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"...Like A Heat Wave..."
Often stickered as a 'Definitive Edition', I've reviewed about six of Universal's "Gold" 2CD sets - The Crusaders, Steppenwolf, Marvin Gaye, Cream, Lionel Richie & The Commodores, Traffic, Kool & The Gang and so on. And have found that the right ones have stunning Remastered Audio. This Hip-O Select double for Motown's Martha Reeves & The Vandellas is one of those.
"Gold" is Mastered by ELLEN FITTON, the lady who did all fourteen of 'The Complete Motown Singles' Hardback Book Sets across eight years (2005 to 2013) - an award winning series that unleashed 1847 US Singles over 75 CD Volumes in packaging so lavish it literally made your eyes water.
So our Ellen knows her way around a Mono or Stereo master tape box or two. And that's the kind of quality you're getting here. First up is the Martha & The Vandellas girl-group years and then the solo Martha Reeves stuff - 22 US R&B chart hits in (each is here), a smattering of hard-to-find B-sides on digital, CD compilation Rarities and even Three Previously Unreleased Stereo Mixes, including one for the huge hit "...Heat Wave". You could argue that given the playing-time room on either CD that more rare B-sides and LP cuts could and should have been included, but it is impressive nonetheless.
So ignore the boring generic title/packaging and feel the sonic boom. And the fact that "Gold" is new for less than seven squid (or about four if you look around on the secondhand market) is only a bonus. To the details and the original Heat Wave gals...
UK released 3 April 2006 - "Gold" by MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS on Universal/Hip-O/Motown 0602498840993 (Barcode 602498840993) is a 2CD 42-Track Definitive Edition Anthology of Remasters that plays out as follows:
CD1 (56:29 minutes):
1. I'll Have To Let Him Go (September 1962, Gordy 7011, A-side)
2. Come And Get These Memories (February 1963, Gordy 7014, A-side)
3. (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Extended Stereo Mix)
4. A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knocking Everyday) (July 1963, Gordy 7022, B-side of "Heat Wave")
5. Quicksand (November 1963, Gordy 7025, A-side)
6. Darling, I Hum Our Song (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Stereo Mix)
7. Live Wire (January 1964, Gordy 7027, A-side)
8. In My Lonely Room (March 1964, Gordy 7031, A-side)
9. Dancing In The Street (July 1964, Gordy 7033, A-side)
10. There He Is (At My Door) (July 1964, Gordy 7033, B-side)
11. Wild One (November 1964, Gordy 7036, A-side)
12. Nowhere To Run (February 1965, Gordy 7039, A-side)
13. Motoring (February 1965, Gordy 7039, B-side)
14. You've Been In Love Too Long (July 1965, Gordy 7045, A-side)
15. Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) (July 1965, Gordy 7045, B-side)
16. My Baby Loves Me (Stereo Version from the January 2003 CD compilation "The Love Songs Of Motown")
17. What Am I Going To Do Without Your Love (May 1966, Gordy 7053, A-side)
18. I'm Ready For Love (Alternate Stereo Version that was included on the US LP "Watchout!" on Gordy G920 in December 1966)
19. Third Finger, Left Hand (October 1966, Gordy 7058, Non-LP B-side of "Jimmy Mack" – see also Track 1 on CD2)
20. It's Easy To Fall In Love (With A Guy Like You) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Stereo Mix)
CD1: All Tracks credited to MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS
CD2 (66:32 minutes):
1. Jimmy Mack (Stereo Single Version, Mixed by Tom Moulton and First Issued July 2005 on the 4CD Box Set "The Motown Collection")
2. Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone (August 1967, Gordy 7062, A-side)
3. One Way Out (August 1967, Gordy 7062, B-side)
4. Honey Chile (October 1967, Gordy 7067, A-side)
5. Show Me The Way (October 1967, Gordy 7067, B-side)
6. I Promise To Wait My Love (April 1968, Gordy 7070, A-side)
