Motown Chartbusters: Volume 3

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Along with compilation albums from The Temptations, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight & The Pips and Diana Ross & The Supremes, 1977 saw me getting deep into Motown's glory via albums like this. 

This Motown Chartbusters series was just so wonderful and this was the best volume of all. It is aural nirvana. The music of the Gods. Listening to it puts me in a state of grace. 

I can heartily recommend this to anyone in need of a bit of musical medicine. 

Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine 1968

What more can be said about I Heard It through The Grapevine? It is sort of unique, isn't it? Many say it has a mysterious melody and backbeat to it and, listening to it again, I guess that is true, although I've never quite picked up on that. It's just a damn good tune to me, but I know what they mean. That keyboard and tambourine intro. Motown "quality control" executives initially rejected the song as a potential single, by the way. The song was originally recorded by good old Gladys Knight, of course. She struck unlucky - again!

Diana Ross & The Supremes & The Temptations - I'm Gonna Make You Love Me 1968

Motown "super-group" time now. A huge hit, the timeless I'm Gonna Make You Love Me, keeps the quality coming. It is possibly the best of all the Motown collaborations. 

Stevie Wonder - My Cherie Amour 1969

The conga rhythms and slight bossa nova shuffle of My Cherie Amour are just sumptuous, aren't they? As indeed is that descending string break at the end of each verse. The song's hooks are manifold. It's simply lovely. One of Motown's most enduring, perennial classics. Its easy-listening groove appeals across the board. Just how good is it? Very good, I say.

The Isley Brothers - This Old Heart Of Mine 1967

Peerless, irresistibly catchy, timeless - it's This Old Heart Of Mine. Much covered - notably by Rod Stewart in slowed-down soulful fashion - you simply can't beat the enthusiastic, sheer energy and unbridled joy of The Isley Brothers' original. An absolute killer of a track.  

Marv Johnson - I'll Pick A Rose For My Rose 1968

Motown now went full circle on this, another final single. Marv Johnson had the first single release on this series in Come To Me, back in 1959. I'll Pick A Rose For My Rose actually dated from 1968, but it had the feel and sound of a mid-sixties Motown song. It was a surprise top ten hit in the UK. I have known it and loved it for ages now, way back since first hearing it on this album in the mid-seventies.

Diana Ross & The Supremes - No Matter What Sign You Are 1969

Now we have a latter-era Supremes classic in the astrologically-themed No Matter What Sign You Are, with its zodiac references and unique, fuzzy guitar sound. I have loved this song for years. From way back when. Sing along now - "Aquarius, Sagittarius...". It remains one of my favourites of the many Motown hits. Diana Ross gives one of her finest vocal performances here too. It was possibly the last time we would hear the girls together in such irresistibly joyous harmony, trading vocals off each other gloriously. We would miss them. Lordy we would.

The Four Tops - I'm In A Different World 1968

The songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland, who had contributed so much to the Four Tops' success throughout the sixties, had now left Motown after a financial dispute. They left only one song on the group's Yesterday's Dreams album, ironically I'm In A Different World, which Eddie Holland apparently considered his finest ever song. It would not be my first choice, although it is a great song, with a delicious bass line and catchy refrain. It was to be the last HDH single contemporaneously released by Motown. It was a fine one to leave on. Thanks to three of the greatest songwriters the world has ever known.

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Dancing In The Street 1965

The group’s biggest ever hit single, the iconic Dancing In The Street, with its irresistible horn riff and “calling out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat..” opening lines, was a cornerstone of “The sound of young America”. A joyous, uplifting anthem of unity and simple pleasure that was released into a social milieu of race riots and the Vietnam War. Its impact cannot be understated.  Forget Mick Jagger and David Bowie's mess of it - this is the real thing. The song absolutely bristles with verve and vitality. 

Stevie Wonder - For Once In My Life 1968

For Once In My Life is an eternal classic. Songs like this need no introduction, do they? There have been so many covers of the song, but none match that guitar intro, the shuffling rhythm and Stevie's breezy, whistling-accompanied vocal. It has remained a timeless favourite and rightly so. Oh, and I've forgotten the harmonica solo. How could I?

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - You're All I Need To Get By 1968

Classic. All I need to say. Just how well did these two sing together? It's a thing of beauty. Total chemistry between them. When Tammi sings "just to do what's good for you and inspire you a little higher" my soul soars with her. God bless her.

The Temptations - Get Ready 1966

Now there is Get Ready. Eddie Kendricks soars on the lead vocal on what is now one of Motown's most iconic tracks. That brass, drum and bass intro - wow. The song cooks from beginning to end, doesn't it? Once more, the energy is unparalleled.

Edwin Starr - Stop Her On Sight (S.O.S.) 1969

A Northern cult classic here in the instantly catchy Stop Her On Sight (S.O.S) - featuring more great hooks, killer saxophone solo, pounding drums, clunking piano, vibrant backing vocals - what more could you ask for if you love Motown and Northern Soul. Nothing. Exactly. 

Diana Ross & The Supremes - Love Child 1968

This was the single which saw it all change for Diana Ross & The Supremes, they no longer used the songwriting team of Holland/Dozier/Holland and released a song written by Deke Richards and Pam Swayer that covered a comparatively mature, hard-hitting, maybe controversial theme as opposed to simply pop singles about boy/girl love. It was about a young girl's reticence about possibly getting pregnant and facing the many hardships of being a single mother. For 1968 this was certainly not the norm, particularly on the often somewhat prudish Motown label.

The Isley Brothers - Behind A Painted Smile 1968

Behind A Painted Smile, of course, uses the Isley Brothers' trademark buzzy guitar sound at its most well known with a superb, gritty riff. This song is one of the best Motown singles of all time, no question. An absolute killer. What a song the group left us with. Good God almighty this track cooks.

Jr. Walker & The All-Stars - (I'm A) Road Runner 1965

Talking of cookin'. Iconic saxophone-driven unadulterated joy. Walker blows up a storm on this utter corker of a track. Down 'n' dirty or what? I have no adequate superlatives really. I love everything the guy ever did. Blow that horn Jr. I cannot feel anything other than be energised upon hearing this 

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - The Tracks Of My Tears 1965

A copper-bottomed classic to end with. It was this song that inspired me to buy this album. I have loved this for what seems like my entire life. Marv Tarplin's guitar intro, Smokey's wonderfully expressive voice, the lovelorn lyrics. Everything about it is goddamn perfect. Nothing more to say other than this was Smokey's best, by a mile, and there was stiff competition too.

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