Motown Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

The Motown sound and the Stax sound

The Beatles at STAX?

My friend Jon wrote: If you need ideas for topics to write about, how about a piece on the difference between the Motown sound and the Stax sound?

I wrote back, glibly, “The short answer is migration, but I’ll think about that.”

Rob Bowman wrote in Soulville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records, about the differences circa 1963: “At Motown in Detroit, Berry Gordy was more than happy to put each one of his artists through an in-house charm school with the goal being that each artist could fit into middle-class white America’s image of respectable deportment, style, and grace.

“Jim Stewart of STAX was not as ruthlessly ambitious as Gordy, nor did he have the vision to build the type of vertically integrated empire that Motown became.” I also think geography does have something to do with it. Stax leaned into its Mississippi Delta roots.

1964

Bowman re: 1964: “While STAX was struggling, Motown was on its ascendancy.” In retrospect, 1964 was remarkable not just for the Beatles’ invasion of America but for the string of hits by the Supremes and many others on the Detroit label. Indeed, in ’64, the Supremes put out an album, A Bit of Liverpool, which I used to own, which features five Lennon-McCartney songs among the 11 tracks.

“The sign outside Motown probably proudly proclaimed the company ‘Hitsville USA.'” I made my pilgrimage to the site in 1998.

“The marquee outside the STAX Studio, on the other hand, was adorned with the words Soulsville USA.” (STAX artists also eventually covered the Beatles, but generally sound like STAX.) The Beatles even considered recording an album at STAX in 1966, but it proved logistically impossible.

North and South

“These slogans perfectly sum up the diametrically opposed aesthetic and operating philosophy of the two companies. Gordy was a product of the urban industrial North… and autocratic to the bone. He ran his operation very much from a master plan.

“Stewart, on the other hand, was the product of the rural fraternal South. Although he wanted to make money, he could easily be content with what seemed to be a modicum of success, not caring a wit about making further profits…

“In what had to be the greatest irony of the STAX story, Stewart was always loudly championing keeping the company sound as ‘black’ as possible while various black writers and later co-owner Al Bell were interested in crossover success, Stewart seemingly was not the least bit and interesting interested if crossing over meant compromising what he was gradually coming to understand as the Stax sound.”

Sidebar: I must note yet again the importance of Estelle Axton, Jim Stewart’s sister, and the AX in STAX, as a force in developing the sound. The fact that she’s not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Jim Stewart was inducted in 2002, and Berry Gordy in 1998 – continues to be a travesty.

1966

Bowman, 1966: “Isaac Hayes and David Porter crafted what proved to be the breakthrough record for Sam [Moore] and Dave [Prater] with You Don’t Know Like I Know. Sam and Dave charted, hitting a giddy number seven on the R and B charts while scraping the lower reaches of the pop listening to #90

“Oddly enough, Sam Moore hated the song! ‘Fifty per cent of the songs that were presented to me at STAX I didn’t like,’ exclaimed Sam. ‘I remember saying to myself…it’s hard singing. I wanted to do stuff like Sam [Cooke] and Willie [John] and Jackie [Wilson].

“Hayes and Porter wrote and initially rehearsed the song with Sam and Dave. The melodies would be set in a comfortable lower key, but when it came to recording, they would raise the key.

Porter: “I felt if you were right above where you could be comfortably, then the anxiety and the frustrations and the soul I thought needed to be captured out of those songs would come through.

“I always noticed with the Motown records the singers are so comfortable the melodies are so comfortable one is to have a little different kind of edge and I thought that that gave us that struggling for you to get there would only enhance you to get the soul even though they would be pissed at me pushing them like that they would attempt to do it and they would work I didn’t think you would really doing the record with any kind of soul unless there was some sweat.”

Breaking out

Music critic Joel Francis was asked about the validity of this opinion: “I tend to oversimplify in the following way: Motown is sweet and smooth; Marvin Gaye is Motown’s archetypal vocalist. Stax is raw and gritty; Otis Redding is its archetypal vocalist.” Of course, these things are more complicated.

