Not all the tracks selected for these original LPs were the most recent Motown hits of the day - some dated back a few years, reflecting either a re-release of the song, or the delay in being issued for the UK charts, and suchlike. This is what led to Volume 3 having a particularly outstanding tracklist, bookended by I Heard It Through The Grapevine (1968) and The Tracks Of My Tears (1965). Virtually everything in between is pure gold, so to mention the highlights would be to list almost all sixteen tracks. Just enjoy some prime pop-soul music - and in the words of one of the album's extra sublime entries, summer's here, and the time is right for dancing in the streets. Or if your physique's anything like mine, at least walking sedately in the streets.
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pw: sgtg
Oh, man! If we're talking guilty secrets, I only have to read that there's Grapevine and Tracks and I'm lost in the guiltiest. One of the saddest days of my life: I bought the 45 of Grapevine and held it in my hand all the way home on possibly the hottest day of that year. When it hit the turntable, well, I wept. I really wept. Not for the beauty of the song but for the warped mess it had become. And as for Tracks, that was about the first song I worked out how to play on guitar. (Speaking of which, Bill Frisell has a superb version of Grapevine that I play sometimes to old friends to see how long it takes them to realise what he's playing...) Thanks for this, it is superb. Not that I'd admit to it in public, of course. Now, if I could only do the Harlem Shuffle!
ReplyDeleteAww man that sucks! (the Grapevine warpage). Made me think of that post on Inches Per Second (check him out on my bloglist) a few weeks back, the DJ from Detroit '63: "Man, it's so hot, when I put that record on it was a 45, now it's an LP." Highly recommended post that one, some absolutely smoking tunes.
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