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Motown M 1086 (A), November 1965
b/w Hold Me Oh My Darling
(Written by Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fuqua)
Because of her short, tragic life, it’s too easy to think of Tammi Terrell primarily as a victim. Used and abused by a series of violent men and then wracked with terminal illness, her recording career was already long finished by the time of her death in 1970 (quite how long finished is a matter of considerable dispute, as we’ll see later), meaning one of the brightest and most promising of all Motown stories was cut short before Tammi reached the age of 25.
But that’s unfair to Tammi and to her memory. The story is about Tammi, not what she might have done; during her short time in the spotlight, she racked up a staggering body of work, and it’s a privilege to be able to finally give her due weight here. Her young death was a tragedy – not only on a basic human level, but her illness also deprived the world of what I’ve no doubt would have been a string of 70s Tammi masterpieces (in my mind’s eye, I see mid-Seventies Tammi as an imposing kind of Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick soul-disco diva figure) – but it shouldn’t define her, especially at more than forty years’ remove when there are so few survivors from Motown’s Golden Age still with us. The work she did complete during her time here on Earth marks her out as one of the greats, and when we talk about Tammi Terrell, I want to do it in this light.
She’s remembered today, if she’s remembered at all, as a footnote – in the stories of Marvin Gaye and (to a lesser extent) David Ruffin, or in the endless and endlessly tedious debate about who really sang what – or as a soapbox to complain about domestic violence or sexually-assertive women or just how cruel and unfair Motown and the 60s music industry could be. The actual woman behind those stories was a fabulous singer who deserves so much more recognition for what she actually did, what she actually left us, and on Motown Junkies this, here, is where we start.
JUST TOO MUCH TO HOPE FOR
Thomasina Montgomery, known as Tommie and then Tammy (after Tammy and the Bachelor, the same Debbie Reynolds movie that had inspired the name of Tamla Records, coincidence fans), a precocious singer from Philadelphia, was already something of a showbiz veteran by the time she pitched up at Motown. Having first recorded several singles as a young teenage solo artist for Scepter and Checker before becoming one of James Brown’s backing singers, music was never Miss Montgomery’s entire life, and she proved it in her late teens by becoming a college student, enrolling for pre-med at Penn.
Tammy was such an obvious star that Jerry Butler kept her on the books even after she enrolled at university, getting her occasional live shows to fit around her studies, and one of these engagements led her to the Twenty Grand in Detroit where she was seen by a rapt Berry Gordy. Never mind that Motown already had problems finding spaces on the release schedules for the veritable army of singers they already had on the roster; as with everyone who ever saw Tammy perform in person, Gordy knew he was watching something special.
Motown signed Tammy Montgomery on her 20th birthday; on Gordy’s advice, she changed the spelling of her first name to “Tammi”, adopting the stage surname “Terrell” to generate a frisson of controversial publicity hinting she might be married to boxer Ernie Terrell. (In another of those bizarre Motown coincidences, Ernie Terrell’s real-life sister Jean did later sign with Motown, replacing Diana Ross as the new lead singer of the Supremes in 1970).
Unlike so many of Motown’s new signings after 1964, there doesn’t ever seem to have been any question of Tammi being a speculative signing, destined to be cut loose after one underpromoted 45 to make room for the next young hopeful fresh off the production line – she was there for the long haul. Or maybe it’s just impossible, listening to this record, to imagine her ever being thought of any other way; Tammi Terrell’s first Motown single exudes star quality, so much so that you can see exactly what Berry Gordy saw that night at the Twenty Grand. She’s amazing.
For her Motown début, rather than pair her with one of the label’s marquee writer/producer names, Gordy assigned Tammi to a new-old team, Harvey Fuqua and his old friend and compadre from the Harvey/Tri-Phi days, Johnny Bristol: two powerful creative forces who’ve so far barely registered an impact on the Motown singles story. Fuqua and Bristol, as artists, had been among the star players in a different, parallel early-Sixties story to the one told here on Motown Junkies, and here they reunite to relaunch Tammy as Tammi.
