"Good Good Feeling! More Motown Girls" by VARIOUS ARTISTS [Motown Girls Series] – Volume 4 in a Series of 4 featuring Martha & The Vandellas, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Velvelettes, Brenda Holloway, Debbie Dean, The Lewis Sisters, Ann Bogan, LaBrenda Ben, Kim Weston, Anita Knorl, Oma Heard and more (August 2021 UK Ace Records CD Compilation of Remasters – Many New To CD with Six Previously Unreleased) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Nearly 200 Others Is Available in my

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

"SOUL GALORE!" 

60ts Soul, R&B, Northern Soul

Mod, New Breed, Funk, Rare Grooves

Atlantic, Chess, Motown, Stax Labels and many more...

 

Your Guide To The Best CD Reissues and Remasters 

Thousands of E-Pages

All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

 

<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B08YS58MPX&asins=B08YS58MPX&linkId=3962ed6fb1283b3f93519653796b8ade&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B000UZ4H1S&asins=B000UZ4H1S&linkId=ae75e310d3a52494fc3e11efc239368f&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

"...This Love I've Got..."

 

A fourth installment in the Motown Girl series from Ace Records of the UK - you get 25-cuts of which many were only available as downloads and a tasty six new Previously Unreleased tracks (the remainder are stragglers from other CD compilations). And all of it is on CD hardcopy at last in one place. Curated by Series Head Honcho KEITH HUGHES - this is the nuts as far as any Detroit fan is concerned and a must own. Much to discuss and bops 'til you drop - so let's have at it...

 

UK released Friday, 27 August 2021 - "Good Good Feeling! More Motown Girls" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1579 (Barcode 029667102520) is a 25-Track CD Compilation of Remasters. All tracks were recorded in Mono between 1962 and 1969 - 12-songs were made available as downloads between 2012 and 2019 and mark their first CD appearance here - six more are previously unreleased (2021) - whilst the remainder are from old and recent CD compilations that featured unreleased material of this nature. 

 

"Good Good Feeling! More Motown Girls" is No. 4 in a Series of 4 as of January 2022 (see full list below) and plays out as follows (69:35 minutes):

 

1. This Love I've Got - MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS (recorded August 1965 for Ivy Jo Hunter but re-assigned to Martha & The Vandellas - PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED, 2021)

2. Nothing But A Fool - GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS (recorded April and May 1966, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1966" download set in 2016)

3. I'm In Love (And I Know It) [Alternate Lead] - THE VELVELETTES (recorded September and December 1966 for Stevie Wonder, re-assigned April and May 1967 to The Velvelettes - first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1967" download set in 2017)

4. Good Good Feeling - BRENDA HOLLOWAY (recorded March 1968 - PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED, 2021)

5. I'm So Helpless (When I'm With You) - DEBBIE DEAN (recorded November and December 1966, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1966" download set in 2016)

6. Can't Figure It Out - THE LEWIS SISTERS (recorded December 1965, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1965" download set in 2015)

7. A Love So Deep Inside - THE VELVELETTES (recorded December 1965 and January 1966, first issued in 2004 in "The Motown Anthology" on Motown 980 937-2)

8. Show Me The Way - GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS (recorded June and July 1968, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1968" download set in 2018)

9. Hold Me Oh My Darling - ANN BOGAN (recorded July 1963, first issued in 2020 on the CD compilation "A Cellarful Of Motown Volume 5" on Caroline CAROLRR090CD)

10. I Don't Want Your Promises – LaBRENDA BEN (recorded May 1963, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1963" download set in 2013)

11. Drop In The Bucket - KIM WESTON (recorded June 1963, Mary Wells dunned in January 1964, Kim Weston dubbed n September 1964 - first available on the 1994 10CD set "The Complete Motown Anthology" on M.E.I. Digital DPSM 5200)

12. Don't Be Too Long - ANITA KNORL (recorded November 1962, first issued in 2020 on the CD compilation "A Cellarful Of Motown Volume 5" on Caroline CAROLRR090CD)

13. It's Hard To Walk Away - MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS (recorded December 1962, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1962" download of 2012)

14. Stuck Up - OMA HEARD (recorded 1965 in L.A., first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1965" download of 2015)

15. My Daddy Knows Best - LITTLE LISA (recorded July 1965, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1965" download of 2015)

16. In Twenty Words Or Less - LaBRENDA BEN (recorded October 1963, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1963" download of 2013)

