Martha Reeves and the Vandellas: The Ultimate Collection

When I was in high school (circa 1989, I believe) I bought a copy (on cassette, of course) of Martha and the Vandellas’ Greatest Hits. It’s possibly the first Motown album I ever owned. About three or four years ago I figured it was finally time to get an upgrade from the ol’ cassette, so I obtained a wonderful CD compilation called “Martha Reeves and The Vandellas: the Ultimate Collection.” Upon listening to it I was blown away by how great it sounded, and I remember thinking at the time, “If I ever get around to starting a blog, this is kind of stuff I’d love to write about.” Now that I’ve finally started this little blog, I remembered my thoughts from back then, and I decided that I’d make this collection the subject of my second post.

I suppose what I have to say is not just about this collection in particular, but about the Motown sound in general, and most specifically the contributions of the wonderful house band at the Motown studio in Detroit. These guys churned out flawless tracks day in and day out for years. I can recall reading an interview about ten to fifteen years ago with a well-known producer (I can’t remember which one) who said that whenever he needed inspiration before recording rhythm section tracks, he would listen to a bunch of Motown recordings. “Why is that?” the interviewer asked. “Because,” the producer said, “those rhythm section tracks are PERFECT.” I can’t think of a better demonstration of that perfection than this Martha Reeves collection.

Martha Reeves was (and IS—I had the good fortune of seeing her perform just a few months ago in Portland, Oregon, and she sounded great) a wonderful singer, and she pushes these tunes along with class—I particularly like her brash vocals on “Live Wire,” “My Baby Loves Me,” and “Heat Wave.” But with all due respect, the real star on these recordings is the band: there were a lot of players involved at Motown, but the core unit consisted of Earl Van Dyke on keyboards; Robert White, Eddie Willis, and Joe Messina on guitar; Benny Benjamin, Uriel Jones and Richard “Pistol” Allen on drums; Eddie “Bongo” Brown and Jack Ashford on percussion; and the legendary James Jamerson on bass. And their sound, especially on this CD, packed a wallop. These are some driving numbers: “Heat Wave,” “Dancing in the Streets,” “Nowhere to Run,” “Ready for Love,” “Quick Sand,” and “Wild One” are all incredibly exciting. And I especially love the shuffles: the Motown drummers were masters of the swinging R&B shuffle, and this compilation showcases some great examples of their prowess in this area. I’ve heard that a lot of the drum tracks for the shuffle tunes at Motown were performed by “Pistol” Allen, because he was particularly adept at them; whoever it was, the drummer who played on these shuffles was one badass, swinging cat (sidenote: some trivia about Pistol Allen—that’s also him playing the killer fast gospel drum groove on Jackie Wilson’s (non-Motown) “Higher and Higher”). “Heat Wave” is a killer, as are “Come Get These Memories,” “Jimmy Mack,” (this one has a groove as well as some snare fills that are tasty beyond compare) and the ferocious “Ready for Love”; but perhaps my favorite of the shuffles is “In My Lonely Room”—it swings like a mother, and the drums play this cool fill on the choruses (technically, it’s just the second and third notes of a triplet repeated on the snare and sometimes the toms) that knocks me out every time I hear it. Incidentally, check out the intro to that tune, which showcases 8 bars of beautifully strummed guitars (accompanied by vibraphone), before the rest of the band (including a swinging, brassy horn section) enters and kicks it into high gear.

Anyhow, for anyone who is a fan of Motown in particular, or 60’s soul music in general, or just likes well-constructed, beautifully played and sung pop music, I highly recommend this collection. It showcases the Motown band in all their glory, and you can’t get any better than that.