The record has the outward sound of something inspired by the Supremes, but the structure is much more ambitious, especially for a 45 intended to introduce American airwaves to a new artist. It’s a strange fish of a song, all stop-start rhythms and big vocal stretches; Berry Gordy used to get angry in Quality Control meetings if he thought a song had “buried its hook”, and there’s certainly no risk of that here, the record battering straight into the sort-of-chorus refrain –
No, I can’t believe you love me
No, I… can’t believe you love me
No I… CAN’T BEL-IE-EVE that you love me
whoh’I CAN’T… BELIEVE that you love me
– within a couple of seconds of the opening. Four identical lines, repeated back to back; quite an introduction. Tammi doesn’t phrase any two of them the same way.
It’s pretty much the only anchor that either Tammi or the listener are afforded throughout the record, and we need it more than she does: it’s a familiar home point to keep us clinging on tight through all the weird twists and sinewy spirals of strings and dead stops and great thudding chunks of one-finger bass and echoey drums. Tammi, on the other hand, needs no such reassurance, using that refrain as the launching pad for a thrilling journey, and her conviction is such that we daren’t let go or look away. When the song opens, on hearing it for the first time, Tammi’s repeatedly-underlined declaration of disbelief seems to be coming from a place of dewy-eyed delirious joy, in the style of I Hear A Symphony, before the rug’s swept away (along with the music, other than a terrifyingly ominous, echoing, offbeat one-note bass twang) abruptly and shockingly from under the listener’s feet:
…any more…
not like BE-fore…
And that’s all the time it took to convince me that we’re in the presence of greatness.
PLANT LOVE SEEDS
Tammi, we’re told, was not popular with the other female acts at Motown. She must have cut an intimidating figure to some of the working-class kids from the projects; despite being the same age (or younger) than many of her new labelmates, she comes across as so much more worldly in every sense. Vivacious, beautiful, educated, intelligent, well-spoken, experienced in both showbiz and love, extremely forthcoming with opinions, openly flirty, undeniably sexy; perhaps not someone you want your boyfriend working late around. You can see how she might have put some people’s backs up.
The male staff, we’re told, took rather a different view, and Tammi seems to have flirted with pretty much all of them, regardless of whether they were married, regardless of whether their wives were right there, and so darker rumours began to swirl around her, aspersions that have never really been properly cast off. I find it interesting that it only seems to be Tammi who gets singled out for this sort of thing – regardless of what Maxine Powell wanted the President and the Queen to see, whichever way you cut it, chivalrous sexual morals didn’t figure particularly highly in the Motown story.
But against that backdrop, the message that comes through is that Tammi had something about her, something magnetic beyond physical attractiveness. Bristol, as smitten as anyone, comments in the liner notes to The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 5 that he appreciated Tammi’s “commercial sound” and states “Her personality in the studio was amazing. She was just fun.” Whatever her X factor was, it’s undeniably there, and it’s something which comes over loud and clear on record. Without wanting to get too melodramatic, even though nobody in America knew her (new) name yet, she sounds effortlessly confident, like she knows that she’s doing something special, that she is something special; she sounds like a star.
AWAY IN MY MEMORY CHEST
Stop twenty random Motown fans in the street, and it’s remarkable how few will know Tammi ever had a solo career at all. Certainly Motown felt confident enough in her obscurity to repurpose a number of her solo cuts as Marvin-and-Tammi duets, this one pitching up (with an alternate vocal take for Tammi’s parts) on the controversial third M&T album Easy.
Quite often, Tammi wasn’t given the solo material to match her talent; that’s not the case here, and while I’m heartened I Can’t Believe You Love Me was a decent chart hit, I’m surprised it wasn’t bigger, that it wasn’t better known. She takes a difficult, complex song and completely owns it, so much so that on the live performance from the Roostertail as captured on the (essential) Come On And See Me anthology (left) – with the band clanking and wheezing their way through the music at a fast pace – it sounds like Tammi that’s actually leading the way. And here, on this 45, she’s nailed it, there’s no other possible reaction.
