"The 'Sound' Of The R&B Hits" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – May 1964 UK LP on Stateside Records in Mono Plus 14 More Bonus Tracks From The Period – Including Mary Wells, The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Barrett Strong, The Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, The Valadiers, Mike & The Modifiers and The Contours (September 2020 UK Ace Records Expanded Edition CD Reissue – Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"... Everybody's Gotta Pay Some Dues..."

On Page 4 of the stunning 32-Page booklet that accompanies this gorgeous September 2020 CD reissue - there is an image I love to pieces.

Relayed to us by Motown's founder and leading light Berry Gordy when interviewed by British DJ Robbie Vincent in 1995, Gordy was more than moved when he had been told of countless on-the-money British working-class teenagers taking their transistor radios to bed at night, and hidden under their sheets (often by torchlight), excited and trembling, they tuned in to pirate Radio stations to wallow in the 'cool' music of the day - especially R&B and Soul from America's 'Tamla'. 

As a reviewer of some 4000+ releases and someone who has worked/paid their musical penance in record shops much of my adult life - it's become something of a cliché to praise England's Ace Records and their rather beautiful championing of Soul Music. But this wee peach reissuing an influential British album from May 1964 on Stateside Records that did a huge amount of notice-work in bringing the mighty Motown to UK ears and turntables is surely why Ace is worshiped. 

The booklet in this sucker alone is a work of art and must surely be heading towards gong-acknowledgement come awards season. There are six pages of Discography info alone between Pages 24 and 30 that list both US and UK releases for everything - I can't imagine the amount of fact-checking that this must have taken. But before all that, there is also some preliminary explanation needed to explain what this actually is...

Tamla or Motown or Gordy (as the labels were called in the USA) did not become the UK's 'Tamla Motown' imprint until the release 19 March 1965 of TMG 501 - Diana Ross & The Supremes doing "Stop In The Name Of Love". As the first British 45 on 'Tamla Motown', it was quite late in the game when you think about it now. In fact on that Friday in March 1965 - six singles, six EPs and six LPs were issued to a baying English youth – 18 in one day. 

Prior to that Berry Gordy's American releases that actually dated back to early 1959 had been handled in Britain by London American, Fontana and Oriole - all with zero chart results despite real efforts by the independent Oriole who had managed actual long-playing albums in those pioneering early years (The Contours LP "Do You Love Me" is on Page 7 whilst the "Bye Bye Baby" LP by Mary Wells is pictured on Page 15). But all that changed when the EMI-imprint Stateside took over proceedings in October 1963 – giving the Tamla roster access to the power and reach of a major label. 

Hip and happening types like Georgie Fame, Dusty Springfield, Brian Poole & The Tremeloes (whose cover version of "Do You Love Me" by The Contours topped the British charts in October 1963 for three weeks and gave Motown their first UK number 1 albeit in a round about way) and of course the new darlings of 1964 The Rolling Stones had been educating listeners in Blighty to the Soul and R&B wonders on offer across the pond- but none more so than the Fab Four and the entourage that surrounded them. The Beatles championed the label on their first two British LPs in particular "Please Please Me" and "With The Beatles" (March and November 1963) and included with both affection and pride Mary Wells of Motown as a support act on a 1964 UK Tour (the programme is reproduced for it on Page 8). With "A Hard Day's Night" due for release in July 1964 and Beatlemania screamfests already dominating the globe - Stateside astutely assembled SL 10077 in Mono for release May 1964. And that's what you get here. A reminder of that event, 54 years on and still trembling...

The original 14-track LP was made up of American LP cuts and 45s dating from August 1961 to September 1963. Ace have simply doubled it in size by adding on 14 more period relevant songs including the ludicrously rare Mike & The Modifiers 45 for "I Found Myself A Brand New Baby" on Oriole CBA 1775 from October 1962 (released in the same month as The Beatles "Love Me Do") - yours for south of a couple of grand if you can find one. Can I get a witness indeed – let’s shop around for details...

UK released Friday, 25 September 2020 - "The 'Sound' Of The R&B Hits" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace records CDTOP 1578 (Barcode 029667099523) is an Expanded Edition CD Reissue of a 1964 UK Compilation LP in Mono with 14 Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (74:34 minutes, all tracks Mono):

Side 1:

1. Shop Around - MARY WELLS (from the US LP "Bye Bye Baby" on Motown M 600, August 1961)

2. Way Over There - THE MARVELETTES (from the US LP "Please Mr. Postman" on Tamla T 228, November 1961)

3. Everybody's Gotta Pay Some Dues - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "Cookin' With The Miracles" on Tamla T 223, November 1961)

4. Mockingbird - MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS (from the US LP "Heat Wave" on Gordy G 907, September 1963)

5. Bye Bye Baby - MARY WELLS (from the US LP "Bye Bye Baby" on Motown M 600, August 1961)

6. I'll Try Something New - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "I'll Try Something New" on Tamla T 230, July 1962)

7. Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream) - THE MARVELETTES (from the US LP "Sing / Smash Hits Of '62" on Tamla T 229, June 1962)

Side 2:

