Tags
Gordy G 7036 (A), November 1964
b/w Dancing Slow
(Written by Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter)
Stateside SS 383 (A), January 1965
b/w Dancing Slow
(Released in the UK under license through Stateside Records)
Martha and the Vandellas’ long-awaited follow-up to Dancing In The Street is a strange affair; it’s less of a song, and more of an attempt to ride the coattails of various different pop-cultural phenomena, not necessarily on time and not always successfully. But it ends up a fine single all the same, just so long as you don’t concentrate too hard on what came before, or what’s still to come.
Wild One is a kind of intermission between the brash, Brill Building-tinged pop-rock of the early Vandellas and the more soulful R&B-pop sophistication of the group’s later years, but it’s not really a bridge between the two phases. The only real indication of what’s around the corner are the drums, which are absolutely huge, even more so than on Dancing In The Street; whatever else it might be, this is dance music first and foremost.
Motown weren’t really expecting the Supremes to suddenly change gear and rack up three mega-selling Number One hits in a row in 1964, and so when they did, the girls’ overnight rise to fame not only made them top dogs in the Motown pecking order (“what?” – confused zoologist, Tidmouth), it also left Motown in a pickle as to what to do with its previous top girl group.
The Vandellas had already cut a 4/4 Holland-Dozier-Holland pop gem in the vein of Where Did Our Love Go, the sassy, stomping Jimmy Mack, only to see Motown’s Quality Control gatekeepers reject it. (One theory was that it sounded too much like the Supremes, but that seems unlikely given that the label was actively trying to cultivate acceptance of the rapidly-hardening musical template that would become known as the Motown Sound). Whatever the reason, it remains one of Motown’s oddest decisions, and there’s a distinct smack of “this town ain’t big enough for the both of us” about it. This was perhaps the last straw for original Vandella Annette Beard, who left the group shortly after Jimmy Mack was recorded; she was replaced in the line-up by Betty Kelley, formerly of the Velvelettes.
The “new” Vandellas then spent the whole summer of 1964 recording a bunch of MOR, pop and Broadway standards and pseudo-standards, Berry Gordy envisioning – completely incorrectly, which is unusual for him – that instead of competing with the Supremes, the girls could become Motown’s new crossover stars for an older audience, finally conferring the kind of showbiz respect he so desperately wanted. The sessions were a disaster, Martha, Rosalind and Betty slogging their way through mountains of material – the liner notes to The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 4 list covers of “Only the Lonely”, “Blue Moon”, “It’s All In The Game”, “Oh Lonesome Me”, and Gordy’s own Jackie Wilson composition “Lonely Teardrops”, and there was a lot more of it besides – for a proposed crossover LP which never saw the light of day. (I don’t even think many of those tracks have been released even now, as it happens.)
An artistic and commercial miscalculation, these abortive sessions cost the Vandellas precious time, and meant that while Dancing In The Street was all over the radio and selling out in stores across the nation – finally cementing a place in America’s hearts for the Vandellas as a Motown R&B girl group with a very different sound to the Supremes – the girls had no readily-recorded follow-up for the best part of five months, the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot now gone forever.
After all that, Gordy decided to send the Vandellas back to the same blueprint as Dancing In The Street, with the same writers and producers providing a song similar in feel and tone, intended to become the centrepiece title track of a whole new LP of dance numbers, as noted on the labels (the album eventually saw release in 1965, under the title Dance Party, pictured right.)
But this isn’t as good as Dancing In The Street no matter which way you slice it. The tune’s not as good, for a start. The intro’s captivating, but it can’t compare with the iconic riff that opens the famous hit. The pop culture references are oddly dated – not only the riffing on the Shangri-Las’ recent nostalgia-laced hit Leader of the Pack, itself a period piece, but all the “Wild One” stuff, which just seems really strangely shoehorned in.
I mean, when did The Wild One even come out? Like, ten years before this was recorded or something? Okay, Wikipedia says 1953. Well, the world had moved on from the early Fifties, suburban America finding new rebels to fear or fantasise, rebels with a cause, perhaps more dangerous than a courteous outcast from a young white biker gang who tries to do the right thing. Marlon Brando will always be cool, but it’s not Motown cool. Or to put it another way, Martha Reeves is cooler than Marlon Brando, and it seems incongruous to hear her swooning over him. The lyrics paint her into an unflattering corner, a silly schoolgirl sticking up for her shiftless bad boy crush, like the Marvelettes’ Little Girl Blue but played absolutely straight – a cackhanded attempt to be “down with the kids” and hoover dollars out of real schoolgirls’ lovestruck pockets.