The song’s technical difficulties – the near-operatic intro, the stop-start structure, the sputtering rhythms – are reflected in the lyrical mood. It’s not a particularly easy listen, Tammi bringing plenty of genuine hurt to the table as she remonstrates with her increasingly-indifferent lover (I’ve reflected before about Mary Wells having to act well enough to suspend disbelief in this kind of situation too!), but there are so many highlights in her performance I’ve found it almost physically impossible to resist going back and playing it again. She swoops from one end of the scale to the other, seamlessly and in quick time; she finds exactly the most memorable way to pronounce every syllable of every line; she imbues the whole thing with the exact picture of this character, to the point you feel you know her and the story of the relationship even without having been given really any details at all.
My word, she’s such a good singer. There are entire classes to be taught just on the way Tammi Terrell delivers some of lines in this song. Highlights are almost too many to pick out. “When I speak your name in the sweetest tone / It’s just as though I am all alone…” – check out the way she enunciates “I am”, not “I’m”! – or perhaps the show-stopping second verse: There’s no thrill in your kiss / There’s no sin-cer-i-ty / I do believe you’ve gotten over me, which is still bringing me out in goosebumps the fiftieth time. The song is full of hidden and rewarding depths, but it needed a star performance to tease them out; luckily, Tammi has what it takes.
The best of Tammi Terrell’s work with Marvin Gaye, for me, approaches something like another plane. Understandable that her solo work has been overshadowed by those achievements, especially since we never got to hear the next act in her story. But this right here is Tammi’s show, and she inhabits the record body and soul, handling all the tricky turns, stopping on a dime, pinning you up against the wall. As calling cards go, they really don’t come much more impressive than this.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
(Or maybe you’re only interested in Tammi Terrell? Click for more.)
The Monitors “All For Someone” |
Tammi Terrell “Hold Me Oh My Darling” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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Sonic eric said:
An absolutely brilliant review which rightly gives Tammi the status she deserves : a true artist. I love 2014 beacause I know we’ve got some smashing new songs to meet in Motown Junkies. Mes meilleurs voeux à vous, mr Nixon et à tous vos lecteurs.
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BILLY RICHARDSON said:
I AM THRILLED! Finally someone who noticed “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU LOVE ME”! I have had the 45 since 1966 as I never heard it played on the radio and found it in an oldies stack in the record store for 50 cents. I didn’t even know what it sounded like till I got it home as that time I was so smitten with The Supremes that any 45 with Motown label I was buying it. This has to be one of the most fabulous records Motown has ever released hands down. Tammi was terrific and amazing. I was a little jealous at the time wondering why this wasn’t a Supremes song! This song ranks right up there with another under appreciated masterpiece “JUST AIN’T ENOUGH LOVE” by EDDIE HOLLAND!
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Landini said:
Nixon,
I actually had this written up before reading your review. As you see, I have also commented on the “duet” version. DON’T GET ME WRONG. I love Tammi & actually like this song in spite of my comments. This record’s off centeredness is its appeal. Your review is excellent. I read somewhere that Bob Hope of all people saw Tammi perform (prior to her Motown days) & wanted her on one of his tours as a singer.
This record was probably not a big crossover hit because it was too “soulful”. It is interesting that just a few degrees of “soul” in a record can keep it from crossing over. Does anyone hear a bit of “Going Out of My Head” influence in this song?
Here are my original thoughts :
This record is a bit of a train wreck to my ears. The melody & tempo seem to shift at random, almost like they couldn’t decide how to proceed with this song. The backup singers & guitar are a little overpowering. This sounds a bit like 2 different songs hammered together.
All that said, Tammi’s vocals are excellent & the whole song has kind of an off-kilter charm to it.
