Those dreaded medleys

[masterblaster]

I have always been disappointed when the hits were reduced to medleys on live performances of the top Motown acts. I know the shows were aimed at a more adult audience but it was the hits we record collectors wanted to hear. I was pleasantly surprised therefore, when I recently listed to the Temptaions 'Live At The Copa' cd where all the tracks are full length versions. I especially love "I Could Never Love Another" with the extended audience participation. Dennis Edwards certainly gives a polished performance and commands the stage, particularly as he was a new member of the group. Was this his first live performance?
Are there any other live albums that avoid those dreaded medleys?

[reese]

I think most [[if not all) of the 60s live albums with the exception of The Talk of The Town set from The Supremes do not have hits medleys.

[RanRan79]

Not only do I hate when the hits are reduced to medleys, but I especially hate when they are rushed medleys. It's like four to six songs in two minutes. I get that the nightclub work was structured for the adult audience, but I don't buy that the adult crowd didn't want to hear the hits. I will not believe that 95 percent of the people who went to see the Supremes, Temptations, Tops, even Martha and the Vandellas in a club setting weren't first hooked into these acts by their hit records.

With that being said, Martha and the Vandellas' "Live!" only included "Dancing In the Street" as a part of a medley. The other hits were sung on their own. And even though it wasn't given it's own release, the Supremes' Roostertail September[[?) 1966 show had no hit medleys. All hits were full length.

[BigAl]

As time went on and club dates came more and more often for the top Hitsville crossover groups, the more time was given to pop standards and show tunes until, eventually, the groups' hits began to seem like just an afterthought, compressed together, speeded up, and apparently included only because they knew that had to be. The arrangements ended up sounding like pure Vegas schmaltz and the songs bore little or no resemblance to the masterpieces the studio tracks were. Granted, it would have been a challenge without the Funk Brothers, Andantes, and so forth, but, at least to my ears, no effort seemed to be made to bring the Motown Sound to the stage at all.

[Motown Eddie]

I have always been disappointed when the hits were reduced to medleys on live performances of the top Motown acts. I know the shows were aimed at a more adult audience but it was the hits we record collectors wanted to hear. I was pleasantly surprised therefore, when I recently listed to the Temptaions 'Live At The Copa' cd where all the tracks are full length versions. I especially love "I Could Never Love Another" with the extended audience participation. Dennis Edwards certainly gives a polished performance and commands the stage, particularly as he was a new member of the group. Was this his first live performance?
Are there any other live albums that avoid those dreaded medleys?

The only Live albums [[from the Hitsville era of Motown) that I can think of that don't have medleys are Four Tops Live & Jr. Walker & the All-Stars Live.

[Motown Eddie]

The Live albums from the early '60s by The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye & [[Little) Stevie Wonder also did not have medleys. As Big Al pointed out in his post, there were more supper club dates for the Motown acts by the mid '60s and there was more time given over to standards [[not to mention each of the Motown acts had a long string of hits during this time and only about an hour of 'show time' to get some of them in the show).

[daviddh]

yeah I was never a fan of medleys myself unless it was a tv special or special performance.i remember seeing Diana sang a medley of hits after receiving a special awards years ago. but listening to the old Motown albums from the 60s were crazy. I always wanted to hear the hits. on the Supremes Live in Japan 1973 we are given 2 medleys , the 60s and a 70s medleys. I was so disappointed that the ladies didn't get to do their recent songs full length