Why do I like it, then? Firstly, the Vandellas themselves sound great, Annette or no, as if they’re running free after the constricting excesses of the standards album project, getting back to what they do best.
Secondly, the percussion on this is just brutal. A great dancer it may be, but Dancing In The Street always seemed a tiny bit underproduced to me, the drum track mixed so low as to become a little weedy and muffled, only really rescued by the inspired addition of Ivy Jo Hunter’s smashing of snow chains. Wild One, though, kicks off with the drums mixed right up front, and it presages a new kind of Motown sound, in many ways the defining sound of the winter of ’64/’65 if you weren’t the Supremes, a brasher, noisier kind of groove that would take the Vandellas (and for that matter the Marvelettes, not to mention Betty’s former bandmates the Velvelettes) to new realms.
That’s all in the future. For now, this is a kind of half step in a new direction, while driving twenty miles down the same road as before. Sure, it’s inescapably very similar to (and rather less good than) Dancing In The Street. That can’t stop it being fun.
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 Martha Reeves & The Vandellas? Click for more.)
Kim Weston “Go Ahead And Laugh” |
Martha & the Vandellas “Dancing Slow” |
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. |
Dave L said:
There’s a particular photograph in one of my albums from the morning of December 25, 1964. My older sister and my baby brother (his 1st Christmas), sit in the foreground by the tree examining their gifts. Behind them, with the sofa all to myself, I sit sideways with my legs up on it. My hands are half raised in the air in some expression of elation. The camera is facing the inside of the living room window, you can see the backs of the decorations in it. On the table next to me is the new record player I unwrapped that morning, and I know for a fact “Wild One” is on it. I doubt I played it less than thirty times that day. I’m 10 years old.
Had I been a dozen years older at that time, I think I could have gotten Barney Ales to hire me. When I learned there was a new Vandellas record out, it wasn’t enough to rush to the store to buy it: I had to also become a ferocious advocate of it too. If I knew you, and you didn’t like Martha and the Vandellas, it became my mission to figure out what was “wrong” with you and “fix” it. 🙂 Without Martha and the Vandellas, my childhood would be altered to one I couldn’t recognize.
Equally famous for how Motown crazy I was at this age, I was also known for how fast I could burn through a record player. The new one that morning wouldn’t last a year, and would be supplanted by two more by the time we moved out of that particular house in August 1966.
“Wild One” is at least an 8 to me, and eternally fixed in my heart.
LikeLike
Damecia said:
So cool! Love to read your Motown memories.
LikeLike
Damecia said:
Great review Steve D!
Before I heard the song and read the review I did think that this song was for Brando’s film “The Wild One” lol. Oh yeah Steve D, I don’t know about Martha being cooler than Brando. LOL.
Anywho this is not a bad song at all. Who doesn’t love a song about a good girl singing and loving how B-A-D her boyfriend is and how other people just don’t understand him the way she does?
Now that I think about it this song is just as good as “Dancing In The Streets.” The Vandellas vocals soar beautifully in the background, the percussion section is BANGIN’, great lyrics like I mentioned above, the call and response is also superb, but what I think this song is missing is the hungriness in Martha Reeves voice that is heard on hits such as “Dancing In The Streets” and ‘Heatwave’. Then again those were soul records, while this is a pop record IMO.
LikeLike
Mickey The Twistin' Playboy said:
Wild One is a an example of Motown’s own “Wall of Sound.” Great percussion intro and overall feel. Martha once said in an interview that she was certain that it would hit Number One but felt Motown released it too soon while Dancing In the Street was still being played heavily on stations. I feel this recording is one of the definitive examples of what the Motown sound is. One of my all time favorites from the label.
My rating: 10/10
LikeLike
gregory said:
this one was a single that I remember I Got really excited about!!!, And heavily played all the time. The promotional copy that I had acquired had in the album” wild one “.!! I wanted that album so bad!!!!! Gordy 915!! but it was not to be!!!! I don’t know why??? it would of sold and made a lot especially during the holiday and Christmas season!! I know that that would of been the perfect Christmas gift for me!!!! I think it was close to a whole year latter I was able to get it but it came out with the title “DANCE PARTY” Steve I give you another golden star on your review of this one!!!! except I would give this one a Rating of “8” !!
LikeLike
John Plant said:
Once again Motown seizes on a genre and improves it beyond all recognition. The teenage petulance of the Crystals’ He’s a Rebel and the defiant sass of the Shangri-Las here become something more adult, sensual, liberated and soaring. No disapproving parents anywhere in sight – just a disapproving society! – I can live with a ‘7’ – that seems right for a terrific song which doesn’t quite reach the summits of Heat Wave, Dancing in the Streets, Nowhere to Run – but a thoroughly enjoyable song – and a thoroughly enjoyable review.