If you want to hear an even more bizarre version of this song, check out the “duet” version with Marvin Gaye on the EASY album. They basically took this same track & very badly dubbed in Marvin’s voice. Poor guy sounds totally lost throughout the song. This was a shaky recording to begin with & overdubbing Marvin’s voice just pushed it over the edge. Though, again, even this “duet” version has a strange charm to it. Oh well. INTERESTING THAT ANOTHER SOLO TAMMI TRACK “More More “More” is another “duet re-do” on the EASY album & that sounds better as a “duet”. As for the rest of the album… that will wait until another day.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Tammi, but I feel like she should have gotten better solo songs. Personally, I think her vocals sound best in a duet setting.
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Damecia said:
Grandpa Landini! I’ve missed you. How are you doing????
You’re not the only one who hears remnants of “Going Out of My Head”
I have to disagree with you when you say this song is a “train wreck” to your ears though lol.
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Landini said:
HI Damecia – – I am doing pretty well. Hope you are well. I would say the song itself isn’t a train wreck – more the recording/arrangement. And “train wreck” is probably not the best word to use. Sometimes it is hard to judge a song vs a “recording” or whatever. I actually like this recording. It’s oddness is actually very attractive – if that makes any sense. Glad to hear from you! All the best!
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Damecia said:
Yes it does makes sense
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Kevin Moore said:
>”Does anyone hear a bit of “Going Out of My Head” influence in this song?”
Absolutely! 1964 – originally by Little Anthony & The Imperials, although I remember it by Sergio Mendes and also Wes Montgomery.
That connection was the first thing that struck me. And that’s what I love about this place. When I hear these connections, a lot of my friends say I’m nuts, but here, half the time, I scroll down to the comments and everybody’s already talking about it. So either I’m not nuts, or … all of you are too!
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Mark V said:
Great essay from a man who’s fallen in love!
It’s interesting to contrast Tammi’s solo work (and a couple of duets) on Scepter, which are included in the “Come On and See Me” collection, with this record. She sounds not just more polished and accomplished but able to convey so much more meaning on her Motown stuff, starting here.
This is a great record, as you attest, with layers of drama in the music and the vocal (Tammi and her backup, which are said to be the Spinners). I feel its complexity probably hampered its commercial chances of crossing over as much as Tammi’s soulful reading.
My favorite of her singles, however, is the next one down the line.
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Robb Klein said:
I would also give this one a 9. I’m another of those fans who wanted a lot more Tammi Terrell solo singles and LPs released, and was crushed by the ending of her career.
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Landini said:
Yeah. I like her voice. Despite my long winded comments I like this record. I read somewhere that Tammi before she got sick was considered as a replacement for Diana Ross in the supremes. Have you ever heard that ?
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MotownFan1962 said:
I know Barbara Randolph and Syreeta Wright were considered, but I’ve never heard of Ms. Terrell being considered as a replacement for Diana Ross. It makes sense considering she and Ross have similar tones and ranges, but I don’t think that would’ve gotten anywhere past being mentioned in passing, since she was already having a lot of success with her duets with Marvin Gaye, and Berry Gordy was never one for killing a goose before all the golden eggs were laid. One does wonder though what a “Tammi Terrell & The Supremes” record would sound like, though I wouldn’t give up the Jean Terrell-led years for anything.
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Robb Klein said:
I agree with MotownFan1962. The thought of Tammi replacing Diana would have been nipped in the bud, as she and Marvin were already doing so well. Leading The Supremes would have taken too much of her time away from appearances with Marvin.
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The Nixon Administration said:
To add to what’s been said above, for anyone who doesn’t have it, on the second CD of the Come On and See Me compilation there’s a short live set from the Roostertail in 1966, Tammi opening for Smokey Robinson; one of the tracks is a medley which ends with Tammi covering “Baby Love”, thus affording something like a direct comparison.
