Tags
UNRELEASED: scheduled for
VIP 25010 (A), October 1964
b/w The Further You Look, The Less You See
(Written by Thelma Coleman Gordy, Richard Street and Warren Harris)
Majestics, schmajestics – these are the Monitors, and this is their earliest Motown recording, cut long before the group was forced to change its name. Now, pay attention, this gets a wee bit complicated.
Richard Street, the driving force behind this group regardless of which name they used, is another unheralded but important member of the Motown family tree. He’d been a member of the Distants back in the Fifties, before that group coalesced into one half of the Temptations; having missed that particular boat, he and a few other sometime ex-Distants then formed a kind of rump continuation group, billed as “Richard Street and the Distants”, cutting a single for Thelma Records (named for Berry Gordy’s ex-wife).
At Thelma, Street moved into production and songwriting, and eventually ended up working with another group signed to the label, the Majestics, who’d released several singles for Contour and Chex, been through a glut of line-up changes, and were now looking for both material and direction. Street obliged, both providing them with songs and also singing with them when needed. When Street followed fellow Thelma alumnus Norman Whitfield to Motown as a writer, producer and A&R man, the Majestics (with yet another new line-up) in turn followed him. It didn’t take long for them to be reunited, Street’s desire to perform eventually seeing him dovetail regular vocal work with his administrative responsibilities (as well as writing and producing, he was a crucial cog in Motown’s Quality Control machine).
Hello Love was a demo, a re-recording of a track Street and the Majestics had cut for Thelma, and one of the first tracks they laid down at Motown. It got as far as being assigned a catalogue number and sent for test pressings, but then Motown promptly canned the release before anyone had a chance to hear it. Which ends this history lesson and brings us up to date (and not a moment too soon!)
It’s a really interesting song, a dreamy melody full of eerie and inventive chord changes, but it certainly sounds like a demo, a test run for the group: only half-finished, only half-serious. Easy enough to understand why Motown originally slated it for release, but equally easy to understand why they second-guessed themselves and changed their minds.
Is it an effective calling card? Fifty-odd listens in, I’m still not sure what to make of it.
Thoughts on Hello Love, in no particular order:-
– It’s very intriguing. The tune, the production, the lead singer’s falsetto (is this Warren Harris or Street himself?), none of them really seem to match up to each other, or to anything we’ve heard so far out of Motown since the Temptations’ early “space age doo wop” days circa Dream Come True. Indeed, it shares a lot of the weird ethereal feel of that record, though it’s not as good. And it’s not 1962 any more, not that that should matter 48 years later. Whatever, this has an atmosphere quite distinct from anything else we’ve covered recently, the sound of a weird dream from which you’ve only half woken.
– It’s all rather rough. Their voices aren’t polished enough, either for Motown or for 1964 in general. The backing vocals are another element that could have been taken from a completely different record, but the effect is crude and jarring, and means Hello Love ends up with “THIS IS A DEMO!” stamped all over it. Rather than the silky smooth feel the song demands, this is coarse and jagged, like you wouldn’t want to run your hand along its surface for fear of catching on a splinter.
– It’s Philly before Philly was Philly. If this had been redone in 1974, drenched in syrupy strings and with the backing vocals tightened up and buffed to a shine, it would probably have been massive. As it is, it’s a thin collection of moods, ahead of its time in that Street the producer doesn’t really know what a song like this should sound like, not having the benefit of a template to work to.
– It’s no kind of indicator for the future at all, not for Motown and not for the Monitors. The group wouldn’t ever sound like this again, Motown had moved away from anything approaching this kind of sound, and so it kind of stands alone in its own little historical bubble. Pretty in places, irritating in places, definitely memorable, not special enough.
This has been an absolute sod to try and give a mark, because – while I love the Monitors and I accept this was an early demo – every time I find myself annoyed by its rough edges and general unfinished vibe, something remarkable teases itself out and makes me like it again. Every time I feel kindly disposed towards it, its clomping lack of poise in what should be a beautiful setting gets on my nerves. Lather, rinse, repeat. Ultimately I think the good outweighs the bad, but it’s just so strange I can’t give in and love it.
