Gaye, Guys, But No Gals!

PLUS, LAMONT DOZIER IN QUASI-POLITICAL MODE

Next Friday, March 28, will see the arrival of two “new” Motown catalogue albums: one digital, one physical. Because this is such an unusual event these days, perhaps it’s tempting fate to write about such releases. And yet…

      Both contain rare material which hasn’t been available for many years, or not at all. One is from Universal Music, owner and custodian of Motown’s much-revered vault of recordings, the other from Ace Records, the U.K. independent which has often been accessing that vault under license.

      One celebrates a 50th anniversary (albeit now passed) and digitally augments a memorable album by a Hitsville superstar. The other brings to compact disc a number of tracks which were previously only to be heard through streaming services, as well as unissued material. So, to the detail…

Brian and Lamont: they shall not be moved

      Marvin Gaye Live! is the digital release out next week, drawn from the original Tamla LP (issued on June 19, 1974) which showcased the singer’s comeback concert at California’s Oakland Coliseum on January 4 that year. At the time, this became his third Top 10 achiever on the main Billboard LP charts, and the fourth of his seven Number Ones on the R&B album best-sellers. It also delivered a Top 20 R&B hit single with the live version of “Distant Lover.”

      The forthcoming deluxe edition offers the complete concert, including four tracks not initially on Marvin Gaye Live!: “Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky),” “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” “Keep Gettin’ It On” and “Come Get To This.” The last of these later appeared on 1990’s CD quartet, The Marvin Gaye Collection, while the first three were on a 1998 CD reissue of the 1974 album.

      Grammy-awarded engineer Bill Schnee mixed this 2025 deluxe release; he recorded the original show, but Marvin himself, aided by Motown engineer Cal Harris, did the original nine-track LP.  Back then, there was momentary consideration given to it as a double-album, influenced by the 2LP sets of Bill Withers (Live At Carnegie Hall), James Brown (Revolution Of The Mind) and Curtis Mayfield (Curtis/Live!). In the event, it did not happen.

      In conjunction with this month’s 14-tracker, Universal Music is sending the nine-track original of Marvin Gaye Live! to digital platforms. Both are newly remastered, and available in Dolby® ATMOS for what the company calls “the full immersive concert experience.” At the same time, the history and forensic detail of the album is being published in a 3,300-word essay by Motown historian and music academic Andrew Flory, author of 2017’s authoritative I Hear A Symphony: Motown and Crossover R&B. It’ll be available soon on www.udiscovermusic.com. (Flory, meanwhile, has received two grants in support of his next book project, Marvin Gaye: The Detroit Years.)

‘PEOPLE LOVED THIS MAN’

      “Marvin Gaye’s return was not a concert, it was an event,” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Wasserman of the Oakland show, and his praise is cited in Flory’s essay. “As the music began to work its own magic,” observed Peter Cowan of the Oakland Tribune, “and Gaye’s oh-so-mellow, tender falsetto rang out, people began to rock in their own seats. It was obvious most of the people loved this man, for his songs and himself.”

      Not everyone was convinced. “Musically, the Gaye show was lacking in both finesse and artistry,” kvetched the San Francisco Examiner’s Philip Elwood. “His voice is not now nearly as relaxedly pleasing as in earlier days and his act, including considerable stage gymnastics, genuflecting and microphonic agonizing, is poorly paced and unimaginative.”

      Regardless, there were more than 10,000 fans at the Coliseum, who paid $5.50 to $8.50 (equivalent to about $35 to $55 today) for tickets, or $25 ($170) for front-row seats. Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson were the opening act, while the musicians behind Gaye included James Jamerson (bass), Joe Sample (keyboards), David T. Walker (guitar), Ed Greene (drums) and a 19-year-old Ray Parker (guitar). They were accompanied by a four-man horn section, and a 30-piece, tuxedo-clad orchestra.

At last, the complete concert

      The welcome afforded to the headliner that night – and perhaps his financial needs – convinced him to return to the road, and when Motown issued the album, it also announced his tour dates, beginning in August ’74. That excursion, too, proved to be a success, notwithstanding periodic problems (a Boston cancellation due to racial tensions in the city, a much-criticised two-hour delay in kick-off in Raleigh, N.C.). Among those who served as openers in different cities: Major Harris, the Ohio Players and the Independents.

      Marvin Gaye Live! remained on the U.S. charts throughout the run of the tour. When it returns to the world next week, perhaps the new edition can be as popular on the streaming services of the 21st century.

      Another Gaye recording features in this month’s second Motown catalogue release, Hit & Run! More Motown Guys from Ace Records, on its Kent label. The track is “Must Be Quite A Show,” recorded in California in June 1964 with producers Hal Davis and Marc Gordon. The lyrically-clever song was authored by Billy Page, better known for Dobie Gray’s “The ‘In’ Crowd.” Gaye’s throaty performance is making its CD debut (it was previously available as a digital download in 2014’s Motown Unreleased 1964).