LikeLike
treborij said:
I remember being a little disappointed in this one when it came out after Dancing In The Street. But I bought it (and liked it and played it) anyway. I remember it being a pretty LOUD! record. The 7 seems pretty accurate.
I’ve got to say, I love the jackets to the British EP sleeves you’ve been posting, especially this one. It’s become my screen saver. Wish those had been available here in the U.S.
LikeLike
Dave L said:
There’s nothing like a little window shopping at eBay to get your blood temperature up regarding this point. Putting the name of any one of our favorites in the search engine reveals how much more generous Motown was the picture sleeves throughout western Europe and South America too.
I suspect we can put the blame on the sins of our fathers and that the quantity and openess of racism the 60s still knew made Gordy cautious and circumspect about how many of the now-classics he issued with pictures of black faces. Gordy being Gordy, no doubt economics figured in the decision too: The Supremes sold the most, and the Supremes got the most picture sleeves at home.
If you loved Aretha Franklin too, the story gets more bleak. During her majestic and most sustained commercial streak of 1967 to 1974, not one of her triumphant Altantic 45s was released with a picture sleeve in the United States. And it’s not like Atlantic, at least a decade older than Motown, was some poor stepchild label.
LikeLike
144man said:
That’s the French EP, not the British.
LikeLike
treborij said:
I wondered why it said Columbia/EMI instead of Tamla Motown. I assumed it was still one of those early deals Motown had struck with British labels. Thanks for the clarification.
LikeLike
Ron Leonard said:
The awesome Crashing Rythym!! And my favorite parts to this song..when the Vandellas sing ” Can’t You See”…and yes, there’s even better after this from Martha and The Vandellas!! Still enjoy “Wild One” today!!
LikeLike
Landini said:
Hi Gang! I have been away for awhile – been dealing with some health issues. Would appreciate your prayers! Thanks! I am surprised at how many people like this song so much. I mean it is okay to my ears but not one of the Vandellas best. To me, it sounds like something Phil Spector might have produced had he been working at Motown.
Anyway, cheers to all. I may not be on the site as much as I was but will try to drop in when I can!
LikeLike
tomovox said:
“Wild One” for me has always been one of those songs that I keep thinking I don’t like as much as I actually do. Does that make any sense? I bought the Martha & The Vandellas “Anthology” album in the eighties- early on in my ongoing Motown education. I heard “Wild One” for my first time; I didn’t really know about the mathematics of the sound-alike follow-up rule, but I had some inkling of why this sounded kinda, sorta like “Dancing In The Street.”
I wanted to really like it, but I couldn’t get into it. It was a pleasant few minutes was all I could muster. Then, years later, I bought the “Dance Party” album. WHAT? There is something about the mix on that album. “Wild One” just POPPED!
Martha sounded hotter, the Vandellas sounded sassier. The drums, man! The drums battered my speaker system into oblivion! After the first stanza and chorus, the drums start doing this little “skip, shuffle” thing and hit beats as if they were newly-discovered lost continents. The part that really starteled me was at the end where the drummer starts crashing on the cymbals, using them as exclamation marks.
Did i say this song was just a “pleasnt few minutes?” I guess it really is in the mix because the mono mix is even better.
I now know this was a calculated follow up to “Dancing In the Streets.” How do you follow up something like that song though? So given the near-impossible task of coming up wish something else of equal social-importance, I give kudos to Mickey and Ivy Jo. There was no way to top the original song, so take the beat and beat us all over the head with it so we can at least dance over whatever deficiencies there may have been in the thematic department. Works for me.
So if I focus on the lyrics, I might think that I don’t really like this song so much. But taking it as a whole, I always end up finding out that I really DO like this song- just get out of my way as I dance while I’m being beat about the head with that huge beat!
LikeLike
tomovox said:
Queston to the administrator- can I have my comment pulled?
LikeLike
The Nixon Administration said:
Yes, but may I ask why? It was great!
LikeLike
bogart4017 said:
Purchased this one unheard, strictly on the strength of “Dancing In The Street”. At first i was very disappointed. I kinda felt like it was something the Ronettes should have been doing. After awhile it grew on me though. The drumming is fan-damn-tastic!
LikeLike
Landini said:
Yeah, this one kind of grows on you. Far from my absolute favorite but not bad. Per my comments above, I heard a kind of Spector vibe running through this one. Kind of a “He’s A Rebel” knock off. I am probably the only person in the known universe who isn’t a huge Phil Spector production fan. His records (Crystals, Ronettes etc) have their charm but just haven’t aged quite as well (to my ears at least) as the Motown records.
