Motown Chartbusters: Volume 7

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The Supremes - Automatically Sunshine 1972

Automatically Sunshine, a Smokey Robinson song, has Jean Terrell and Mary Wilson sharing vocals once more on the well-known and irresistibly appealing hit single. It is one of those I loved at the time of release and still do. Lord above, The Supremes put out some great singles from 1970-72. I love that intro and those smoky vocals. 

Gladys Knight & The Pips - Just Walk In My Shoes 1967

Just Walk In My Shoes is a funky, vibrant shuffling pot-boiler of a track that has become quite an appreciated “rarity”, garnering some popularity in the seventies on the Northern Soul circuit. It kicks serious ass by the way. Just check out that pounding drum sound and how Gladys rises above it, vocally. Presumably it was re-released in the UK only in 1972. I've just found out that indeed it was.

Michael Jackson - Rockin' Robin 1972

Yes, Rockin' Robin is pure bubblegum, but I still love it. I guess it just takes me back to my childhood. I was twelve, Jackson was twelve. I thought both it and he were great at the time. Listening to it now, it still resonates as being a really good album. For a twelve year-old boy, it is pretty impressive. Love the bongo and drums backing too. Flap those wings now.....

The Temptations - Take A Look Around 1972

Take A Look Around is a hard-hitting "think about the children" "message song". The Temptations had begun the trend for these sort of aware songs back in 1969. It begins with big, orchestrated brass and strings, before a harpsichord leads us into the infectious vocals from all group members. It is classic early seventies Temptations. Check out that deep bass-line too. Excellent. That said, it is not really catchy enough to be a big hit single. It has "album track" stamped all over it.

The Supremes & The Four Tops - You Gotta Have Love In Your Heart 1971

You Got To Have Love In Your Heart was the collaboration's greatest hit and it was an irresistible, joyous celebration of an early seventies Motown song - a bit of a forgotten classic. It is one of those songs that instantly gets my spirits up from the moment it begins. I have known the song for years. I had it on a compilation in the seventies but I can't remember which one it was.

Stevie Wonder - If You Really Love Me 1971

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. 

Diana Ross - Surrender 1971

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.

Michael Jackson - Ain't No Sunshine 1972

This is a remarkably mature performance from Jackson, a wonderful cover of Bill Withers' atmospheric and soulful Ain't No Sunshine. His voice is still considerably in "transition", shall we say, (not quite there yet) but he has a great ability to deal with whatever song he is asked to sing. He nails it, doesn't he?

The Temptations - Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are) 1971

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.

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Bless You 1971

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. By 1971, though, it was beginning to sound a little anachronistic, however euphoric it is.

The Supremes - Floy Joy 1971

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 post Diana Ross.

Jr. Walker & The All-Stars - Walk In The Night 1972

Walk In The Night, a beautiful, catchy saxophone-driven (mainly) instrumental, was a huge hit, and deservedly so. Once again, it is a successful partnership of saxophone and backing singers. Great stuff. I have loved the track for years now, right back to 1976, when I first heard it on the Motown Gold vinyl compilation. For me it is one of the greatest instrumental hits of all time. The only vocals on it are a few "walk in the night, dah-dooby-dooby-dah" lines. 

Diana Ross - Doobedood'ndoobe, Doobedood'ndoobe, Doobedood'ndoobe 1971

The ludicrously long-titled Doobedood'ndoobe, Doobedood'ndoobe, Doobedood'ndoobe is up now. There is a reason it was a hit (in the UK at least) - it is a superb pop song, full of great hooks and a killer chorus. 

The San Remo Strings - Festival Time 1971

Dating from 1967 was this UK re-release hit instrumental. It is more than a little funky and most appealing. Motown didn't have many instrumental hits. This was one of them. The Commodores' Machine Gun is another that immediately springs to mind.

Mary Wells - My Guy 1972

From way back in 1964 and re-released in the UK in 1972, My Guy is an all-time classic, of course, full of great brass and a totally irresistible rhythm. I love that bass-vocal interplay bit at the end. 

Michael Jackson - Got To Be There 1971

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?

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