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 The Monitors? Click for more.)
 |
 |
| The Spinners “How Can I” |
The Majestics “The Further You Look, The Less You See” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
|---|
Like the blog? Listen to our radio show! |
| Motown Junkies presents the finest Motown cuts, big hits and hard to find classics. Listen to all past episodes here. |
Motown Junkies 
Jubilee-related delay notwithstanding, two more bits of information:
– this was as low as 4 and as high as 8 at different times, so I’m glad I ended up at 6.
– that Monitors CD anthology really is worth buying if you don’t have it; their entire VIP album, including what was my favourite ever Monitors track “Time Is Passin’ By”, plus a sack of great outtakes including my new favourite Monitors track, “I’m In Love With You Baby”.
LikeLike
Nixon:
Thanks for the tip about “I’m in Love with You Baby.” That’s a great track. I’d gotten distracted by “It Only Happens When Love Is Gone” when I was first listening to the outtakes. But this one might have the edge. Clarence Paul didn’t get the releases he should have during the Golden Age.
“Hello Love” reminded me a little of the work of Staunton and Walker, who produced the Monitors’ “Say You.” That seemed to me like an astute matchup of group and producer; it’s too bad they didn’t record more by that team.
LikeLike
The liner notes are particularly sniffy about “I’m In Love With You Baby” too (Keith at one point talks about the song’s “intrinsic mediocrity”), so it’s an easy one to miss!
LikeLike
I like The Majestics’ “Cry” best. Not the version placed on the Kent CD, nor the version on Cellarful of Motown, but a 3rd (and by far best version that we used on Motown’s Natural Resources vinyl album in 1979. It was a “doo-wop” flavoured mix with Four Seasons’ style “twee”. Imagine “Walk Like A Man”, sung by The Monitors with an instrumental by The Funk Brothers.
LikeLike
My favourite Monitors’ track is the long version of “Don’t Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today” on “Cellarful of Motown”, though it’s a close-run thing between that and “Crying In the Night”.
LikeLike
I just mentioned that that version of “Cry” was my favourite Majestics’ recording. My favourite Monitors’ cut was “Crying In The Night”, followed by “Since I Lost You Girl”, and “Say You”. My favourite Distants’ cuts are “Come On”, “All Right” and “Snser Me”. Richard Street is my favourite male Motown artist.
LikeLike
More on “Since I Lost You Girl” and “Say You” when we get to the reviews of the singles. I’ll have to dig out the Natural Resources version of “Cry”. It explains why when I heard subsequent versions, the song didn’t seem quite as good as I remembered it to be.
LikeLike
We heard all of those versions of “Cry” (along with another, unfinished mix) while perusing for unreleased cuts for our “From The Vaults” album series (originally planned for 5 or 10 album releases. The series was junked when sales of the first were virtually nil.
About Thelma (Coleman) Gordy being at Motown after Berry Gordy’s buyout of Thelma Records: I’ve heard conflicting stories. I talked to one ex-Motown employee who mentioned that Thelma, indeed, had come to Motown, and was given the title of “producer”, and given her own office. This was all part of the Golden World/Thelma/Top Dog purchase strategy, to keep them from being competition for Motown. He let her “produce” her former Thelma artists (Majestics, Emanuel Lasky, Richard Street). The quote was “Gordy let her (and Emanuel) sit in her office for a year twiddling her thumbs, and begging for recording studio time. We know that Laskey(Lasky) was there, as he wrote a few songs for Motown in 1965-66 that appeared on releases.
We’ve also heard that Thelma NEVER came to Motown. That implies that her former production of The Majestics’ demo cuts was used for naming her as a producer on the versions of those versions of the same songs re-cut at Motown. I’m pretty sure that we found some documentation that said that she produced the re-cut versions at Motown (otherwise we wouldn’t have listed her as producer on The From The Vaults album, and that printing on our album would NOT HAVE BEEN APPROVED by our boss, Iris Gordy (or the text editor) on the final look. If Thelma Coleman was NOT in the company, and did not have some sort of decent working relaitonship with Berry, some Gordy family member would have noticed her name on the album, and it would have been removed.