7. Forget Me Not (April 1968, Gordy 7070, B-side)
8. I Can't Dance To That Music You're Playing (July 1969, Gordy 7075, Non-LP A-side)
9. Sweet Darlin' (October 1968, Gordy 7080, Non-LP A-side)
10. (We've Got) Honey Love (April 1969, Gordy 7085, A-side)
11. Taking My Love (And Leaving Me) (August 1969, Gordy 7094, A-side)
12. I Should Be Proud (February 1970, Gordy 7098, A-side)
13. Love, Guess Who (February 1970, Gordy 7098, B-side)
14. I Gotta Let Me Go (November 1970, Gordy 7103, Non-LP A-side)
15. Bless You (September 1971, Gordy 7110, A-side)
16. In And Out Of Life (January 1972, Gordy 7113, A-side)
17. Tear It On Down (May 1972, Gordy 7118, A-side)
18. Willie D (from the December 1974 US LP Soundtrack "Willie Dynamite" on MCA Records MCA-393)
19. Power Of Love (February 1974, MCA 40194, A-side)
20. Wild Night (August 1974, MCA 40274, A-side)
21. Love Blind (May 1975, Arista AS-0124, A-side)
22. Free Again (from the 1978 Henry Cosby US LP "We Meet Again" on Milestone/Fantasy 9549)
CD2: Tracks 1 to 3 credited to MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS
Tracks 4 to 17 credited to MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS
Track 18 credited to MARTHA REEVES & THE SWEET THINGS
Tracks 19 to 22 credited to MARTHA REEVES
The 20-page booklet has some fab photos and none moreso than the gorgeous hipster 60ts shot on the last page – the three gals looking glad to be alive in full colour. MARK BEGO, co-author of the MR autobiography "Confessions Of A Motown Diva", gives us a potted history of the group and their hit-making machine in the excellent liner notes. Both "Heat Wave" and "Jimmy Mack" hit the coveted No. 1 spot on the US R&B singles charts in 1963 and 1967 respectively, whilst the iconic "Dancing In The Street" and "Nowhere To Run" 45s were huge Top 10 hits too in 1964 and 1965.
The other colour photos in the booklet are very cool culminating in a solo pose, while the last few pages are given over to detailed track-by-track info including release dates for the 45s and LPs and Pop/R&B US Chart positions. But the big news is the ELLEN FITTON Remasters ("Heat Wave" was by Suha Gur) and they are just fabulous – punchy and alive and rearing to go.
Although they are all but forgotten now (even on oldies Radio) - "My Baby Loves Me" and "I'm Ready For Love" were huge hits of the day (No. 3 and No. 2 in November 1966 and March 1967). Rehearing them now (and so many of the others) is like revisiting friends from the past you regret losing touch with. Martha and her gals benefitted of course from gifted songwriters like Smokey Robinson, Sylvia May and Ivory Joe Hunter and of course the magic of H-D-H (Holland-Dozier-Holland).
Northern Soul hero Frank Wilson (whose lone copy of the withdrawn 1966 45 "Do I Love You" reputedly exchanged hands for 25,000 dollars in the last few years) has a cover of his "It's Easy To Fall In Love (With A Guy Like You)" at the end of CD1 – but this time in the shape of a Previously Unissued Stereo variant - a genuine find if ever there was one.
By the time we're into CD2 and nearing the Solo years, we get Richard Morris, Norman Whitfield, Ashford & Simpson and Clarence Paul contributing the tunes. Martha covers Van Morrison's "Wild Night" and J.J. Johnson's "Willie D" whilst offering up a rare song of her own in "Love Blind". Her last brush with the US charts came on MCA Records - the catchy "Power Of Love" given to her Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Joe Simon (it peaked at No. 22).
"Gold" by MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS gives you a whole lot of goodies for not a lot of wonga. Sure, in 2021, some fifty to sixty years after the main event, we may not have the stamina to 'dance in the street' anymore - and with Covid-19 - it may actually be illegal. But there is naught stopping a body from dancing towards this joyous little twofer. Come and get these memories - good advice I say...
