Valerie on the Tammi vocals question----At last!!!!!!!

[bankhousedave]

I've tried to avoid this rather macabre business over the years. Really nothing has changed here from the way it was told in Ludie's book. Tammi was in a bad way and couldn't perform as she had before the illness. Instead of standing up and shouting, Tammi had to record the way Dusty did in Memphis - a phrase at a time. Val took extra studio time to do this when everything else was down, sometimes having to edit together the bits that worked, and chop out the bits that didn't. She expressly says that people somehow think she could sing like Tammi, and she couldn't. She worked with Tammi as long as it took, without the pressure of musicians and other parties present. The result was never going to be Tammi at her vital, unique best, but it was what she could achieve. Maybe Val 'punched in' some phrases that just could not be got, but my experience from back then is that that was by no means as easy as the phrase suggests. You had some geniuses, but editing then was a physical process and, nine times out of ten, that kind of thng stood out like a sore thumb. The analogy about using backing singers such as the Andantes, to make hit records work doesn't fit into an album - any album - but one that is based on the intimate exchanges between Marvin and Tammi just doesn't add up. It didn't have the urgency of hit single material; it didn't have any need to use tracks other than those that Tammi had already recorded [[on which Marvin could be dubbed). In short, there is no logic behind the idea of Valerie singing on the final versions - and she doesn't claim she did, even in this last interview.

If Tammi sounded a bit flat [[not musically, but performance wise), who can be surprised? If she sounds more like Val - no surprises there, either - Val is a lady who knew what she wanted, as she made very clear to Jamerson, and she also was able to play like Earl Van Dyke on piano - she alone, despite some tryers.

Tammi was not written off when thiis album was made. Berry was paying all her medical bills, and clearly conceived she would get back to what she was doing. Val is a great singer, just as she is a great composer, piano player, arranger and what all else. She was an employee of Motown at this time and Tammi's mentor and friend.

Give Tammi back her legacy and last moments on the mike.