The clip starts out with Phil Collins, then moves onto Martha remembering recording [[LOVE IS LIKE A) HEAT WAVE, and then Voila! There it is! The fastest LIVE! version of HEAT WAVE I've ever heard or seen. Looks like it's from The Mike Douglas Show.
http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/vi...-hear-it/15090
From: The Smithsonian Channel
P.S. There's some additional Motown-related/Phil Collins video material also there.
Great find! And that is indeed fast haha
That was great! How did you find that?Quote:
Originally Posted by Methuselah2
Just lucky, Marv. I had Googled M&tV for photos, clicked on one that showed the Smithsonian Channel as its address, and when the photo opened up I saw that it was from a video clip. As soon as I watched it, I knew I had to post it on SDF. Besides the version of the song being relentlessly--even alarmingly--fast, I couldn't believe how cool, calm, and professional Roz, Betty, and Martha were doing the number. They didn't seem the least bit phased by the speed, not missing a single beat or dance move! Quite a performance. I'm hoping the full clip from the show is available and will surface.
Well that was a great find. By that time they had probably performed the song so much that they could have done it with their eyes closed! LOL!Quote:
Originally Posted by Methuselah2
It really used to annoy me when Hitsville acts would always speed up their hits in live performance. Why was it felt this was necessary?
Even worse, they sometimes combined the hits into a rapid-fire medley, and then moved on to complete versions of show tunes!Quote:
Originally Posted by BigAl
I used to think those break-neck speed arrangements were created specifically for nightclub appearances--which usually meant a somewhat older audience who might have been assumed to be not all that interested in the hits. But when I eventually saw tapes of early appearances at the Apollo, that didn't seem to be the answer because things were noticeably speeded up there, too. Maybe it was a just a concerted efforted to appear 'lively' since it was a live show and speeding things up heightened the sense of excitement. Whatever it was, it never seemed to work very well as far as the sound and feeling of the hits were concerned. But things did eventually change: If The Supremes' RTL Tour did one thing from videoclips I've seen of it, it definitely 'returned' live performance of hits to a sound much closer musically to that of the original recordings, and I think other Motown acts also did the same.
Here's a beautiful shot of Roz, Martha, & Betty:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wp2KoKOh2U...SB+2365487.JPG
Now that was the worst as I remember.Quote:
Originally Posted by calvin
The Jacksons did that all the time, especially post Motown...
Methuselah - thank you so much for posting this. I've never seen that footage of Martha and the Vandellas before, and don't they look and sound fabulous? Martha was so slim and elegant in those days, and it was clearly live, not lip synched. Very fast indeed, as you say. It wasn't only Motown artists who did this - listen to Aretha's album recorded live in Paris in 1968 [[I think). She hurtles through the hits on that one too. I think it's to keep a feeling of irresistible excitement going. Fast or not, MR&TV's version is infinitely preferable to Phil Collins' - which is in a much lower key, slower and just flat.
BigAl, as Sharpmoves wrote above it was not specific to the Motown artists. In fact EVERY player/artist tend to speed up the tempo when playing live.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigAl
There was a thread about this in the past and all the musicians of the forum confirmed it.
I must have missed that thread but I do agree it was not just a Motown thing.Most of the time I did not like the artist's sped up version of a tune. Two I really didn't care for wereQuote:
Originally Posted by phil
JB's Cold Sweat and Miles Davis hit the ground running version of So What. But sometimes
it just seemed to me they did that to quickly get done with performing a piece they had
long gotten over yet was constantly requested at every venue. Not sure if this was the case
here but I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, Phil's version may not be all that and a bag of chips but he already won my respect with his very nice revamp of those other Motown chicks' You Can't Hurry Love. It's still quite phenomenal after all these years how great an
influence and inspiration was the Motown Sound. And still is as jazz singers like Dianne Reeves and Rene Marie have shown with their versions of songs like The Temptations'
Just My Imagination....
Glad you enjoyed it Sharpmoves and MNM. Martha, Roz, and Betty really did look and sound great. Wonderful to see them performing so perfectly together. A real rush to watch and take in just what the Motown effect could do and felt like back in the day. And just as effective today. Such videos feel like beautiful artifacts of a unique time--but truly timeless ones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Methuselah2
Now I wished we could find the full clip of that appearance on the Mike Douglas Show. I remember at one time it was broadcast out of Cleveland and then out of Philly.
Check this out:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090831...uglasshow.com/
Thanks for supplying the link, Marv. Its listing only shows Martha & the Vandellas from 10/22/69, a few years past Betty still being with the group. But perhaps the show in question is one that's available via contacting the holder directly via their contact number. From what I've seen, the shows are available only through licensing, which might make it prohibitive for many of us, as well as outside of placing on YouTube.
That rather invalidates Martha's reason for never performing "Live Wire" live as it was too fast.
For me there are a few "stunners" in the pantheon of Motown hooks.... The intro to "Heard It Through The Grapevine"- Gladys Knight & The Pips [[the drummers knock me out everytime!!!! ) The 15 second intro to "Back In My Arms Again" and EVERY SECOND of Heatwave!! Miss Reeves attacks that vocal from her first note. I love the extremely tight background harmony vocals AND AND The Funk Brothers were having a flat out B L A S T on that track I could feel that the first time I heard it.... Still can. Phil Collins' version? Um...er ... Oh, it was "different"