Eventually, Motown got “less comfortable.” War, initially recorded by the Temptations, but Gordy thought the song would ruin the group’s cultivated image. So he allowed Edwin Starr, lower on the roster, to record it. It went to #1. Likewise, Marvin Gaye’s music, beginning with the album What’s Going On, made Berry uncomfortable, but it was released and was a hit. Stevie Wonder’s series of albums in the 1970s falls within the same category.

So, I guess, especially in later years, the Motown “formula” was modified when the music required.

Soul Christmas songs

What Christmas Means To Me

Some soul Christmas songs, most NOT from the album pictured.

Louisiana Christmas Day – Aaron Neville, from Aaron Neville’s Soulful Christmas (1993)

Merry Christmas, Baby – Charles Brown (1968).

Little Drummer Boy – Lou Rawls (1967).

Silver Bells – Earl Grant (1969). This needs more airplay.

You’re All I Want For Christmas – Brook Benton (1963)

Mary’s Boy Child – Harry Belafonte, #12 in 1956. The remarkable Jester Hairston, who had a fascinating life as a composer and actor, wrote the song.

‘Zat You, Santa Claus? – Louis Armstrong, The Commanders

Every Valley Shall Be Exalted – Lizz Lee & Chris Willis & Mike E. from Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration (1992)

Little Drummer Boy (African Tribal Version) – Alex Boye’ ft. Genesis Choir

A Very Special Christmas

There were several of these collections to help the Special Olympics.

Do You Hear What I Hear? – Whitney Houston (1987)

Christmas in Hollis – Run-D.M.C. (1987) The last time I took the Long Island Railroad, I noticed the Hollis, Queens stop.

Merry Christmas, Baby – Charles Brown, Bonnie Raitt. Bonnie had both Charles Brown and Ruth Brown on her subsequent tour. (1992)

Motown

Several Motown artists released Christmas albums: the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson Five, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and the Temptations. They appeared on a couple of compilations, one of which I own on vinyl.

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer—The Temptations (1971).

What Christmas Means To Me – Stevie Wonder (1967). One of my top five favorite seasonal songs.

Stax

I think I favored the Stax Christmas music over Motown because it was less familiar. All of these I found on one of my STAX/Volt box sets.

Jingle Bells – Booker T. & The MGs (1967)

Winter Snow -Booker T. & The MGs. (c 1967) Isaac Hayes wrote this melancholy tune.

Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas – The Staple Singers (1973). . Besides the vocals, it’s a bit melancholy, which is why I like it.

The Mistletoe and Me – Issac Hayes (1970)

Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday – William Bell (1967). It was a minor RB hit

Morissette and the Temps

Otis Williams

In May 2023, my wife and I attended two musicals at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady. The first was Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill: the Musical, based on her 1995 album and more of her songs. The second was Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.

The Morissette piece was interesting because it had a narrative not driven by the songs. Instead, Diablo Cody wrote the book and seemed to plug in the appropriate tune for that narrative arc.

The story revolves around a Connecticut woman named Mary Jane Healy. She’s writing the annual Christmas letter. She brags about her husband Steve’s work promotion and son Nick’s early admission to Harvard. And, oh yeah, her adopted daughter Frankie’s art. Things are not so perfect in suburbia, however.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “Electrifying, visceral and stunning. JAGGED LITTLE PILL takes a stand against complacency.”

The review headline in the Albany Times Union by Steve Barnes calls the show “pushy, overambitious, loud.” The last sentence and a half: “The show, in its own weird way, has the integrity of committed beliefs. Whether that’s your kind of theater is another matter.”

It is undoubtedly MY kind of theater, a narrative that hits on several hot-button topics, including prescription drug addiction and rape by a familiar. I accept “pushy” and even “loud.” But it was clear that the Thursday matinee audience, except for an older couple who walked out after the first song in the second act, You Oughta Know, was enthralled by the material and the actors performing it.

