Originally Posted by
BigAl
In Hitsville's infancy, acts like The Marvelettes and The Contours got a lot of attention precisely because they were hard-edged and got the people dancing. Sadly for both groups, their records at the time all sounded rather similar and I think people eventually tired of that. The Tempts and Supremes had not yet found their footings with Smokey and HDH, respectively, and thus weren't getting much attention, with good reason. At the same time, the company was maturing and broadening its scope in order to cross over. Once the aforementioned producers began guiding The Tempts and Supremes [[and let's not forget The Tops), The Marvelettes and Contours couldn't match that smoother, more sophisticated sound and image. Eventually, when Smokey moved Wanda into the lead spot and sweetened the backgrounds with more lush orchestration and Andante harmonies, the group made something of a resurgence on the charts but, sadly, their stage presence wasn't polished enough and their highly produced studio sound was impossible to recreate in live performance. By that time the Supremes has so far outdistanced all the other female acts at the label that The Marvelettes just got lost in the shuffle. The Contours were largely regarded as a one-hit act by the time The Tempts and Tops hit the big-time and they fell by the wayside pretty early on. As they say, that's showbiz, folks.
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