8. Money - BARRETT STRONG (from the US LP "Tamla Special No. 1" on Tamla T 224, June 1961)

9. What's So Good About Goodbye - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "I'll Try Something New" on Tamla T 230, July 1962)

10. Let Me Go The Right Way - THE SUPREMES (from the US LP "Meet The Supremes" on Motown M 606, December 1962)

11. I Don't Want To Take A Chance - MARY WELLS (from the US LP "Bye Bye Baby" on Motown M 600, August 1961)

12. Broken Hearted - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "Cookin' With The Miracles" on Tamla T 223, November 1961)

13. The One Who Really Loves You - THE MARVELETTES (from the US LP "Sing / Smash Hits Of '62" on Tamla T 229, June 1962)

14. Do You Love Me - THE MIRACLES (from the US LP "Doin' Mickey's Monkey" on Tamla T 245, November 1963)

Tracks 1 to 14 are the Various Artists Compilation LP "The 'Sound' Of The R&B Hits" - released May 1964 in the UK on Stateside Records SL 10077 in Mono only. 

BONUS TRACKS 

(All tracks are the A-sides of UK 45s except four where noted - 20, 22, 23 and 24): 

15. Can I Get A Witness - MARVIN GAYE (UK 45-single on Stateside SS 243, November 1963)

16. Please Mr. Postman - THE MARVELETTES (UK 45-single on Fontana H 335, December 1961)

17. You Really Got A Hold On Me - THE MIRACLES (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1795, January 1963) 

18. You Beat Me To The Punch - MARY WELLS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1762, August 1962)

19. Pride And Joy - MARVIN GAYE (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1846, August 1963)

20. Oh I Apologize - BARRETT STRONG (UK 45-single on London HLU 9088, B-side to "Money", April 1960)

21. I Found A Girl - THE VALADIERS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1809, March 1963)

22. I Want A Guy - THE MARVELETTES (UK 45-single on Fontana H 386, B-side of "Twistin' Postman", March 1962)

23. Hitch Hike - MARVIN GAYE (Track 1, Side 2 of the 4-Track EP "R&B Chartmakers" on Stateside SS 1009, January 1964) 

24. I've Been Good To You - THE MIRACLES (UK 45-single on Fontana H 384, B-side of "What's So Good About Goodbye", March 1962)

25. Two Lovers - MARY WELLS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1796, January 1963)

26. I Found Myself A Brand New Baby - MIKE & THE MODIFIERS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1775, October 1962)

27. Shake Sherry - THE CONTOURS (UK 45-single on Oriole CBA 1799, February 1963)

28. Heat Wave - MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS (UK 45-single on Stateside SS 228, October 1963) 

The card digipak folds out into three with black and whites of The Beatles with Mary Wells in 1964 on one side of a flap and the Motown Review (Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas, The temptations and The Miracles) on a London visit in October 1964 looking suitably fur-wrapped for the capitol's cold weather. The booklet (as already mentioned) is a feast for the eyes and mind with fantastic KEVIN HOWLETT liner notes followed by song-by-song appraisals and histories. In between the copious amount of text detail are photos of British and American 45s in their sexy label bags, beautiful and super rare EPs, publicity photos and charts and even a Record Mirror R&B Poll Results that from April 1964 that show readers giving Mary Wells top Female Singers, The Miracles at number one (The Stones just starting out at an impressive no. 3) and so on. The AUDIO entirely in Mono is care of Ace's longstanding Audio Engineer NICK ROBBINS and it punches and shimmies and sways out of your speakers like silk from a yesteryear. 

The listen is very much 'old' Motown especially those lesser-heard tunes like Martha's "Mockingbird" and (not surprisingly) five from The Miracles including their cover of "Do You Love Me". But for me it’s those "Way Over There" moments and Marvin's fabulous "Can I Get A Witness" and perky "Hitch Hike" that still tingle. You can just the Beatles giving it some head-jerk to Barrett Strong's plea for "Money" whilst Mary Wells checks out the emotional malls in her version of "Shop Around". Smart choices include those three B-side rarities in the bonus cuts - The Marvelettes pining in "I Want A Guy" for instance. And I love those uber-rarities like The Valadiers and Mike & The Modifiers - not tunes that will be making it onto Radio 1 any day soon. And its still unbelievable to think that even though it defined the sound of the American summer and hit R&B number 1 there – the glorious "Heat Wave" by Martha & The Vandellas was not a hit in savvy olde England (what were we all thinking).

For sure, you could say that 56-years after the event, this Mono-fest LP and its doubled-up bonuses is another Motown CD compilation most hard-core collectors could do without, especially if like me, they have collected all those tasty Motown Singles book sets on Hip-O Select which will have variants of all these tunes. But how many of us are there?

For everyone else/genre-curious newbees - I say, celebrate and enjoy, love the molten flow of Holland-Dozier-Holland and Smokey Robinson songwriting brilliance that comes roaring of this pretty reissue. And check out that retina-blazingly gorgeous LP sleeve to "Cookin' With The Miracles" (Tamla TM-223) that adorns Page 1 of the booklet (I’ve supplied a photo). All that hope, all that love of the music and all that pride - amen baby! 

I'm off now to hide under the sheets with my Roberts Radio and twiddle those knobs (if that's still legal in late 2020)...