Jagged Little Pill played on Broadway from December 2019 to March 2020, then from October to December 2021. It’s been touring since August 31, 2022, and will be touring in Buffalo, Boston, KC, and elsewhere at least through September.

Motown

Ain’t Too Proud is a standard jukebox musical. It tells the story of Motown’s leading male singing group from the point of view of Otis Williams, the only remaining member from their heyday in the 1960s and 1970s.

Before the program began at our Saturday matinee, my wife asked if the group had stayed with its original members. Er, no. Indeed, the group’s evolution drove the narrative: Elbridge Bryant was replaced by David Ruffin, who was replaced by Dennis Edwards et al.

The music and the performances were top-notch. The TU’s Barnes calls it a “resplendent cavalcade of Temptations’ hits,” even as he questions the jukebox musical genre.

My issue was more prosaic. The show takes some liberties with the facts, probably to trim a full show. For instance, I would have concluded from Ain’t Too Proud that the Temptations reunion show took only a couple of years after Eddie Kendricks left the group in 1971.

Actually, it took place in 1982, and I attended it at the Colonie Colosseum in Albany County, NY. Glenn Leonard was one of the seven, not Damon Harris, who left the group in 1975.

I had to actively say to myself, “Self, these details don’t much matter to the audience.” And there were things the show got correct, such as Berry Gordy refusing to let the group release War as a single; it became a #1 hit for Edwin Starr.

Like JLP, Ain’t Too Proud’s run (Mar 21, 20190 -Jan 16, 2022) was interrupted by COVID. The show has been touring since December 2021. It’ll be touring the US Midwest, South, and Western Canada, among the locales, through February 2024.

Music by The Spinners

Produced by Thom Bell

When I wrote my post about Thom Bell, I left off some songs I liked that he did not write but did produce. As it turned out, they were all by the Spinners, or the Detroit Spinners or Motown Spinners, as they were known in the UK. There was a British folk group called The Spinners in the late 1950s.

The group started back in 1954 as The Domingoes became The Spinners in 1961. It released a couple of Top 100 songs that year, including their first recording, That’s What Girls Are Made For (#27 pop, #5 RB), on Tri-Phi Records.

Motown bought up the Tri-Phi roster in 1963. Per Wikipedia, “With limited commercial success, Motown assigned the Spinners as road managers, chaperones, and chauffeurs for other groups, and even as shipping clerks.”

They were moved to Motown imprint V.I.P. In 1970, they finally had a hit with It’s A Shame (#14 pop, #4 RB), produced by Stevie Wonder and written by Wonder and Syreeta Wright. But Motown wasn’t a great fit for the group.

A new ocean

Aretha Franklin recommended they sign with her label, Atlantic, and they did in 1972.

Could It Be I’m Falling In Love (#4 pop in 1973, #1 RB, #14 adult contemporary, gold record) was co-written by Melvin and Mervin Steals, two songwriter brothers working for Atlantic sometimes credited as “Mystro and Lyric.” The house band MFSB provided the backing. Bobby Smith sings lead through most of the song while Philippé Wynne handles vocal duties on the outro.

One Of A Kind (Love Affair) (#11 pop, #1 for four weeks RB, #19 AC in 1973, gold record) was written by Joseph B. Jefferson. Wynne was the lead singer.

Mighty Love (#20 pop, #1 for two weeks RB in 1973) was written by Joseph B. Jefferson, Bruce Hawes, and Charles Simmons.

Biggest hit

Then Came You (#2 RB, #3 AC in 1974, gold record) was credited to Dionne Warwicke and the Spinners (from 1971 to 1975, Warwick added a final ‘e’ to her last name). Sherman Marshall and Phillip T. Pugh wrote the track.

