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Motown M 1020 (A), October 1961
b/w Faded Letter
(Written by James Hanley)
The end of the line for Motown’s first vocal group. The Satintones had released seven records, some of them genuinely excellent, without ever coming close to troubling the charts; this uninspired doo-wop/R&B cover of a Thirties standard wasn’t ever likely to turn things around commercially, and it turned out to be their last single, for Motown or anyone else. The group melted away shortly after its release.
It opens in utterly baffling fashion; the first verse is taken solely by the backing singers, perhaps in an oblique conceptual joke – the first lines of the song, “never could carry a tune / never knew where to start”, are indeed sung quite terribly. In fact, it’s quite appalling until bass Robert Bateman makes his first solo appearance at 0:26, singing the title in his inimitable super-deep voice, in what seems to be a direct link to the Marcels’ version of Blue Moon.
(Indeed, the influence of the Marcels’ record is writ large all over this one; the liner notes to The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 1 note that this wasn’t the first R&B reworking of Zing…, referencing the Coasters’ 1958 cover from the B-side of Yakety Yak (and Youtube also brings up this horrible version by The Demensions, the blandest and whitest of bland white doo-wop), but this Satintones arrangement seems to be new – doing exactly to Zing… what the Marcels had done to Blue Moon, copying the Marcels’ idea by simply changing the base material, swapping out one old chestnut and substituting another – an “unoriginal original idea”, if you will.)
Anyway, things pick up a little from there on in; there’s a proper lead vocal, taken very well by Vernon Williams (or at least it sounds more like Vernon than Jim Ellis to me, nobody seems to have actually confirmed this either way), and things progress in a competent, respectable but wholly un-riveting fashion.
Some nice vocal touches aside – the record features both the best and the worst of the Satintones as singers, from the awful intro to the lovely interplay between Williams and Bateman in the choruses – there are also some mis-steps that drag things down. There’s a range of tweeting, chirruping Ondioline riffs towards the end which don’t really work in the context, and a muffed fade-out which disorientingly fades back in for a split second on its way down – but on the whole it’s the very idea that’s at fault. This is probably the best R&B/doo-wop cover of Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart that could have been made, but on the minus side, it’s still an R&B/doo-wop cover of Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart, something there has never been any particular need or demand for.
Certainly it’s not a fitting send-off for a group who never really got the recognition they deserved, either for their place in Motown history or for the handful of exceptional records they released. Within a couple of months, the Satintones had broken up; there were few mourners.
The two lead singers, Jim Ellis and Vernon Williams, should have gone on to greater things; instead, Williams ended up briefly leading the Pyramids, while the music business seems to have lost track of Ellis altogether. Bass singer Robert Bateman, a key early Motown songwriter and regular writing partner of Brian Holland in the label’s formative days, as well as a studio engineer in an era when few people knew how to physically work the Hitsville recording equipment, stayed together with bandmate, tenor and sometime arranger Sonny Sanders to form the new Sonbert and Correc-Tone labels.
The Satintones’ place in Motown history was long forgotten, though versions of the group did reunite both in Europe in the late Sixties and for Ian Levine’s Motorcity project in the Eighties; only now, with their Motown material finally widely available at the tail-end of the CD era (and their first comprehensive compilation album, The Satintones Sing!, due for release in just over a month at the time of writing) is their legacy being properly appreciated. Certainly, they had released plenty of singles that were better than this half-hearted, half-arsed swansong.
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.
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The Satintones “Faded Letter” |
Finally in early sisxtie the Trammps made a decent version…with a little help of Tom Moulton 🙂
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I kind of like this though I like the Trammps version much better. I think I saw something about Jim Ellis on YouTube recently.
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Just heard him on YouTube doing If You Dont Want My Love (not the Four Tops song but a remake of the old Robert John tune). He sounds great. Kind of like Phil Perry.
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This update of an old classic must have been inspired by the massive success of the Marcel’s “Blue Moon” which top the charts both sides of the Atlantic. The only difference is the Marcel’s disc worked perfectly the novelty vocals didn’t destroy the song and retained the original melody. Unfortunately, the Satintones’ record doesn’t work, the vocal and backing arrangements have distorted the melody into something with absolutely no charm at all. Surprising really as I loved most of Brianbert’s other productions but this one really stinks. I’ve always liked this song and was really looking forward to hearing this version when I first secured a single copy in 1991, cost me eighty five pounds as well. I was so disappointed when I heard it, and even with repeated plays it hasn’t grown on me. I originally had a copy by the Kalin twins and naturally thought the Motown version was going to be so much better. However, I was wrong and I have to admit the Kalin’s version is so much better.
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Yes, Vernon Williams sang lead on this cut, as he did on several others of The Satintones’ later Motown recordings in late 1961 and early 1962.
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“perhaps in an oblique conceptual joke – the first lines of the song, “never could carry a tune / never knew where to start”, are indeed sung quite terribly”
That’s what I going to say but your wording is so much better (that’s why we pay you the big bucks). On the first line, he sings a Bb (as if it were in minor) – on first hearing I thought it might be a bizarre but long-awaiting twist on the doowop progression, but … nope. I was going to say this one needed a 1/10, but then I remembered Joel Sebastian.
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To me, 2 is a really weak cut. I’d give this a “4”.
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Just want to note that “Zing!” was Judy Garland’s theme song until “Over the Rainbow” came along. Her version, recorded when she was 12, was the “Fingertips, Parts I & II” of its day, one of her best records. She also did a remake when she was much older that was also good.
Finally, want to note that the fantastic British Invasion band the Move reworked (or flat-out copied) the Coasters’ version, making it a vehicle for their drummer Bev Bevan, later the drummer for the band that the Move evolved into, Electric Light Orchestra.
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Coincidentally,the Trammps great 70’s version of this song features lead vocals by Jim Ellis.
It couldn’t possibly be ‘our’ Jim/James Ellis could it??
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No. The Satintones’ (Sweet) James Ellis was raised in Detroit, while The Trammps’ Jimmy Ellis was raised in North Carolina, and moved to Philadelphia, where he met the other Trammps’ members. There was also another Jimmy Ellis (Jimmy (Preacher) Ellis, who operated out of L.A.
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Many thanks Robb
I think this one might be ‘our Jim’?
A fine record
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Written by Chico Leverett
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