Quote Originally Posted by Bluebrock View Post
I think a lot of it was down to exposure. Prior to radio 1 starting in 1967 US artists had a tough time get airplay in the UK. It was a vintage time for UK artists both in the UK and USA . Radio 1 embraced the Motown sound and as a result many more artists began having hits in the UK due to their songs being given regular National airplay. As regards IHAS it has always been a personal favourite of mine , but all this happened before my time , but to my ears it is up there with the best Supremes songs. I am surprised Motown give it another shot in the late 60's when the standard of Supremes singles had dropped dramatically. They managed it with several other artists so why not with the Supremes? I can only assume that Berry Gordy perhaps did not want "old" Supremes songs hampering the progress of "new" Supremes songs.
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).