17. When I Was In School - HATTIE LITTLES (recorded August 1963 - PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED, 2021)

18. Keep Me - BRENDA HOLLOWAY (recorded June 1966, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1966" download of 2016)

19. Never Trust A Man - CHRIS CLARK (recorded March, June and October 1966, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1966" download of 2016)

20. Watching A Plane In The Sky - BARBARA McNAIR (recorded July 1968 - PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED, 2021)

21. In The Neighborhood - CONNIE HAINES (recorded January 1965 for Ivy Jo Hunter, overdubbed by Tommy Good, Jimmy Ruffin and Kim Weston in September 1965 and re-assigned to Connie Haines - PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED, 2021)

22. My World Is Crumbling – THE LEWIS SISTERS (recorded June and July 1966 – PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED, 2021)

23. Send Him To Me – DEBBIE DEAN (recorded October 1967, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1968" download of 2018)

24. Can't We Be Strangers Again – BLINKY (recorded October 1968, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1968" download of 2018)

25. All I Could Do Was Cry – YVONNE FAIR (recorded 1968 and 1969, first available in the "Motown Unreleased 1969" download of 2019)

NOTES:

All Tracks in MONO

Tracks 1, 4, 17, 20, 21, 22 are PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED

 

The 16-page booklet is a classy affair and just what you'd expect from a Soul-mad British reissue label steeped in such enthusiasm and excellence for over 45 years. The black and white publicity photos of Martha & The Vandellas, The Lewis Sisters, The Velvelettes, Kim Weston, Yvonne Fair, Brenda Holloway and Chris Clark take up whole pages each and are properly gorgeous. Each song is given musical and personnel credits where info is available with the paragraphs beneath from KEITH HUGHES filling in the gaps where he can. It's astonishing to think that in 2021 - Motown is still giving up riches - making Berry Gordy's recent December 2021 Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Honor from President Joe Biden all the more timely (Joni Mitchell and Bette Midler were there too). Mastering is by Ace's long-standing Audio genius NICK ROBBINS - all of the Mono cuts sounding sparkly and cool if not a little rough around the unfinished edges. To the tunes...

 

Martha is taking one look in the mirror and telling herself not to love that boy too strong – her This Love I've Got was probably called Save Yourself in an early incarnation – a great upbeat bopper that would have been a hit had it been aired (what a find). Change of pace for Nothing But A Fool – the fabulous vocals of Gladys Knight (channelling her inner Tina Turner) begging him to let her go if he has no real intentions – a gem that first saw light of day in 2016 as a download.

 

Not to be outdone in the divine stakes, The Velvelettes give it some permanent contentment in the rapid-paced bopper I'm In Love (And I Know It) – another winner that could have hit number six million back in the day. Motown fans will get weak at the knees at the thought of new Brenda Holloway – and the gorgeous Good Good Feeling is surely going to hitting Northern Soul dancefloors with a matter of urgency (easy to hear Ace chose this as their compilation title). Not so sure about the Debbie Dean tune – too busy on the brass blasting front even if her vocals are great. The Lewis Sisters get smooch-like with Can't Figure It Out and for me it’s the first time the muffled audio of an in-complete recording shows up (still good though). And it goes like that to excellent unreleased with Connie Haines (a coffee shop where everybody stops) and the easy-listening-Soul of The Lewis Sisters feels like Dusty Springfield-light.

 

It is truly amazing that a CD like "Good Good Feeling!..." exists in 2021 – Motown – the label that keeps on giving us the Sound of Young America  some 60 years after the event. Top marks and a great reissue from a great label...

 

Motown Girls CD Series from Ace Records of the UK includes 

(4 Volumes as of January 2022)

 

1. Finders Keepers: Motown Girls 1961-67 - released 25 March 2013 on Ace Records CDTOP 1364 (Barcode 029667053921) - 24 Tracks, 64:50 minutes

 

2. Love & Affection: More Motown Girls - released 30 October 2015 on Ace Records CDTOP 1455 (Barcode 029667074025) - 25 Tracks, 69:27 minutes

 

3. Baby I've Got It! More Motown Girls - released 30 March 2018 on Ace Records CDTOP 1524 (Barcode 029667089425) - 24 Tracks, 64:29 minutes

 

4. Good Good Feeling! More Motown Girls - released 27 August 2021 on Ace Records CDTOP 1579 (Barcode 029667102520) - 25 Tracks, 69:35 minutes