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MichaelS said:
Here’s the link to an amazing medley performed live by Tammi Terrell at the Roostertail. It shows what a talent she was and what her future could have been like.
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W.B. said:
On another plane, this release was also almost nine years before “The Maestro,” Barry White, wrote and recorded a (completely different) ten-minute-plus track of the same title that was on his top-selling 1974 album Can’t Get Enough. (And White did work with a few Motown-affiliated behind-the-scenes talent over the course of his career – namely, in this case, arranger Gene Page whose name turned up on many later West Coast-recorded Motown tracks.)
In a sense, it’s a shame this particular gem has long been overshadowed not only by Ms. Terrell’s subsequent set of duets with Mr. Gaye, but also the whole ‘nother tune above.
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treborij said:
Thanks for this entry. Love what you say about Tammi. And I appreciate your just skimming over the “extracurricular” parts of Tammi ‘s life which do detract from Tammi, the artist. (Of course, I didn’t know anything about all this stuff, with the exception of her untimely death, until probably the mid-80s.)
I never heard this record when it was released. IIRC I first heard it on “16 Original Hits, Vol. 6(?)” and it was one of those “why did I never hear this one before” type of experiences. I liked everything about it. It was beautifully sung, dramatic and sexy. I also liked the tempo shifts and start/stop structure. But I suspect that’s a major part of the reason it wasn’t a major hit. While top 40 at the time could take something like that in the Yardbirds “For Your Love” or the Beach Boys, it was too weird for a soul record.
Landini is right about the version with Marvin. I never realized they recorded it as a duet and was excited later on (again in the 80s) when I saw a copy of Easy that had it on there. I picked it up, took it home, popped it on the turntable and had one of my biggest Motown disappointments.
However, I think this is one of the great lost Motown records. Definitely a 9 and am still considering it for a 10
And I’ll reiterate that Come On And See Me is an essential Motown purchase, worth every penny.
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Ron Leonard said:
Yes, I too heard this song for the first time on the “16 Original Hits” Volume 6! it was a Blue cover!! This where I also first heard “Helpless” by Kim Weston! I also purchased a copy of “The Irresistible Tammi Terrell” after the release of her version of “This Old Heart Of Mine” And, “Come On And See Me” was on another Volume of the “16 Original Hits”..She had a unique quality and sound in her voice which cut right through the heavy Motown production backings! Yes, she went tragically for all of us, too soon!
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Damecia said:
I agree with about this song being too unusual for its time and that it possibly being a factor in why it didn’t chart, but look at “Where Did Our Love Go?” it sounded nothing like any record of its time and it shot to # 1. Funny how things turn out.
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Landini said:
Hi D! I am very late to this particular party but had a thought.. Yes WDOLG was very different but I believe the record was definitely conceived with crossover appeal as a major factor. It is a fantastic production but also on the surface quite simple & catchy — The perfect marriage of soul & pop!
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Damecia said:
Hi!!! How are you???
In agree completley with your statement and a part of me thinks this record was conceived in the same vein, but just didn;t work out.
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Landini said:
Hi ! Doing well thank you! Yeah, I think Mr. Gordy was thinking crossover with all of his records (some worked that way & others didn’t!) Hey you need to check out the comments on Tony Martin! You’re missing all the fun! Blessings to you!
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John Winstanley said:
No mention of the bass line on this record. I always loved this song but I think it was the bass that made it irresistable – presumably Jamerson. I also loved the flip side for the same reason.
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Damecia said:
Yes the bass is absolutely fantastic! I can’t believe I forgot to mention it, but that just shows how overshadowing Tammi’s presence was.
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Mike C. said:
Tammi Terell does exactly what I most love about Diana Ross – her voice cuts like a knife. I don’t know if it is the phrasing or what but she sings with abandonment. It’s as if she is not just reading the chart. She knows how to color the phrases differently, effectively, from the onset. She demands attention.
