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Divinity 99005 (B), June 1963
B-side of Ninety-Nine And A Half Won’t Do
(Written by James Herndon)
The B-side of the Wright Specials’ second and final Motown single was written by their musical director James Herndon, who’d been credited with both sides of their striking début 45 (That’s What He Is To Me b/w Pilgrim Of Sorrow) a year previously.
As with everything else they’d released so far, this was recorded at their first (and at this point only) Motown recording session back in the autumn of 1961, suggesting a certain amount of barrel-scraping was taking place. Apart from showing a lack of faith in the group, it’s also a real loss to posterity; it would have been wonderful to have heard the Wright Specials moving forward, developing their sound as Motown got bigger and more professional. Instead, this would be pretty much it.
Still, as a fourth-choice selection from an archive tape that was nearly two years old, this could have been a lot worse. It’s still not fantastic – it’s a lolloping, simplistic gospel song with a weak tune and very straightforward lyrics, and the backing vocals are a bit shrill – but it at least makes an effort. The weirdly off-kilter piano and brushed drums grab the listener’s interest, while the group’s unidentified lead singer is on excellent form yet again (who is she? Someone out there must know, surely?), delivering some quite unbelievably coruscating sustained notes that make sure everyone’s paying attention.
It’s not particularly fantastic or anything, and it was already quite badly dated by the time it actually came out compared to the contemporary state of popular music, but there are real signs here of the group’s undeniable R&B and blues sensibility that was missing from the straight-ahead church hall gospel of the A-side, and for that alone it’s more of an entertaining listen.
Sadly, there wouldn’t be any further opportunities for this most intriguing of Motown gospel groups to develop their sound; they’d be granted one more recording session in the summer of 1963, but nothing more was ever released, and by the time the year was out the Wright Specials had drifted away from both Motown and the entire music industry.
A real shame, because of all the “watch this space!” stories taking off around Hitsville in 1963/64, the crossover success (or just the continued presence in the catalogue) of the Wright Specials might well have been one of the most fascinating.
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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It’s too bad in more ways than one. If Motown had had a breakthrough gospel group this early, they could have taught me a lot earlier than 1970 to love black gospel.
It would take the Edwin Hawkin Singers to do that, and even then I was stubborn. My best buddy loved their crossover smash “Oh Happy Day” when it went to No. 4 on Billboard in the spring of 1969, but Dave didn’t want to listen to ‘no gospel.’
During the following year, I saw them three or four times on televison doing that hit, plus usually another number, “To My Father’s House.” I was coming around 🙂 Then one month, when I couldn’t decided any other selection from the record club I belonged to, I had them send me the Hawkins LP.
Within six months, I had played that album so much, day and night, that the center, spindle hole was worn white. I still love it, am probably on my 4th vinyl version it, plus the CD, plus at least five of their subsequent albums.
Motown could always claim the lion’s share of my devotion, but Hawkins, Aretha, James Brown, the ChiLites, and many others pulled me in too without the power of the Detroit machine Berry built.
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I almost typed “Amen to that”, with no hint of irony or self-awareness. There was also some stuff about Sam Cooke, and a lengthy metaphor about soup, and how good gospel music is to Motown like a raw ingredient (something strong, pleasant and identifiable in its own right – fenugreek, say, or coriander leaf) is to a truly great stew, but I couldn’t quite tie it all together.
Have I talked about In Loving Memory much yet in these comments? The promotional split single Motown did for the LP, Marvin’s “His Eye Is On The Sparrow” b/w the Pips’ “Just A Closer Walk With Thee”, will allow me to reflect on all this at much greater length in a couple of years’ time.
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I was about to say something about the musicianship and harmonic interest being much higher than many similarly or higher rated doowop tracks, but then I read Dave L’s story about the Edwin Hawkins Singers and checked them out. Fantastic – thanks for the tip. My only caveat is that we’re in 1963 and the discography I’ve found for the EH Singers begins in 1968, but I don’t imagine there was as much of a surge in musicianship in the gospel world as in the pop world and we could expect that a similar gospel group would have sounded that good in ’63.
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It all depends upon your taste in music. Personally, I prefer the older, more basic sounds. I LOVE Pop Staples’ guitar licks in the break in a well sung Gospel tune. Check out “I’ll Fly Away” by The Staples Singers. It was recorded by Motown rival, Mike Hanks for his D-Town Gospel series. it has one of the greatest guitar solo breaks of any record I’ve ever heard including those in The Blues, R&B and Rock-A-Billy genres.
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Here’s a link to that wonderful Detroit Gospel song recorded in Mike Hanks’ “Pig Pen” as opposed to Berry Gordy’s “Snakepit”:
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I take it back. That Pop Staples guitar break was just routine for him, but it in combination with the well-written song, and The Staples Singers’ great vocals make a fabulous Gospel record. It was recorded in 1964, and released on D-Town Devotional Series # 204.
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