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UNRELEASED: scheduled for
Soul S 35007 (A), December 1964
b/w Thompin’
(Written by Ken Craig and George Coolures)
The magnificent The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 4 box set concludes, wholly appropriately, with the Velvelettes’ lovely Throw A Farewell Kiss – but Motown had one more trick up their sleeve before 1964 was done.
Multi-racial blues rockers the Merced Blue Notes hailed, as their name suggests, from Merced, California. Originally formed as Roddy Jackson’s backing band, they stayed together once Jackson moved on, getting a reputation for their stage shows that eventually translated into a record deal. They eventually wound up signed to Harvey Fuqua’s Tri-Phi label, where they released two singles in two years, “Midnite Session” and “Whole Lotta Nothing”. When Fuqua sold Tri-Phi to Motown, then – as with the likes of the Spinners, Shorty Long and Johnny Bristol – the Blue Notes were transferred too.
But it was a bad time to be a blues rock act on Motown’s books. The company had already jettisoned its own bluesier performers (Singin’ Sammy Ward, Gino Parks, Henry Lumpkin and Amos Milburn were gone, with Hattie Littles due next out of the door); if there wasn’t room for those guys, Motown certainly wouldn’t be making the effort to accomodate an inherited act like the Merced Blue Notes. And they didn’t, hence the big ol’ UNRELEASED up there at the top.
Almost a year after the sale, the group’s manager, harmonica soloist and songwriter (and Merced fire chief!) George Coolures convinced Motown to take a chance and release a Blue Notes record during the Christmas lull, at a time when Motown was busy clearing its cupboards of whatever unreleased favours and space-fillers were still lying around – but after the catalogue number and release date were allocated, on further reflection Motown declined to release the single after all. This was the last straw, and the Blue Notes left Motown without ever having seen a record hit the stores.
Now, here’s where it gets a bit confusing. Since the recordings had likely been made on Tri-Phi’s dollar, possibly in Northern California rather than Detroit or Los Angeles (though the tape catalogue entry reproduced in The Complete Motown Singles Volume 4 names Robert Gordy and Harvey Fuqua as co-producers for these tracks, which is weird), and since Motown wasn’t going to be doing anything with them, it seems that Motown gave the masters back to the band for them to sell on elsewhere.
So, despite this being an “unreleased” Motown single, both proposed sides of it actually appeared as future Merced Blue Notes B-sides, both backing up the same song, the mod dancer Rufus Jr.; this one appeared as the flip on tiny indie Mammoth Records (pictured above), but when the record started to make waves and San Francisco label Galaxy bought up Rufus Jr., they went with the would-have-been Motown B-side Thompin’ as their choice of flip instead. Because these tracks no longer “belonged” to Motown, this meant they weren’t available for inclusion in the Complete Motown Singles box sets – but here on Motown Junkies, such restrictions don’t apply, and so here we are. You lucky things, you.
(A bit of mild sarcasm there. Because, to be honest, you’re not missing much.)
Do The Pig starts out in highly engaging fashion, a jaunty electric piano riff sparking up a taut organ-led blues rock number with a tight, slinky bar-room feel to it, locking into a rippling groove as a gruff toaster – who later turns out to be a lead singer of sorts – shouts exhortations to the audience over the top of it all: “…everybody get ready to do the Pig at the Blue Note gig! Alright! Get ready now!”
The organ has a slightly wonky, arresting tone to it, reminiscent of the Ondioline riffs that underpinned so many of the very earliest Motown cuts, and the vocals (chanted/shouted by several Blue Notes together, giving the impression of a drunken pub singalong) are excellently silly fun. “You gotta have hairs on your chinny chin chin!”, growls our MC. It’s a good laugh, charming and not without musical merit.
But it gets repetitive and runs out of ideas very quickly, and the playing feels clumsy and amateurish compared to the Funk Brothers or Junior Walker. The “raucous” instrumental middle eight actually winds up sounding exactly the same as the rest of the record, just without the Blue Notes bellowing and hollering over the top of it. Other than a guitar squeal which makes a kind of weird siren/fire alarm noise in the background near the end, which briefly catches the ear and revives your flagging interest, after the first 20 seconds or so of this, you’ve pretty much heard the whole thing.
Oh, they’re having a blast, the Blue Notes, no doubt about it. And if I was drunk, dancing in a dark, smoke-filled beer hall, in a crowd of similarly pissed-up revellers, and these guys were blasting this out on stage, I can imagine it being great. Instead, even though it actually only goes on for barely two minutes, it gets boring long before the end, and that burst of enthusiasm from the beginning is replaced by impatience and then weary resignation as you wait for it to be over. (Perhaps that’s what happened to Motown’s scheduling people, too – their initial excitement went cold.)