I fell further in love with Tammi Terrell later in life when I discovered Tammy Montgomery’s “Voice Of Experience” (from “Where The Girls Are Vol.2 – Ace Records). That song with its commanding drum and piano intro – stop- then Miss Tammy starts singing the same line over and over, each time differently to superb effect. “I Can’t Believe You Love Me” is very similar. Perhaps this Motown single isn’t as sassy or perhaps a little ahead of its Motown timeline. (I think it would have fit very well on DR & TS’s “Cream Of The Crop” album, perhaps with an even heavier arrangement – its melody line more sophisticated with its phrases that float away from major to minor before the verses start.)
So in agreement with Mr. Nixon. Miss Tammi knew exactly what she was doing. Her vocal capabilities are in full bloom here. It’s as if she didn’t have to be taught how to sing this stuff, guided or anything, it is so confident. One of my “wishes” is to have had the songs ending (like “I Hear A Symphony”) modulated a couple of times sending her voice in the stratosphere, pushing it higher and higher – to have heard her snap those phrases into perfect shape.
This is a killer cut!
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Damecia said:
Nice commentary Mike C.
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bogart4017 said:
My second favorite TT Motown cut! Especially dig how Harvey Fuqua’s voice is so prominent in the background. I picked it out the first time i heard it back in the 60’s. “Look—its a Moonglow!”
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Henry said:
I also discovered this recording after the fact. When I did, I was surprised that I didn’t like it more. I liked Ms. Terrell with MPG on the then current “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. Listening to this with older ears, I would say that this was not a tenative first step, rather a bold assertive step by someone who knew she had the goods. As a musician, I am glad I didn’t have to play this, which is probably why I would give this a seven.
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Dave L said:
It had a short radio life, but like Jimmy Ruffin’s “As Long As There is L-O-V-E Love,” I definitely remember this on Philadelphia AM as the cold weather was coming around. Like Ron Leonard above, this first time I owned it was on “16 Big Hits 6,” but eventually I found remainder 45s of this, “Come On And See Me,” and “This Old Heart of Mine.” The vinyl album is a prize possession.
No quarrel with a 9; Tammi earns it. And yes, it is easy to imagine her among the leading female figures of disco in the coming decade.
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Robb Klein said:
They played this all around USA on the Soul stations in Chicago (WVON) , ln L.A. KGFJ, in Oakland KDIA, in Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Milwaukee. I’d bet they played it in The South, and all up and down The East Coast.
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Damecia said:
I can’t believe I’m late to this song because it is my favorite by Tammi Terrell. I think you should have added 1 more point and gave this a 9 Steve D!
I love the frantic-ness that seems to be in almost every note Tammi sings. She convinces me that this guy does not in fact love her anymore… at least not like before = )
Her delivery is sensational, her phrasing is impeccable, her tone is strong – all of the BRILLIANT parts I loved and wanted to point out, Steve D has already done and his excellent review.
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Landini said:
Have you heard the “duet mash-up” with Marvin Gaye? Very, very odd sounding (to my ears! ha ha ha) Poor Marvin sounds totally confused. FYI – It is on the EASY album. Another track on that album “More More More” is another mash-up which actually sounds good – like the 2 were actually singing together. Of course, to veer off topic, I love the Marvin & Diana album which was reportedly recorded separately & sounds very “real”. The story was that a pregnant Diana Ross didn’t want to be around a pot smoking Marvin. Love that album!
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Damecia said:
Lol, yes I have heard the stories and I also love the Diana & Marvin album. 2 of my favorite cuts being “I Think I’m Falling In Love With” and “Love Twins” (I love the spoken dialogue which has Miss Ross saying “I love you to Marvin” lol I definitely would have thought they were together in the booth.
I haven’t heard the mash up with Marvin for this song though. I will have to check it out.
