I suspect that the rise of Tamla Motown in the UK really began when pirate radio got a grip. By the time that the pirates were outlawed and Radio 1 arrived in September 1967, Tamla Motown was already huge, and there were enough hits to enable the release of the very first British Motown Chartbusters LP, with sleeve notes from ex-pirate radio DJ Mike Raven.
As for why "I Hear A Symphony" wasn't as massive in the UK, I suspect that this is down to cultural and taste differences between the USA and the UK. Our charts were massively different.
With regard to Motown, we even charted tracks that were either non-single tracks in the USA [["Do What You Gotta Do" by Four Tops, for instance) or that had been relegated to B-sides in the USA [["Behind A Painted Smile" by the Isley Brothers, "Forget Me Not" by Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, and "Farewell Is A Lonely Sound" by Jimmy Ruffin, for instance).
Bookmarks