks full-on from the very beginning.

Jr. Walker & The All-Stars - Way Back Home/Way Back Home (Instrumental) ⭐

Here we get firstly the marvellous vocal version of Way Back Home, with Jr. sounding like a revivalist preacher addressing a congregation as he waxes lyrical about the old days home in the South, swimming in the muddy creek 'n' all. The instrumental is a fine listen too, thanks to Walker's wonderful sax. Anything Jr. does gets my vote all day long. He was the man. While writing this I am also reading something else very sad (multi-tasking!) and Jr's sax-blowing is lifting my spirits higher. I'm not really one for lists - preferring to cover everything, good or bad - but this would make any "best Motown" lists that I could come up with. 

The Rustix - We All End Up In Boxes

The afore-mentioned Rustix are back with this hard-hitting, punchy and vaguely psychedelic soul-influenced number that carried a dread warning for the world. Not much future for us here, is there? It's actually a pretty good track in places, probably their best, not the least for its message and bleak fatalism.

Virgil Henry - I Can't Believe You're Really Leaving/You Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New

Virgil Henry was a singer with a bit of an early sixties high-pitched tone to his voice. Both of these songs are heavily orchestrated, string-powered numbers with the rhythmic soul of You Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New being the better of the two cuts here, for me. He didn't record anything else for Motown after this.

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Disc Five

The Undisputed Truth - You Make Your Own Heaven And Hell Right Here on Earth/Ball Of Confusion

You Make You Own Heaven And Hell Right Here On Earth is slower than The Temptations' version and it really gets the message across. It exemplifies the Truth's work perfectly. 

The Undisputed Truth also were known for extended socially conscious songs and what we get here is a cover of The Temptations' iconic Ball Of Confusion. Their version is ten minutes long and pretty different in arrangement to the original. There are similarities, of course, but theirs features more vocal and musical ad-libbing. It out-psychedelics The Temptations, which was no mean feat. They used The Funk Brothers' original, extended backing track that they laid down for The Temptations' version. 

Gladys Knight & The Pips - Make Me The Woman You Go Home To/It's All Over But The Shoutin'

Gladys always came up with the goods, even on sad laments such as Make Me The Woman You Go Home To. The song is a bit overwrought, to be honest, but anything Gladys did had bucketloads of soul. She cut it in just two takes, apparently, according to the producer Clay McMurray.

More upbeat and funky is the solid thump of It's All Over But The Shoutin', which was a leftover cut from 1970.

The Jackson 5 - Sugar Daddy/I'm So Happy

An unusual thing here from The Jackson 5 in that this was a 45 rpm single with two non-album tracks. Sugar Daddy was absolute classic Jackson 5 in the ABC/The Love You Save/Mama's Pearl style - fast in tempo with Michael's glorious, expressive kid's voice leading the song joyously along. You simply can't beat The Jackson 5 when they did stuff like this.

I'm So Happy was a sweet, romantic ballad with Jermaine on lead vocals that ended up on the shelf, not appearing anywhere else. 

Bobby Darin - Simple Song Of Freedom/Ill Be Your Baby Tonight

This was Bobby Darin's second single for Motown and the two tracks are live cuts. Simple Song Of Freedom is an evocative acoustic, folky number with a potent message. Darin sounds like a slightly lighter-voiced Johnny Cash. A long way from his rock 'n' roll days, for sure. It always seems strange thinking that Motown released country folk material like this, doesn't it?

I'll Be Your Baby Tonight is a cover of Bob Dylan's song from his 1967 John Wesley Harding Album. Bobby Darin delivers Bobby Zimmerman in slowed-down, deep and crooning style that progresses to a slow country beat. It is actually most pleasant. 

Dave Prince - The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived/A Child Is Waiting

Despite their Christmas/devotional message, these spoken narrations from Detroit DJ Dave Prince are now no more than period piece curiosities.

Stevie Wonder - That's What Christmas Means To Me/Bedtime For Toys ⭐

A wonderfully uplifting Christmas tune from Stevie that can't fail to get you singing along from the very start. It is always on my Christmas playlist. The sweet, slushy and sentimental Bedtime For Toys is aimed at little kids with a message to think about kids who have less than you do. 

The Supremes - Floy Joy/This Is The Story⭐

The highly enjoyable hit single Floy Joy, which features a smoky vocal and irresistible guitar and vocal refrains from Mary Wilson and Jean Terrell. It is such a nostalgic memory of the early seventies for me. It remains one of my favourite all time Motown songs and it is yet another in a line of really good Supremes hits after Diana Ross had departed, in the seventies.

The Supremes' post 1970 material was characterised by immaculate production, appealing melodies, big horn-driven production and lush string arrangements. This Is The Story serves to perfectly exemplify that type of track. Personally, I can't get enough of The Supremes' post-Diana Ross work. I love it all. 

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - In And Out Of My Life/Your Love Makes It All Worthwhile

In And Out Of My Life is an uplifting mid-pace sixties-ish Motown number. Notably, it was written with The Jackson 5 in mind. I feel it suits Martha and the girls better, however. She delivers a fine soulful vocal that makes the song. There is something proud and dignified about it.

Your Love Makes It All Worthwhile is a lively, handclappy echo back to the early-mid sixties. By 1972, it would be considered a song done in a nostalgic style. It has a Northern Soul feel about it. There's some infectious percussion at the end too. 

P. J. - T. L. C. (Tender Loving Care)

P. J. was singer Patti Jerome. T. L. C. (Tender Loving Care) was her second single for Motown. It was an attractive, lively  poppy affair featuring some spacey, "phasing" effects such as had been used on The Supremes' Nathan Jones. I could imagine it appealing to Northern Soul fans.

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