“Released during a time that Warwick’s chart fortunes were at an ebb after moving to Warner Bros. Records in 1972, the Philadelphia soul single was a rare mid-1970s success for the singer. Sung as a duet with the Spinners’ main lead singer Bobby Smith, the song became Warwick’s first-ever single to reach number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. It became her highest-charting R&B record of the 1970s, and it was also the first number-one pop hit for the Spinners. It was nominated for a Grammy.”

When I was growing up, I was annoyed with folks who denigrate musicians who aren’t making the “right” music. Charlie Pride’s country music, Jimi Hendrix’s rock, and Dionne Warwick sing Bacharach -David was not considered appropriate by some people, which I thought was stupid. Still, I was happy that Dionne got her soul cred with this track.

Games People Play, also known as “They Just Can’t Stop It The” (Games People Play) (#5 pop, #1 RB, #2 AC in 1975, gold record) written by Jefferson, Hawes, and Simmons. It featured lead vocals by Bobby Smith. The house band MFSB provided the backing. It “featured guest vocalist Evette L. Benton (though producer Bell disputed this in a UK-based interview, claiming Evette’s line was actually group member Henry Fambrough – his voice sped up), and led to the nickname “Mister 12:45″ for bass singer Jackson, after his signature vocal line on the song.”

I love the fact that there was a bass vocal solo; I can barely reach the lowest notes.

Edythe Wayne was Holland-Dozier-Holland

“And our love will surely grow”

Edythe Wayne was a pseudonym used by Holland, Dozier, and Holland for contractual reasons after they left Motown. From here: “In 1967, H-D-H… entered into a dispute with Berry Gordy Jr. over profit-sharing and royalties. Eddie Holland had the others stage a work slowdown, and by early 1968 the trio had left the label.

“They started their own labels, Invictus Records and Hot Wax Records, which were modestly successful. When Motown sued for breach of contract, H-D-H countersued. The subsequent litigation was one of the longest legal battles in music industry history. Because they were legally contracted to Motown’s publishing arm, Jobete, they could not use their own names on songs they wrote, and their material was credited to Wayne-Dunbar, ‘Edythe Wayne’ being a pseudonym and Ronald Dunbar being an associate who was a songwriter and producer. The lawsuit was settled in 1977.”

1967

Jimmy Mack – Martha and the Vandellas, #10 pop, #1 RB in 1967
Bernadette – The Four Tops, #4 pop, #3 RB in 1967
The Happening – Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, #32 pop in 1967 (Orig. The Supremes, #1 pop, #12 RB in 1967.) Written by H-D-H, and Frank De Vol
7 Rooms Of Gloom – The Four Tops, #14 pop, #10 RB in 1967

Your Changing Love – Marvin Gaye, #33 pop, #7 RB in 1967
I’ll Turn To Stone – The Supremes, album cut in 1967 (Orig. The Four Tops, #76 pop, #50 RB.) Written by H-D-H, and R. Dean Taylor
Going Down For The Third Time – Diana Ross and the Supremes, album cut in 1967, probably my favorite non-singles Supremes track

1968 and later

Forever Came Today – The Jackson 5, #60 pop, #6 RB in 1975 (Orig. Diana Ross and the Supremes, #28 pop, #17 RB in 1968)
Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While) – The Doobie Brothers, #11 pop in 1975 (Orig. The Isley Brothers, #22 pop, #52 RB in 1968)
I’m In A Different World – The Four Tops, #51 pop, #23 in 1968. Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and R. Dean Taylor

Give Me Just A Little More Time – Chairmen of the Board, #3 pop, #8 RB in 1970. Written by “Edyth Wayne” and Ronald Dunbar
Band Of Gold – Freda Payne, #3 pop, #20 RB in 1970. Written by “Edyth Wayne,” Daphne Dumas, and Ronald Dunbar.

There are also songs written by the Holland brothers, together, solo, or with others. For instance, Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield created several numbers for the Temptations. But since Lamont Dozier’s death inspired these posts, I’ll pass on those for now.