The Supremes vs Martha Reeves & Vandellas
edith head
5,106 Posts
i say martha and the v's. peace....head 
edith head
5,106 Posts
i say martha and the v's. peace....head
Comments
... although I like the Marvelettes better than either of them
Nothing to do with nothing, but I've been spinning Martha & the Vandellas' Watchout! album lately...for a Motown LP this is really good all the way through! No filler, no lame covers of lounge standards - this isn't your typical Berry Gordy tax writeoff. "I'm Ready For Love" and "Jimmy Mack" were the hits, but the spooky "No More Tearstained Make-Up" could have been just as big given half a chance. The Marvelettes covered that song later; I'd like to hear how their version measures up.
"Nowhere to Run," is some serious shit...
Martha is THAT SCHITT...
peace, stein. . .
i have seen quicksand, on the beach we used to go to in summers in michigan. some kids would play in it. maybe it wasn't quicksand technically, it looked kind of like some bubbly spring or something, where water would come up and if you stood on it you would sink into the sand? i think that qualifies as quicksand. at any rate, kids used to play in it, and get up to their waists and then their parents would yell at them and they would climb out.
also, quicksand reminds me of this dude and his dreams:
ATREYUUUUUUUU!!!
Anyone have any thoughts on late-model Supes at all? I'm talking about the Mary Wilson/Scherrie Payne/Susaye Greene line-up. On some of the shit from that period, they sound like Labelle - Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene were both great singers, even if the material generally wasn't all that distinguished.
I was warned about quicksand by a beach in Hawaii.
"out and out anthems" vs pop songs that defined an era?
The Supremes had big ASS hits.
Maybe they didnt have shrouded political joints, but they still were hitting.
The Supremes vs Diana Ross and The Supremes vs The Supremes(Mary Wilson era).
You could say that about all the lineups that followed after Diana split (between '70-'76, they changed members maybe more times than the Byrds).
Talking about that whole post-Diana era as a whole, it did seem like they didn't have much of an identity, just recording whatever songs and styles that came their way. I know some of the hits, like the bubblegummy "Floy Joy", and even one or two of the misses, like "Bad Weather" (where the production is a flat-out Willie Mitchell/Hi Records imitation), but never dug deep into the album cuts and whatnot. How's that Jimmy Webb-produced album?
(Yeah, I know you were asking about the Scherrie/Susaye lineup, but since the whole post-Diana years are overlooked by many, including me, thought I'd speak on that...)
I'm curious about this one, too - never seen a copy cheap
enough to take a risk on and find out, as yet.
This is exactly how i feel. I'm not into Diana Ross' voice, but some of their songs are great. Compared to Martha and the Vandellas songs, they seem really restrained though which i guess could be considered sexy and grown and sophisticated. Martha and the Vandellas sound so much more playful and joyful though and I prefer Martha because she's a sassy firecracker and the Vandellas backing vocals are badass. They kill it on "(Love is Like A) Heatwave" I'm serious their backups double as harmonic support and girlfriend support ("don't pass up this chance"). Also the backups on Jimmy Mack are downright heavenly. they fill out the songs so well
So Martha & Vandellas all the way for me. There are songs that I've heard so many times like "Dancing in the Street" and could easily get sick of, but I love the way that song was recorded. it sounds huge, layers upon layers of sound which i think is the perfect compliment for a song practically about a dance revolution. i can't really say that about Diana and the Supremes. i always skip "baby love", there aren't any martha songs i can think of that i'd skip.
Hate that diana supremes sound except for "Up the ladder to the roof" and "stoned love"
I like those songs! You can keep your "you cant hurry love"
Same goes for jackson 5.
But at that time, Diana had the perfect "radio" voice. Clear & High enuff to sound good on transistor radios.
Reflections is my shit.
http://www.divshare.com/download/1821539-c9f (its a .wav, sorry for the size, but at least you know the quality is good, right?
this is my shit as well:
http://www.soulclub.org/stream/Martha_Reeves_&_The_Vandellas_-_There_He_Is_(At_My_Door).ram
bigtime, this is probably my favorite supremes song. what's up with that sci-fi bleeping echoplex thing going on at the beginning and throughout. i'm not hating, just kinda of a "whaaaaa?" thing. one of the more interesting supremes songs for sure
That's why i really like it. You should check The Jackson 5's even spacier version on the Get It Together LP.
"Hey, it's 1967 and this new psychedelic thing is catching on, why don't we use the next Supremes single to cash in on this?"
FYI: most oldies stations these days delete the psych intro and go straight to the song itself...
Diana was already gone by the time those songs were recorded (which may be why you like 'em?).
sayin
Martha & The Vandellas had better SONGS man!