Martha Reeves & The Vandellas: Heat Wave - 1963

This was Martha Reeves & The Vandellas' debut album, and, while it suffers a little from being a typical early/mid sixties Motown album, i.e. a vehicle for a couple of great hit singles filled out with cover versions of popular songs from the time, this is not a bad offering. The sound quality is good too, stereo as well. 

The opener, (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave, is a copper-bottomed Motown gem from the opening drum beat through its joyous horns and beat to its great vocals from Martha and the girls. That saxophone backing too. Awesome - 24-carat Motown gold here. The Vandellas moved to top spot at Motown with this wonderful, uptempo stomper that has ridden the decades and remains popular. It rocks, it thumps, the voices wail, the sax blares. Perfect. The Jam covered it on their 1979 Setting Sons. Paul Weller was a big Motown fan, having also had The Jam cover The Supremes' Back In My Arms Again.  

The ballad Hey There Lonely Boy was a hit in 1974 in the UK for Eddie Holman in its "girl" format. More was a movie theme that sounds quite dated now as indeed is Danke Schön (sung strangely by Martha as "Danke Shane"). The jaunty If I Had A Hammer is always difficult to resist. It suits the group perfectly. 

Then it is time for a couple of Phil Spector numbers, the romantic Then He Kissed Me (I still prefer The Crystals' version, however) and the lively fun of Wait Till My Bobby Gets Home. The latter matches Darlene Love's original. Hello Stranger  is a nice, typical 1963 Motown smoochy number, with its "shoo-bop-shoo-wop" nods to rock 'n' roll. 

Just One Look was a hit the following year in the UK for The Hollies and Doris Troy had originally done it. It is much better here as a soulful Motown number than The Hollies sixties jangly pop version of it. 

The Angels' My Boyfriend's Back proves no problem for The Vandellas. Mockingbird was originally done by Inez and Charlie Foxx. Once again, it is covered impressively. 

Now (sometimes) we get Heat Wave mk. 2 in the similarly infectious Quicksand, a track that isn't included on all versions of this album. Anyway, I'll cover it here. As soon as you hear it, you realise that Quicksand was a virtual re-write of Heat Wave, but, as was often the case with H-D-H re-writes, it was still fresh-sounding enough to attract buyers who loved both songs. This, along with Come And Get These Memories and Heat Wave, was part of the trio of killer songs that put Martha & The Vandellas briefly at the top of the Motown tree. Incidentally, the intro to the song is longer than usual, "going round twice" if you know what I mean. 

Yes, there are lots of covers on here, but it is still very listenable.