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The Nixon Administration said:
There was more to it than that – the smoking/pregnancy thing was just the last straw. Marvin and Diana both had big egos, neither of them wanted to be doing the album or recording the songs that had been chosen for it, Marvin was strung out on drugs and going through a lot of personal stuff, Diana was heavily pregnant, stressed-out and badly overworked; things came to a head and they fell out to the point they physically couldn’t stand the sight of each other for a while (though Marvin did later apologise, likening it to “two spoiled kids fighting over the same cookie”). And yet when you listen to the album, if you knew nothing about it and were told this was a real-life couple singing to each other over the same mic, you’d readily believe it.
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benjaminblue said:
Almost completely off-topic here: What was the writing/arranging/recording sequence of Diana Ross & The Supremes’ Bah-Bah-Bah, their version of Keep An Eye or Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through The Grapevine? I realize that the three cuts had different writers and producers, but there seems to be a thread running through their jazz-inflected, intensely eerie arrangements and instrumentation.
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Landini said:
Wow! Never really thought of that Benjamin. Good thought. Another great eerie song is the Supremes’ “Remove this Doubt” which has a bit of a classical arrangement. I love “Bah Bah Bah”. I only wish that composer Brenda Holloway had done her own version of it.
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nafalmat said:
In my opinion Harvey Fuqua was a musical genius, yet he hardly ever seems to be mentioned when people talk about their favorite Motown writers/producers. It’s either Smokey, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Norman Whitfield, Mickey Stevenson or Berry himself that seem to get mentioned. Not that I’m disagreeing at all, they’re all musical geniuses but I think Fuqua is up there with them as well. If proof is required, this brilliant recording should be enough. A wonderfully constructed song, marvelously orchestrated and produced. As enjoyable to listen to today as it was the first time I heard it in 1966 on the ep “New Faces From Hitsville”.
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The Nixon Administration said:
He was indeed a genius, I’d say indisputably so. But because his part in the Motown story is so hard to pin down – like I said in the review, he was a star of a different early-Sixties narrative, but this is one of the few times we’ve met him on Motown Junkies, close to 700 records in – and because he doesn’t necessarily have a big famous Motown hit to point to as his signature contribution (brilliant though so many of his songs are), or a consistently strong and prolific writer/artist relationship with one of Motown’s top names (Tammi or the Spinners is probably as close as he comes to being in charge of an artist’s career), I think he’s just overlooked.
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Robb Klein said:
My favourite Motown writers are: (1) Stevenson-Hunter, (2) Smokey Robinson, (3) Fuqua-Bristol, (4) Dean-Weatherspoon, (5) Holland-Dozier-Holland. (6) Bateman-Holland-Gorman, (7) Gordon-Wilson, (8) Cosby, Moy, Wonder, (9) Whitfield-Strong, (10) Whitfield-Holland. Note that Fuqua-Bristol is ahead of HDH.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Oh, I agree they were brilliant (though I wouldn’t go so far as to put them ahead of HDH), I was just putting reasons forward as to why they’re less recognised by the general listening public.
Interesting list;I knew you were no great lover of Staunton and Walker, but no love for Ashford and Simpson?
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treborij said:
I’m kind of embarrassed but it was only recently that I learned that Fuqua composed the standard Sincerely. I knew the Moonglows performed it but I never saw the composer credit on that before so I didn’t know it was written by Fuqua. It says it was co-written with Alan Freed? Wonder how much input Freed had. That’s quite a credit to have in one’s CV. Wonder if he sold it at some point. Hope not because the song’s had a lot of versions over the years. (I used to hear it all of the time when I was a kid because my older sister had the McGuire Sisters version and played it incessantly.)
As far as Motown goes, he’d earn a place in history if only for leading Marvin Gaye there. But some of those songs he co-wrote with Johnny Bristol are great, including this one.
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Robb Klein said:
Alan Freed probably wrote almost nothing in the way of songs. He received half the writing credit for hundreds of songs that he placed with record companies to get them pressed and released and played on the radio. When Harvey Fuqua’s group, The Moonglows, left Louisville, and came to Cleveland in 1952, they were sent to DJ Alan Freed. He was so impressed with their work, that he recorded them, and started his own record company, Champagne Records, to release their record. He did so only upon their agreeing to give him half of all their songwriting credits and rights. That was normal practise at that time. I really doubt that George Goldner, Don Robey, were real The Bihari Brothers, and most of the record label owners were the prolific songwriters reflected by all their songwriting credits.