      Hit & Run! More Motown Guys is the third volume in this Kent series, following 2014’s Satisfaction Guaranteed! and 2016’s One Track Mind! Both of those were the work of Ace’s Mick Patrick and the late Keith Hughes, as is the new offering. Fifteen of its 25 tracks have never been available before.

      The intro of the Hit & Run! liner notes is the work of (ahem) yours truly, and acknowledges Hughes’ extraordinary contributions in preserving Motown history through his association with Ace (compiling and annotating more than 20 albums), Universal Music (most prominently, The Complete Motown Singles series), and creating the unique online Motown database, Don’t Forget The Motor City. Keith died last year; his dedication will not be forgotten.

A PROTEST SONG

      Respected Motown singer/writer/producer Ivy Jo Hunter is well-represented on this new Kent compilation, with two vocal tracks (“Lucky Lucky Me,” “To See The Sun Again”) and four songs cut by others. Among those is a version of “Sad Souvenirs” by Marv Johnson, and previously-unissued tracks by a pair of little-known singers, Skip Cunningham and Michael Thomas.

      Another of the Hit & Run! obscurities is by Johnny Earl, whose “Stop And Think About Love” mingles with tracks by the Temptations, Jimmy Ruffin, the Four Tops, the Monitors, Shorty Long and more – which, until now, were only available via the Motown Unreleased digital series.

      Yet the single most intriguing track on the entire album is surely “We Shall Not Be Moved” by Lamont Dozier, recorded in mid-1964 and unreleased until now. What makes it so provocative is the sentiment of the lyrics. This is not the traditional slave protest anthem of that title, but it’s a protest song all the same: about racially-prejudiced efforts to keep rhythm & blues radio stations off the air.

More music to run towards

      That, at least, is what the Holland/Dozier/Holland composition appears to be about: “It’s going around all over the nation/Trying to ban us from the radio stations,” Dozier sings. “No matter what the people may say/Right here is where we’re going to stick and stay.” Admittedly, other parts of the song are difficult to make out, but its overall message is clear: “We shall not be moved.”

      What’s more, it’s a fully-produced, rhythmically-powerful piece of work, complete with the compelling strings of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and a confident vocal by Dozier.

      There’s no question that this message belonged to a time of change in American radio. R&B-formatted stations were growing in listenership in major cities, while pop outlets were increasingly programming rhythm & blues material as the genre’s popularity grew among white youngsters. In some quarters, this provoked bigotry towards black citizens – and towards R&B-formatted or R&B-influenced stations.

      “R&B is…an indigenous art form,” asserted respected (white) radio consultant Bill Gavin in Billboard in April 1964. “As it becomes more widely heard, it will be better understood and is certain to increase its influence on popular tastes. In the meantime, wise program management will keep trying to understand and reflect the tastes of Negroes in their audience. Musically, integration is already an established fact. It is time some broadcasters stopped pretending otherwise.”

      But there were contradictions during this period of civil rights activism. Programmers at R&B stations were concerned about losing listeners and advertisers to newly-energised, pop-formatted outlets such as WKNR in Detroit, which increasingly played rhythm & blues hits. In Chicago, “WVON listeners would rather fight than switch,” declared the highly-rated R&B station in a trade press advertisement in April ’64. “Join the Unswitchables. Get the Chicago radio station that made, and continues to make, history – the swingin’ sound that makes WVON aggressively loyal.” The ad concluded: “Still your No. 1 Negro station.” (A footnote: WVON was owned by the white founders of Chess Records.)

      Exactly how much was Lamont Dozier aware of all this when he and Brian Holland produced “We Shall Not Be Moved”? Did the political nature of the song stop the record being released – or even considered for that – at a decidedly non-political Motown? Did Billie Jean Brown even bring it into one of the Friday morning Quality Control meetings?

      There is no mention of the song in Dozier’s autobiography, nor in the Holland brothers’ memoir. And perhaps it was obscured in their memories by what also happened on the day – June 17, 1964 – that Lamont recorded his “We Shall Not Be Moved” vocal track: “Where Did Our Love Go” was released.

      Which, as we know, changed Motown’s world forever.

Punctuation notes! Coincidentally, both the above releases employ exclamation marks in their titles. It was a well-established custom at Motown, although mostly for live albums. You saw it with the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, the Miracles, Jr. Walker & the All Stars (who added inverted commas, as in “Live!”) and the Commodores. The company’s studio albums mostly escaped the practice, although Martha & the Vandellas’ Watchout! and Rick James’ Come Get It! were among the exceptions. The LP soundtrack of Diana Ross’ first solo TV show also came with an exclamation mark – but both the Supremes and Stevie Wonder, it seems, were spared the practice throughout their album careers.

Wrong notes: if you happen to acquire Hit & Run! More Motown Guys, you will likely spot a stupid error in the sleeve notes. The introduction mistakenly identifies Janie Bradford as in charge of quality control, instead of Billie Jean Brown. Please forgive. (And I hope the ladies do, too.)