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Gordy G 7021 (A), August 1963
b/w I Can’t Help It, I Gotta Dance
(Written by George Fowler and Stanley (“Mike”) Ossman)
Following LaBrenda Ben’s only previous Motown excursion, Camel Walk, a somewhat pointless overdub of an earlier Vandellas track, she was accorded one further Motown single – this one. Just Be Yourself was a fitting title for the new single, which was written just for her, and which allows her to express her own invidivual voice and personality much more than her previous effort.
Writer-producer George Fowler, who’d apparently brought LaBrenda to Motown before being tabbed to run the company’s ill-fated, short-lived gospel subsidiary Divinity Records, here returns to the secular side of things to provide his protegée with a slow, slinky, string-laden MOR ballad. For me, Just Be Yourself always struck me as being more in the vein of the purposely-conservative material Barbara McNair would later cut for Motown than anything the company was doing in 1963.
It’s a fine showcase for LaBrenda’s deep, bluesy voice, something which hadn’t really been shown off to its best advantage on either side of her début. It’s better than might have been expected, knowing and sultry in places (not least the recitation of the title at the end of each chorus, where LaBrenda swoops down to the bottom end of the scale and stretches the word “yourself” out to around four times its natural length), but when she goes up to the top of her range, the effect is less endearing, and comes close to being almost shouty.
As with other Motown MOR material of the period (I’m thinking of stuff like Linda Griner’s Envious, or Amos Milburn’s My Daily Prayer), there’s an uncomfortable tension in this record which suggests an amount of uncertainty or confusion as to where it was trying to go. Was it pitched at an older, more conservative audience (trying to appeal to those who wouldn’t necessarily buy R&B records), or was it an attempt to push LaBrenda down the R&B-pop path trodden by Mary Wells (trying to appeal to those who DID buy R&B records, but wanted a bit more depth and class – to use later terminology, a bit more soul)?
Still, identity crisis aside, it’s very listenable, even sumptuous in places; smooth without being too processed or sickly. The tune is nice enough, if nothing earth-shattering, and LaBrenda clearly had potential. Unfortunately, this was her final release for Motown, though she stuck around Hitsville for a few more months and cut several unissued tracks (though, it seems safe to assume, not including a barnstorming demo bootlegged as “I’ve Got A Right To Cry”, later revealed to be titled “Lead Me And Guide Me” and credited to Holland-Dozier; the shrill, throaty vocalist on that track, whoever she is, sounds absolutely nothing like LaBrenda Ben on the evidence of the four sides Motown released on her).
A pity, as it might have been interesting to see what else Ms Ben had up her sleeve. Instead, she was lost to the music industry altogether; what became of her after her time with Motown remains a mystery.
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!)
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LaBrenda Ben “I Can’t Help It, I Gotta Dance” |
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Finally heard this one. Nice little song.
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Thanks so much for turning me on to this track. I’m always keen to hear Motown songs from that all-too-brief “cha-cha” period from the early 60’s. I know you consider it a kind of artistic dead end. But while it lasted, wow! I’d never heard of LaBrenda Ben. She sounds something like Toni Fisher. And though I agree that she overdoes it a bit in the belting sections, I can forgive her that. Because generally she sounds pretty good. And so many facets of this record seduce me completely. That hesitating Latin-ish tempo is catnip to me. The background vocals are excellent. And I love the way the strings burst in so ecstatically every once in a while. Like a totally benign parallel universe response to Hermann’s shower music in “Psycho”. You say you can imagine this as part of Barbara McNair’s Motown repertoire. I think I’m with you there. Though a late 60’s McNair version might not capture – or even go for – the particular time-capsule magic that LaBrenda and company nail.
Which reminds me, I’m definitely curious to see how Barbara McNair and Chris Clark will fare, when you get around to reviewing their singles.
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Hey great! The Andantes get some label credit!
The Barbara Mcnair comparison was inevitable but i don’t really hear it.
I spent the weekend listening to “Baby a go-go” by Barbara Mcnair on the 1st “Cellarful of Motown” cd and i can’t figure out why thats so popular in the UK (if the liner notes are correct). The lyrics and so corny and i don’t like what the band is playing.
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