I guess you're referring to the theme of the lyrics being similar. But the music is different as night and day from Motown's Sound on "In The Neighborhood". It's a LOT more like the orchestral sound of New York, developed by Bert Berns, Pomus and Schuman, sung by The Drifters, Jay and The Americans, with a slight resemblance to Show Tunes thrown in.
I like Jimmy Ruffin's versions of "On The Avenue" and "In The Neighborhood" best, and I like "On The Avenue" better than "In The Neighborhood". And that's unusual for me, because I usually like the original recordings of songs best, and the song was written first as "In The Neighborhood", and later "On The Avenue" was written as a more positive version, but also because "Avenue" rolls of the tongue more smoothly, even though both words have 3 syllables.
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