123. The Satintones: “Faded Letter”
An interesting exercise and no more; inconsequential to the point of pointlessness. […click title to read more]
An interesting exercise and no more; inconsequential to the point of pointlessness. […click title to read more]
Hardly a fitting send-off for a group who never really got the recognition they deserved, either for their place in Motown history or for the handful of exceptional records they released.
It’s an indicator of where the HDH stable would eventually ply its trade: knocking out a straight pop song with a strong hook and effortless charm, but twisted ever so slightly so that the tune grabs the ear and forms the beginning of an involuntary smile.
This is a worthy successor to My Beloved and Angel; that should be enough for anyone. (7)
This is the last great doo-wop record, a fitting monument to a dying art as well as a superb single in its own right, and the fact that it was only released because Motown were sued into withdrawing a third-rate Shirelles knock-off is one of the luckiest of all the label’s lucky scrapes with history.
Neither engaging or likeable, this is one of the most thoroughly forgettable of all Motown B-sides, making it especially ironic that it ended up being used three times. Poor. (2)
literally a note-for-note cover version with slightly different lyrics. Not only that, a note-for-note cover version of a song everyone in the world already knows.
The Satintones had really upped their game for the A-side of this single, the spectacularly good My Beloved, so it’s more than a little disappointing to see them turning in a fairly pedestrian midtempo R&B number on the flip side, aping the comedy doo-wop of the Coasters with a forgettable tune and slightly ropey harmonies.
After the slightly ropey harmonising on the previous Satintones records, this one shows that these guys really could do tight harmonies and complicated arrangements after all. Rather unexpectedly, this turns out to be one of the best ’59/’60 Motown singles, all the more welcome for being a surprise. (9)
If you’d asked anyone at the time whether Tamla Records was going anywhere special, whether people would remember Berry Gordy in fifty years’ time, the answer would most likely have been a polite but firm “no, not really”. The next release would change all that.
It’s a nice enough little song, if still not exactly remarkable. It has to be said, though – and I apologise in advance to any surviving Satintones who happen to come across this – that for a vocal harmony group, they just aren’t very good singers. (4)