Howling At The Moon - The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

  In 1962, the “Motown Sound”, as we came to know it, had not been developed, as such. What we had here was a mix of rock n roll ballads and fifties “doo-wop”, with a bit of early Atlantic soul thrown in there.  This is an interesting bunch of recordings, historically, although anyone looking for the trademark Diana Ross & The Supremes sound will not really get it here.  The original album, plus the many extras, feature the original four members, including Barbara Martin. What is clear is that of Martin, Florence Ballard and Cindy Birdsong, Diana Ross was by no means the outstanding singer. All the girls feature taking lead vocal duties in these recordings.  You get the original album in both MONO and STEREO. The stereo recordings are very good. More than that, they are truly fantastic. A revelation. I much prefer them, but then I am a confirmed stereo fan. I am listening to Time Changes Things on a pair of Sonos Era 100s a...

  This review is for the download of the Hip-O-Select remaster features additional bonus and live tracks. It is the original album that I will concentrate on, however. Firstly, the sound on all of these releases (Meet The Supremes; I Hear A Symphony; this one and Supremes A Go-Go) is absolutely superb. With all of them you get both the MONO and STEREO versions of the original album plus a further CD's worth of "extras" - unreleased material and live cuts. As a confirmed stereo man, I much prefer the stereo versions. They are simply wonderfully remastered. As good as I have ever heard this material.  The original album contains Supremes gems in  Where Did Our Love Go , the massive hit of  Baby Love   and the upbeat, insistent   Come See About M e . Also the underrated and singalong  When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes , the jaunty  Run Run Run  and  Ask Any Girl . Here are some of the songs in a bit more deta...

  This review is for the download of the Hip-O-Select remaster with additional bonus and live tracks.  Firstly, the sound on all of these releases (Meet The Supremes; Where Did Our Love Go; this one and Supremes A Go-Go) is absolutely superb. With all of them you get both the MONO and STEREO versions of the original album plus a further CD's worth of "extras" - unreleased material and live cuts. As a confirmed stereo man, I much prefer the stereo versions. They are simply wonderfully remastered. As good as I have ever heard this material.   With regard to the original album, musically. It is certainly not their best.  The two great singles,  I Hear A Symphony  and  My World Is Empty Without You   are surrounded by covers of songs like  Yesterday ,  Unchained Melody  and "songs from the shows" like  Stranger In Paradise . All massively orchestrated, especially  Rodgers and Hart 's  With  A Song In My Hea...

  This is an absolute  treasure  of a release.  Firstly, you get the original 1966 release in MONO and then, beautifully, in STEREO.  It is a great mid-sixties Motown album, albeit largely full of covers of other Motown songs. there are a couple of original hits here too, though, notably the wonderful  You Can't Hurry Love , which spawned so many imitation basslines and the Northern Soul classic  Love Is Like An Itching In Heart .  Covered effectively are The Isley Brothers'  This Old Heart Of Mine ; three from The Four Tops in  I Can't Help Myself ,  Baby I Need Your Loving  and  Shake Me Wake Me (When It's Over) ; The Temptations'  Get Ready ; The Elgins'  Put Yourself In My Place ; Nancy Sinatra's  These Boots Are Made For Walking ; Barrett String's  Money ; The McCoys'  Hang On Sloopy  and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas'  Come Get These Memories . A quick shout out for the lea...

  It is a popularly held view that sixties Motown albums were not up to much, being largely populated with a couple of hit singles, some sub-standard filler and Beatles covers or ‘supper club’ standards. Well, there is none of that to be found here - it is definitely one of Motown’s finest sixties albums, delivered by a seriously talented singer, backed by the usual top-notch musicians.  You’re A Wonderful One  is poppy, typical Motown thumping fare.  How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)  is simply a great tune also covered by   Jr. Walker & The All-Stars .   It doesn’t really need too much of an introduction from me here, though, other than to remind you to check out that sumptuous piano and tambourine backing and - of course - Marvin’s peerless vocal.  Try It Baby  is in the same piano-backed vein while  Baby Don’t You Do It  just rocks and grooves from the first note - it is sixties Gaye at his best, featuring a great vocal a...

This would be Marvin Gaye's last album on his own, with no duet partner, for two years. He started his (comparative) sabbatical on a high, though, as there is some fine material on here. All in wonderful stereo too. I'll Be Doggone is an uptempo Smokey Robinson number enhanced by Marv Tarplin's unique guitar sound. Indeed, Robinson later said that he exclaimed "I'll be doggone" when hearing one of his riffs. He duly created a catchy song around it. It is one of Marvin's Gaye's most infectious earlier hits. It got to number one of the r 'n' b charts, deservedly so too. Marvin returned to Holland-Dozier-Holland instead of Smokey Robinson for the lively, catchy pop of Little Darling (I Need You). It has those loud female backing vocals that typified many Northern Soul hits. Charting averagely, it is enjoyable and nicely saxophone-enhanced but it lacks a certain special quality. Marvin was back with Smokey Robinson again on Take This Heart Of Mine....

