The Complete Motown Singles
Vol. 11A: 1971 (Hip-O Select)In the music business, two plus two seldom equals four. Marvin Gaye’s greatest single achievement, “What’s Going On,” as the cover-sheaved vinyl 7-inch and an “A” appended into Vol. 11 of The Complete Motown Singles belie the end-times of Motor City’s dream vehicle. By the end of 1972, when the label relocated to L.A. – and this series ends – most of Motown’s immortals exist in the rearview mirror. Bad omen, then, that here the Jackson 5 opener “Mama’s Pearl” was blocked from the top Billboard slot by the Osmonds. Of course, five discs as one-half of 1971, as with this endeavor as a whole, are as much about the nonhits as chart champions. When Brit rockers Brass Monkey do their best Stillwater (Almost Famous) impression on “Sweet Water,” it sets up Eddie Kendricks’ last single with the Temptations, the buttery “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me).” Sammy Davis Jr. schlocking it up on “In My Own Lifetime” (liner notes reveal that Marvin Gaye made demos for a Davis LP) contrasts Michael Jackson’s unbelievably grownup reading of “Never Can Say Goodbye.” Disc three pits Bobby Darin white-washing the Supremes’ “Someday We’ll Be Together” against Gladys Knight & the Pips nailing the CD shut, yet it’s a pair of Hair vets and their Motown debut, “What You See Is What You Get,” setting up the career of Dallas-born Marvin Lee Aday (Meatloaf). CD four is anchored by a triptych of tunes by Ivy Jo (Hunter), not to be confused with Texas’ Ivory Joe Hunter; this Motown troublemaker’s deep, dramatic voice approaches the gritty R&B of the Tempts’ David Ruffin or the Four Tops’ Levi Stubbs (1936-2008). “Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)” bookends the set with Gaye’s other grand achievement of 1971-A, though one of the crank-it moments of the entire series, the barreling gospel rock of “Jesus Is the Key” from Motown hit-and-runs Ken Christie & the Sunday People, nestles between it and Tempts’ B-side “I’m the Exception to the Rule,” yet another Norman Whitfield (1943-2008) gemstone.
This article appears in December 12 • 2008.