We need to contact Al Abrams and ask him whether or not she was brought into Motown after the buyout. One of the problems is that the Thelma Records employees started leaving for Motown at different times. Norman Whitfield and Richard Street, AND The Majestics left before the buyout (1964). It seems that The Majestics’ demos made at Thelma were recorded in 1963. And the demos recorded at Motown were made in 1964 (maybe some trickling into 1965?). I have a DJ copy of “Say You” with The Majestics listed as the artists. So, that name lasted until at least, late 1965.
Maybe if Abrams had already left Motown before the Thelma buyout, we’d have to depend upon Harry Weinger to clear us up, based on the recording dates of the re-cut Motown demos, and any other written documentation.
I had heard that Thelma Coleman didn’t really produce sessions even at Thelma Records, and that Norman Whitfield had produced the Majestics’ sessions there. Maybe he also produced the re-recording of those songs at Motown, as he was already working at Motown (as was Richard Street), when they were signed.
LikeLike
Sad news today, I’m hearing Richard Street has passed away (and on the day of Damon Harris’ funeral, too). A great singer and writer with a largely unheralded but amazing role in the Motown story.
RIP Mr Street.
LikeLike
He was one of my top 5 all-time favourite voices.
LikeLike
I don’t like ‘Hello Love” in the slightest. I think giving it a “4” is generous. It’s sung flat, and the backgrounds and lead don’t mesh. Richard Street was too good a singer to waste on that unpolished, lousy-quality recording (as proven by most of his Monitors’ cuts).
LikeLike
RIP Richard Street. He seems to have been a very busy fellow being in all those groups and wearing all those hats. He couldnt have had time to hold a day job.
Here is the thing that bothers more: Down through the years i’ve read over & over how Berry Gordy told Richard Street he didnt have what it took to be a lead singer and the two of them werent very close. How did he manage to stay in Motown’s emply for all those years?
LikeLike
Street was never in more than one group at a time. He was lead singer of The Distants (but Otis Williams had formed that group). When their contract with Johnnie Mae Matthews was up, and they started negotiating with Berry Gordy (who had courted them while they were with Matthews’ Northern Records), Richard was invited, along with the rest of the group to come to Motown. But, he declined the invitation. He told them “I’ve got other things I want to work on.”. I think that he wanted HIS OWN group, and wanted to develop his songwriting and also get into production. So, while The Temptations started at Motown, on their Miracle Records in early 1961, Street continued his songwriting, and pieced together a new Distants group. The name became available again because Williams’ group changed its name to “The Temptations”. He started working with producer, Don Davis at Thelma Records, and got his new Distants group signed by Thelma. They had their only Thelma release (“Answer Me”) in spring 1962. Richard also acted as an assistant producer under Davis at Thelma, and also worked with Norman Whitfield. Meanwhile, Detroit’s Majestics (led by Johnny Mitchell) who had recorded for Robert West’s Contour Records (1958-60),Tony Ewing’s Chex Records(1961-63) and with Popcorn Wylie at Allrite Records(early 1963), were signed by Thelma. In early 1963 The Distants broke up, and later that year, Street replaced a member in The Majestics, who left. Later, in 1963, several more members of The Majestics left, and were replaced by Street’s future groupmates of The Monitors. Street left for Motown in early 1964, signed as a songwriter (probably on the recommendation of Norman Whitfield). In late 1964 he got Motown to sign his Majestics group. They had their first scheduled release, “Hello Love” pulled back. Their second, in early 1965, “Say you”, came out on DJ copies as “The Majestics”. But, their group name was changed to “Monitors” because of L.A.’s Chicano Majestics group. The Monitors broke up in 1969, and Street joined The Temptations soon after. So, he was never with more than one group at a time. He probably had been working a “day job” all of the time he sang with The Distants for Johnnie Mae Matthews in 1960-61, and probably until he started working at Thelma Records in early 1962. After that, he worked only in the music business at Thelma and Motown (and with The Temptations while they were with Atlantic Records?).
LikeLike
“It’s Philly before Philly was Philly”
Brilliant way to describe it. It seems to look back to doowop but way forward to the syrupy soul ballads of the 70s.
LikeLike
I am trying to hear what the lyrics are in the first verse. I cannot understand what is said. Can someone help me out?
LikeLike