  Marvin Gaye had been spending his time duetting with Tammi Terrell in the 1967-68, but, on the back of his huge hit in I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Motown managed to get an album's worth of material from him. Good stuff it was too, presented here in glorious stereo. In The Groove is an apt title. There is an effortless, soulful - and at times funky - grooviness to the album.  You is a slightly unusual Marvin Gaye song in that it sounds really robust and Four Tops-ish, as if Levi Stubbs had come in on vocals. It has a great sound quality on it. Killer stereo. Love that bassline. A fine start to the album indeed. The standard was continued on the solidly catchy groove of Tear It On Down. Chained had been recorded by Paul Peterson the previous year, but here the peerless Marvin Gaye makes it his own. It is full of rhythm and that very '68-style funky soul. It is one of Gaye's best slightly lesser-known hits. It has a really enticing brassy and bassy groove to it.  Wha...

This was a really fine soul album from Marvin Gaye, perfectly bridging the period between the main part of the sixties and his socially and sexually "aware" early seventies work. It oozes quality throughout and is a bit of a hidden gem, overshadowed by 1971's What's Going On. It's a really good album. A proper album too. No Beatles covers. By the way, the initials of the title stood for Marvin Pentz Gaye. An odd middle name.  We start with the well-known Too Busy Thinking About My Baby. This corker of a song had been around since 1966 when it appeared on the Temptations' Gettin' Ready album. Marvin Gaye had a huge hit with it here. Despite its 1969 release date and success, it still retains that classic Motown sound that makes one think it is from 1965-67. This Magic Moment was a Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman song originally recorded by Ben E. King in the early sixties. Marvin's version also has a brassy breeziness highly redolent of that era but it is brought...

An increasingly-disillusioned Marvin Gaye somehow managed to cobble together an album here, despit e his gripes with Motown's hierarchy and also with many things going on in the world (enough to make him ask what indeed was going on a year later).  The album was  mainly a collection of covers of songs previously recorded by other Motown artists (something that was quite common at Motown was song-sharing) and, Heaven help us all - a Beatles cover (something that was also common on Motown albums). The problem is for Marvin on this album is that, although his versions are ok, it is the originals that mainly win out, for me.  Gonna Give Her All The Love I've Got is his version of the song made a hit by Jimmy Ruffin. It is much, much slower than Ruffin's and, for me, much the inferior. It still has an appeal, but when you are so familiar with another version, you tend to stick with that one. Well I do, anyway.  Oh dear. A cover of Yesterday . Completely unnecessary. That ...

  Along with 1967’s  Make It Happen , this album, from 1965, is probably the only other truly credible  Smokey Robinson & The Miracles  album i.e. one not blighted by cover versions, something that was true of so many sixties Motown albums. As Motown male vocal groups went, however, it was always  The Temptations  and  The Four Tops  for me, before Robinson & The Miracles. This is a fine album, though.  The album kicks off with three copper-bottomed Robinson classics in the iconic  The Tracks Of My Tears , the catchy drum-powered and irresistibly catchy  Going To A Go-Go  and the sumptuous romantic ballad  Ooh Baby Baby  which showcased Robinson’s unique high-pitched voice. That was some start to the album.  Maybe it is because I have loved the song for over fifty years now but  The Tracks Of My Tears  just stands out on the album as being just so damn perfect. A copper-bottomed classic for...

  Smokey Robinson & The Miracles albums were often a mixture of stunning originals and covers of contemporary songs. For that reason, I always find them coming across to me as sort of half an album. This is definitely one of those. That said, it is a still a good listen and it possesses a great stereo reproduction that sounds truly exceptional on a good system.  The album begins with Whole Lot Of Shakin' In My Heart (Since I Met You), a Frank Wilson song (not a Smokey one) and it was a total stomper of a record and should have been a much bigger hit. It is full of ebullience and great harmonies. It qualifies as a hidden gem in my book, albeit coming, surprisingly, in that case, from such a successful artist/group.  Up next is one of those covers - Dusty Springfield's You Don't Have To Say You Love Me. Back to Smokey originals. Oh Lordy - (Come Round Here) I'm The One You Need is a killer of a record from the quiet for a while Miracles. They switched from Frank Wilso...