LikeLike
Damecia said:
Hi Gramps! I have to ask what do you think of “Be My Little Baby”, arguably the best song ever made?
LikeLike
Landini said:
Hi D, It is a nice enough song. Nothing at all wrong with it – Just not a big fan of that sound in general. FYI – Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys has claimed “Be My Baby” as his favorite song of all time. Also, Nedra Ross (of the Ronettes) recorded some Christian rock songs in the late 70s which weren’t bad. You might check her out on Youtube. I had an album (from about 1977) by Southside Johnny/Asbury Jukes that had a song where Ronnie Spector duetted w/Johnny called “You Mean So Much To Me Baby”. Cool song too. All the best!
LikeLike
Damecia said:
Will check this out!
LikeLike
bogart4017 said:
Yeah—kinda like some of the cars from the 40’s and early 50’s. They have too much chrome on them and they kinda creak a little. Thats what a Spector record sounds like today. They all scream early ’60s. But Mary Wells, Temps, 4 Tops…a lot of those records (just like Al Greens’s) have a timeless quality to them.
LikeLike
MotownFan1962 said:
To me, his productions for the Righteous Brothers actually sound ahead of their time. The first time I heard “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”, I thought it was a song from the ’80s.
LikeLike
Kevin Moore said:
“Martha and the Vandellas’ long-awaited follow-up to Dancing In The Street”
It’s gotten to the point that I think Gordy considered it marketing malpractice NOT to issue an almost proudly derivative “follow-up” to any hit so we almost have to accept it as a given that this is what they’re trying to do and judge the results accordingly. If a photographer chooses to work in black and white we can’t criticize the result as lacking color.
So, given that this was clearly the company philosophy, my first question for the many record experts here is how successful this marketing strategy was overall. What were examples where a clearly derivative follow-up succeeded or was punished by the record-buying public for its lack of originality?
Artistically, I think it’s a mixed bag. I thought that the device that Without Your Love stole from Baby I Need Your Lovin’ was so good and so original that it was well worth stealing and taking in a different direction as it did. In fact, that particular way of modulating still seems under-exploited 50 years later. All the great composers engaged in this “self-nicking” approach. This current track, however, on first hearing, feels less successful – although I like it and it may grow on me. It does a pretty good job of doing something different with Dancing in the Street, but some of that difference comes from a sort of 60s-dated derivation of On Broadway.
LikeLike
Abbott Cooper said:
I’m too doggone lazy to go back and do the research on the chart successes, or failures, of all the soundalike followup derivative records that have come from Motown through the years. That being said, I have never been a fan of such efforts, and I made it my business to check out the chart results of each derivative record as it has appeared on the Motown Junkie chronological roster. From such perusals, I can report a consistently worse performance on the part of each followup in contrast with its predecessor. I am not certain of the existance of any exception, but, then again, I did not commit these statistics to memory. As for my biases on this subject, there is NO consistency at all. Although I couldn’t stand the Miracles’ “A Love She Can Count On” as a followup to “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me,” when the derivative “I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying” followed “Mickey’s Monkey,” I loved it, and notwithstanding its poor chart results, “I Gotta Dance…” continues to be one of my all-time Motown favorites. In the same vein, I give “Wild One” a higher score (“9”) than “Dancing in the Street.” But from a financial standpoint, derivatives were NOT the way to go.
LikeLike
Robb Klein said:
To ME, “Wild One” isn’t at all derivative from “Dancing in the Streets”. It’s a fairly good “run-of-the-mill” Martha & The Vandellas song. I would give it a “7”. To me, “Be My Baby” is a good “Girls Group “Wall of Sound” song, but VERY far from the “best song ever”.
LikeLike
144man said:
In, I think, early November 1964 Martha and the Vandellas visited the UK for a quick promotional tour. My school-friend Mike and I accepted an invitation from the Tamla Motown Appreciation Society to attend a reception for the group at EMI’s offices in Manchester Square.
Afterwards we adjourned to a pub in nearby Devonshire Square. One of the group said that there was a lot of unreleased material, and they were a bit taken aback when we named “Jimmy Mack”, which had been mentioned by Dave Godin in a recent club magazine.
Martha informed us that the group’s next release was to be a song called “Wild One”.
Mike asked them if they could sing it for us, and they obliged by singing a few lines. When talking about the song on the tube home, Mike and I came to the conclusion that the song wasn’t strong enough to be a really big hit.,
LikeLike
Ross Malloy II said:
To me, this song sounds like a chaotic version of “Dancing in the Street.” That it has a overly similar melody and other elements doesn’t help things (man, those horns). The intro is really good, though. Still, I give this a “6.” It’s certainly an above-average number that’ll inspire dancing wherever it’s playing.
LikeLike