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Robb Klein said:
I do like Fuqua-Bristol better than HDH. I DO like Ashford-Simpson (and Ashford-Simpson-Armstead songs VERY, VERY much. But that is mainly for their pre-Motown work. I stopped listening to the radio in 1966, and stopped buying records in 1970. So, I’ve probably heard very few Ashford-Simpson Motown compositions. But, they would probably be #11 on my Motown list, unless I’ve forgotten any (Janie Bradford, Popcorn Wylie, Holland-Dozier-Gorman, Bateman-Sanders. Don’t forget that I started listening to music around 1950, and started collecting records in 1953. I stopped buying Motown records around 1970, and have only a handful of ’70s records. So, I can only claim to know about 5 -7 Ashford-Simpson songs sung by Motown artists. My favourite period of music was 1936-1966. So, I’m a little early for this blog. I will likely slowly start fading away once you get to 1967, and disappear totally, when you’ve reached 1972.
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The Nixon Administration said:
At this rate, that’ll probably be some time in 2026, so you’ve got a while with us yet 🙂
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Evan said:
Tammi, Tammi, Tammi… totally unique in the grandest way! I love so many great vocalists through many genres, but for me, Tammi Terrell’s VOICE & STYLE make her hands down my favorite. I emphasize those aspects of her persona because her beauty was so outrageously extreme as well that, understandably, some could be influenced to make her their personal favorite just for this reason. EXCELLENT, intelligent review too! It actually seems that, thanks to the internet, more critics are slowly, but steadily, realizing just how grand a gem we had/have in Tammi Terrell and her enduring legacy. Under-rated yes, but her flame endures eternally. Oh, and speaking of eternally, I really love the soulful, trademark way that she transforms ‘Yours’ into a 3-syllable siren call and ‘Eternally’ into 7 breathy syllables that sound so natural and hypnotically sexy on ‘Come On And See Me’. With her it’s hard to pick a favorite performance and stick to it, because she has SO many that rise to that level! (Check her out with super-Marvin on ‘Give A LIttle Love’. Sheer Brilliance (as usual for her).
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Kevin Moore said:
I can’t seem to find this (or anything by TT) without a male co-singer. Even when the graphic shows “Complete SOLO Collection”.
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Landini said:
Hey Kevin! This is my thought – on the solo version there are prominent male backup singers (Spinners? Harvey Fuqua?). For some reason the male background singers are mixed way up which is distracting. While I enjoy this record for what it is, I feel like the whole production is a bit of a trainwreck. There is also the “duet” version with Marvin Gaye. On that version, all Motown did was dub in Marvin’s voice over the original version. Poor Marvin sounds lost! Anyway… all the best to you my friend!
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Robb Klein said:
Yes, I would guess that The Spinners are backing her up on this one. Johnny Bristol’s voice can be heard on several of her Motown cuts.
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Robb Klein said:
You should listen to the vinyl-unreleased “All I Do (Is Think About You)” (her very best IMO, and her version of “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)”. They are both on You-Tube.
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144man said:
“Another debut disc this, and it is quite a soulful heartfelt ballad with male backing chorus, and a generally interesting and full backing. Few I am sure will be able to resist her after the delightful way she pronounces the word “sincerity”. Sort of blue-eyed soul type record, which will leave some raving and others rather lukewarm. It all depends on one’s attitude to this genre of production. 3/5
“Flip for my money is the better side. An intricate popeye organ pipes away, whilst our throstle makes with the lyrics sided by male chorus again. Make sure that you hear this side particularly. 4/5”
[Dave Godin, Hitsville USA 12, 1966]
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