  This was probably the best album from  Smokey Robinson &  The Miracles , from a time in 1967 before albums from Motown artists were taken particularly seriously, either by the music media or by the artists themselves.  It actually only contained one really big hit,  The Tears Of A Clown  - a rare initial mistake from Motown’s hitmakers who didn’t release it as a single until three years later. There were several other songs that should have been hits on the album, though and the quality is generally maintained throughout. It is a fine mixture of infectious, energetic dance numbers and slick, polished ballads. Oh, and there were no  Beatles  or easy listening “supper club” covers to be found.  It has a superb, clear, pounding stereo sound too. One of the best Motown album sound reproductions around.  The Soulful Shack  is a copper-bottomed killer of a Robinson track with an insistent, lively beat and a great bit of saxophone ha...

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles  released three pretty acceptable albums in the mid-late sixties in  Going To A Go-Go ,  Make It Happen  and this one, containing some good songs and delivered with a good sound quality. I have to say the quality is superb on this one. It is a really good album overall too, even though it includes the now seemingly obligatory  Beatles  cover.  Yester-Love  is a great opener, full of brass breaks, great drums and a sublime Robinson vocal. This was Robinson and The Miracles at their very best. Great songwriting, great harmonies.  If You Can Want  has a fine rhythm to it that is almost proto-funky. Check out that drum/bass interplay. This was a definite underrated Miracles tune. I really like it.  Special Occasion  continues the quality with more sumptuous bass and drum backing and another killer vocal. These really were three corkers to open the album with.  Everybody Needs Love , with its ...

  1969's Four In Blue was an unusual release in that it wasn't full of 45 rpm 'a' sides and 'b' sides - none at all in fact (as far as I'm aware). That was a real rarity for a Motown album. What was not unusual, though was the presence of several covers. The album is presented in stereo but the sound is not quite as seriously impressive as it was on Away We A-Go-Go. It is a bit of a run-of-the mill album, not bad, not at all, but not possessing that something truly special .  The best material is, of course, the Smokey originals, and the ones that sound as if they are. The album kicks off with a good one in the melodic and pleasant groove of You Send Me (With Your Good Lovin'), not a Robinson song, but delivered like one. Dreams, Dreams is an uptempo Smokey number. It's good, but nothing outstanding compared to some of his material. Tomorrow Is Another Day, a melodious ballad, falls into the same category. Now it's Beatles cover time. We get Hey ...

This was the very first Temptations album. It was one that very much harked back to the street-corner harmonies of doo-wop. It is dominated by early-sixties semi-rock 'n' roll ballads and uptempo highly vocal rock 'n' rollers, but it does contain a few fine Smokey Robinson songs, including one superb one in the opener. The first copper-bottomed Motown classic that The Temptations released was The Way You Do The Things You Do, the first song on their first album. It is a Smokey Robinson song and comes from the album The Temptations Sing Smokey. Eddie Kendricks leads the lads with his beautiful, clear falsetto. The song is joyously enthusiastic and gave The Temptations their first number one hit on the r 'n' b charts. It stands out a mile from the others on the album here. UB40 covered the song on their 1989 Labour Of Love II album. Daryl Hall & John Oates also did a great live version of it in the eighties, accompanied by Eddie Kendrick and David Ruffin. Chec...

The Four Tops were most definitely better-known for their veritable stream of corking hit singles. Their albums tended to include a few of these each, a couple of other good Motown numbers and a whole side of covers of Beatles or Monkees songs and/or other easy-listening, poppy standards. Anyway, despite that, I've covered a fair few of them.... The great thing about this impressive debut from  The Four Tops  is that, unlike many of their subsequent albums, it didn't contain a superb first side before descending into a second side of covers of songs from the musicals or  The Beatles . As the saying goes, it is "all killer, no filler". It is full of good material from beginning to end. The sound quality is really good as well, full and warm and in stereo.  Of course I'm going to love that. Baby I Need Your Loving, the group's first single (and first hit), is big, powerful, muscular and catchy as well as introducing us to the magnificent voice of Levi Stubbs. Be...

The first two  Four Tops  albums were actually quite credible soul albums.  From the third one onwards, for a while, Motown started to produce albums that featured the current singles, their ‘b’ sides and then, in a (possibly misguided) but understandable attempt to “crossover” and win over “adult” audiences, they packed the rest of the album with middle of the road standards. This was a shame, because The Four Tops were worth more than that and indeed, Motown was worth more than covering Frank Sinatra or Beatles songs. Diana Ross & The Supremes also suffered from these “supper club” type albums. Even worse was The Four Tops’ On Broadway album of covers from musicals. Dear oh dear.   Anyway, this second outing, entitled  The Four Tops  Second Album  (inventive title!) is a pretty convincing soul album. Nearly all the songs are  Holland-Dozier-Holland  ones.  I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) is impossibly catchy and full of...