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Mel-o-dy 101 (A), July 1962
b/w You’re My Inspiration
(Written by Robert Williams, Juan Wingard, Andre Williams and Charles Holman)
The catalogue number suggests this was supposed to be the first release on the Mel-o-dy Records subsidiary, but Motown paperwork shows that Lamont Dozier’s Dearest One had instead come out the best part of two months previously.
If the company had determined to hold this one back a little while before putting it out, it’s a slightly baffling decision – the Creations were a band of Fifties doo-woppers (not to be confused with the later Chicago group also known as the Brothers of Soul), who may or may not have put out a whole string of records for various minor labels without success (see the “Comments” section below), and this stuff wasn’t getting any more current the longer it was left on the shelf.
It’s unclear whether this group of “Creations” (whose members’ names are helpfully included in the writing credit, alongside Motown staffer Andre Williams, for the benefit of future discographers) are in fact the same group of the same name who had been recording since at least 1956, when they’d released two singles for Tip-Top Records (There Goes The Girl I Love and Every Night I Pray); other highlights noted in The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 2 include The Bells for Jamie in 1961 (not to be confused with the Originals’ single of the same name in 1970). They also apparently had a single out on Pine Crest, “Woke Up In The Morning”, before joining Motown, but Youtube doesn’t have that for me at the moment.
Anyway, this is more lively than any of those previous efforts, with much more of an R&B/pop feel than their earlier records (which are all pretty much straight-down-the-line doo-wop stuff), but it’s still a little dated.
It’s a nice, upbeat tune, but it’s not well-performed. The lead vocal is raucous and out of control, going from softly sweet to sandpaper-raw, the group’s harmonies are a bit rough around the edges – perhaps taking their cues from the sort of harder-edged R&B/doo-wop records of the sort that the Contours had introduced to Motown – and the playing is somewhat shoddy in places, most notably a hesitant, amateurish piano solo at 1:04.
Fun enough in its way, but already dated even by 1962 standards, and the performances are a let-down.
The Mel-o-dy label wasn’t exactly Motown’s top marketing priority, and the record received very little push. This was the Creations’ one and only Motown single, although they recorded plenty of unreleased material during their brief stay at Hitsville (one of which, In The Dark, appears on A Cellarful of Motown! Volume 2 with a recording date of December 1962, indicating they stuck around for a little while). Confusingly, a group named “the Creations” put out another single in 1962 for another label, I’ve Got A Feeling b/w The Wedding on Meridian, a dated soundalike of the Marcels’ Blue Moon; if those guys are “our” Creations, then that record sounds as though it may have been recorded prior to their stint at Motown.
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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| Mary Wells “Old Love (Let’s Try It Again)” |
The Creations “You’re My Inspiration” |
Motown Junkies 
We had a long discussion about this group on SDF years ago with some experts (including Ron Murphy, Carl Pelagrino and others). We came to the conclusion that Mel-O-Dy’s Creations were a local Detroit group that had no affiliation with any other Creations group that had records released. The group that sang “The Bells” was a Philadelphia group. The group on Tip Top MAY have been the same group as on Meridian. That is likely to have been a greater New York Area group (NY/NJ).
I suspect that Andre Williams had a relation in the group, and brought them with him to Motown. He was their only producer, and likely was their manager, as well. Someone should ask him about that.
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Hi Robb,
Does this bio for the Motown group sound accurate to you…
http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=63277185
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It sounds POSSIBLE, I suppose. But why then weren’t The Creations signed to Gwen Gordy’s and Harvey Fuqua’s Tri-Phi or Harvey Records, rather than Motown, as Johnny Bristol worked for them in 1962. How did they end up signing with Motown and being produced exclusively by Andre Williams, who was from Chicago? I guess they could have been rejected by Harvey, but met Williams through Johnny Bristol. But why is that part left out of the story?
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The Creations who sang “The Bells” were a Caucasian group from Bergenfield, NJ. The Creations on Meridian Records were from Miami, FL. The Creations on Tip Top were from New York.
As far as we know, The Mel-O-Dy Creations never had a released previous to their time with Motown. In addition, I disagree that their sound was too dated for mid 1962. There were still a lot of group ballads at that time. And their faster tempo sides “In The Dark”, “This Is Our Night” were fairly typical for that time (Dukays, Drifters, Jive Five, Marcels, etc.).
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Further confusing the issue of who exactly The Creations were is the presence of several other groups using the same name, in addition to those identified by Robb. I’ve also discovered the name in use around about the same time by groups who recorded for Pine Crest, Globe, Radiant, Penny, Take Ten and Patti-Jo and the name would be revived later the same decade by groups on Hull, Zodiac and Top Hat. Then there was Johnny T Angel & The Creations….. The listing I’ve seen links the group who recorded for Mel-o-dy, Meridian, Pine Crest, Radiant, Globe and Liberty Bell as one and the same, but this is plainly wrong. They also suggest this Creations recorded with Johnny Angel, but that is also wrong.
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I was in contact with Fran Frasce the sister of Tony Fasce (Aka Johnny Angel). She said the only music that Creations group was responsible for was We’re Old Enough/Where’s My Love – ’59 on the Jamie label. New Jersey group. I have a reach out to Sal LoCicero who was also a member of the New Jersey Creations group, who I have not heard from yet. But, as soon as I do l’ll write again….John D.
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The Creations who recorded for Take Ten and Penny Records were a local group from Chicago. I remember them appearing at local shows and hops. The 1963 Penny Records was rumoured to be partly owned by DJ Richard Pegue (just as his later, 1966-1968 Penny/Nickel Records was. That Chicago Creations group was NOT later The Brothers of Soul /Bridges/Knight/Eaton Creations on Zodiac, nor did they have anything to do with Andre Williams’ Mel-o-dy Creations. The Take Ten/Penny group sound nothing like the Motown group.
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The Chicago group on Globe Records worked for Joshie Armstead from 1966-68, and did not record on any other labels. They were not the same as The Penny/Take ten Records Creations, also from Chicago, who were together in 1962-63. The Creations on Zodiac were Fred Bridges, Bobby Knight and Bobby Eaton (The Brothers of Soul), who operated boyj out of Chicago, AND Detroit. But they had no connection to The Mel-O-dy Creations, nor The Globe Creations, despite the fact that they, and the Globe group worked for Joshie Armstead and Mike Terry.
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Well, if anyone was up for more Creations material, UMG seem to be clearing out most of whatever’s left in the Motown vaults from 1962 as a series of download-only releases, and these boys make the cut:
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Okay, so Mary Wells’ “The One Who Really Loves You” used the Do the Loco-motion hook in 1961, but as you pointed out (https://motownjunkies.co.uk/2010/05/07/152/), Do the Loco-Motion didn’t come out til 1962. Now, we get it again in “This Is Our Night” at 0:10 (now all you gotta do is bend your knees and form a big …”).
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