They sound like they could keep this party going all night, but the longer the record goes on, the more it shows up their lack of ideas, and the less fun I find it. As it stands, it’s harmless enough, but it’s worn out its welcome by the time it ends; if it went on any longer, I could see me knocking some more marks off the score.
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 Merced Blue Notes? Click for more.)
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| The Velvelettes “Throw A Farewell Kiss” |
The Merced Blue Notes “Thompin’ “ |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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The next record to be issued on the Soul label would be Jr Walker’s “Shotgun”, and if it had been released “Do The Pig”, though not in the same league, would not have sounded out of place as its precursor.
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I disagree that The Merced Blue Notes’ recordings would carry little weight with Motown’s decision makers because they decided against recording “Bluesy acts”, such as Sammy Ward, Mable John and Amos Milburn. The Merced Blue Notes were more Jazz artists than Blues. I bought their Tri-Phi, Mammoth, and Galaxy records because I like Jazz instrumentals. “Rufus Jr.” is one of my favourite recordings of all time, and runs through my head at least once a month, despite my not playing it for quite a few years now. I’ll admit that “Do The Pig” is a fairly poor quality cut, especially relative to most of their other work. 4 out of 10 is a fair rating.
I’m not desolated that Motown refused to try to do anything with this group. They refused to let their Jazz artists shine. So, this was no surprise. They did use The Spinners, Shorty Long and Junior Walker and The All Stars quite a bit, as well as Harvey Fuqua, Gwen Gordy and Johnny Bristol in production. I AM disappointed that they used Ann Bogan so little, and didn’t use Blues artist, Eddie Burns, and Soul artists, Jackie Beavers, Joe Charles (Murphy), Clyde Wilson (Steve Mancha), The Five Quails, The Challengers III (Bogan’s group) and Lorrie Rudolph.
But then, they didn’t maximise the talents of Don Davis, Tony Hester, Herman Griffin, The Velvelettes, The Elgins, Mike Terry, Carolyn Crawford, Linda Griner, Patrice Holloway, Oma Heard, The Serenaders, the Equadors, Richard Street. Emanuel Lasky, Terry Johnson, Frances Nero, The Satintones, The Creations, Popcorn Wylie and so many others, so it’s not surprising.
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add Mabel John to that list and you’ll find that these were the kinds of artists that (in Mabel John’s case at ;east) did way better at STAX–who would become major competition for Motown starting in this next year of 1965.
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or I should’ve said coould’ve done
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A little extra info may be of interest here, and do something to save the Blue Notes from a reputation they might deserve if these were the only sides to judge them by … Seemingly, their management sent a tape containing eleven tracks to Motown for consideration, and the two tracks scheduled for release were almost certainly Motown’s selection, not the band’s, and, imo, among the weakest. Most of the remainder are on the Ace CD you picture above, and the disc is well worth a listen. One that isn’t on the CD, sadly, is “Fink”, a fast instrumental 12-bar, which made it to the acetate stage at Motown so may have been a contender for the single.
Outside your remit, I know, but it’s worth listening to their earlier sides on Tri-Phi, whcih are way above the standard of these two tracks. But your verdict here is quite justified, and maybe even a little generous.
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After spending 30-45 minutes listening to this band’s other recordings, I am in complete agreement that they are far superior to “Do The Pig” and “Thompin’.” Also, I noticed a definite similarity in style between “Finger Licking” on the Ace CD and Booker T and the MG’s “Chinese Checkers” from 1963, although I favor the latter with those cool sax blows in the fade.
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What might be interesting, would be the story of how Tri-Phi and The Merced Blue Notes got together. I doubt that the group was touring in Detroit for Fuqua to see them perform. I can’t remember the Harvey/tri-Phi/HPC/Message family of labels having an out-of-town act, other than Ann Bogan’s Challengers III (from nearby Cleveland). Motown had more resources, and had some reach around the country (Kim Fowley as sales agent in L.A.). Harvey didn’t look for talent outside Detroit. Maybe Harvey Fuqua. or another staff member, was on a vacation in San Francisco Bay Area, and saw them perform?
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From your description of this single i wonder what chance would it have had on the market when we already had Bobby Moore & The Rhythm Aces, Tom & Jerrio, and Alvin Cash & The Crawlers giving us the same thing?
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I absolute HATE the vocal. If it were just the instrumental tracks, I’d give it a “5”. With the vocal, it gets a weak “3” from me! I didn’t mention their 1961 release on Accent Records, “Rufus”, after which “Rufus, Jr.” was named. It is also excellent, and has a super Sax solo in the break.
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