Baby, Now That I've Found You - The Foundations. England's answer to the Motown Sound

[Shilpot]

How well did they do? What do you think?





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arwBEEA5fiY

[masterblaster]

How well did they do? What do you think?





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arwBEEA5fiY

I also thought "Build Me Up Buttercup" was an attempt to capture the Motown sound, tapping into the Four Tops.

[Motown Eddie]

I think that both of The Foundations hits certainly had traces of the Motown sound [[and I I'm sure that those songs would've fared very well in the hands of The Four Tops).

[144man]

At the time, everyone I knew thought they were "adequate".

[Shilpot]

Yes, that would have been great to hear, Motown Eddie.

[PeaceNHarmony]

No idea if the record had anything to do with Motown or not [[I see no similarities) but it's a great 45 that I still love hearing.

[Sotosound]

These guys were a multiracial outfit doing great pop music.

Strangely, I never considered them as an answer to the Motown sound. But, then again, I was only 13 in 1967. I just saw them as purveyors of pop.

It’s also worth noting that they were all musicians.

My favourite by them is “In The Bad Bad Old Days [[Before You Loved Me)”.

Did you know that “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” and “Build Me Up Buttercup” had different lead vocalists - Clem Curtis and Colin Young respectively?

[BigAl]

Close, but definitely no cigar.

[soulwally]

Producer/writer Tony Macaulay was behind quite a few 'Brit-soul' type records, including some of the Drifters' 70s UK hits.
There was also a lot of easy-listening pop from him as well.

Also from him [[from Wikipedia) Marmalade's "Baby Make It Soon" and "Falling Apart at the Seams"; The 5th Dimension's "[[Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All", David Soul's "Don't Give Up on Us" plus Donna Summer's 1977 single "Can't We Just Sit Down [[And Talk It Over)", each of which he wrote on his own. Many others came in collaboration with other songwriters, amongst them were Long John Baldry's "Let the Heartaches Begin", Paper Dolls' "Something Here in My Heart [[Keeps A Tellin' Me No)" and Pickettywitch's "That Same Old Feeling", all co-written with John Macleod. Another success for The Foundations was "Build Me Up Buttercup", written by Macaulay and Mike D'Abo. Scott Walker's "Lights of Cincinnati", The Hollies' "Sorry Suzanne", The New Seekers' "You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me" were penned with Geoff Stephens; whilst Edison Lighthouse's "Love Grows [[Where My Rosemary Goes)", was written with Sylvan Whittingham and Barry Mason. In addition, he co-wrote Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon's "Blame It On The Pony Express" and Andy Williams' "Home Lovin' Man", with Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway.

[StuBass1]

I don't know about "Motown"...but it was a quasi R&B/Soul [[although some of the more subtle pronunciations give the British influence away)... My girlfriends son was taking guitar lessons and the teacher told them NTIFY was a Motown song. I had to correct them all...LOL... Group reminds me a bit of Jay & The Techniques [[Apple Peaches Pumpkin Pie, etc...)

[bradsupremes]

Yeah, I don't think it has much of a Motown Sound to it. Definitely R&B/Soul, but Motown was hard to come close to in sound. Unless it had several Funk Brothers playing on it like the Invictus/Hot Wax recordings and Carl Davis' Jackie Wilson/Brunswick sessions, it was difficult to reproduce a similar sound. I think England's answer to the Motown Sound was more in line with the Foundations' "Nothing But A Heartache."

[snakepit]

Didn't Motown sue over "Build me up Buttetcup" in relation to "I'll turn to stone"?

[marv2]

I remember "Build Me Up, Buttercup" getting massive radio airplay especially on CKLW back in the day.

[MIKEW-UK]

I remember very well The Foundations and I don't recall genuine soul fans for one moment believing their records to be soul. Rather they were pop songs, catchy yes, but definitely not soul. And
the recordings were distinctly not the Motown sound.

[PeaceNHarmony]

Here in the states the Foundations were part of the 'bubblegum' sound, a sobriquet which is not necessarily a pejorative.

[Shilpot]

They were never bubble gum. They were pop.

[copley]

Flirtations - 'Nothing But a Heartache' was as close to Motown as the UK went!


https://youtu.be/72mXxaHkHnE

[PhillyKen]

Here in the states the Foundations were part of the 'bubblegum' sound, a sobriquet which is not necessarily a pejorative.
a what that is not necessarily a what?? :confused:

[TomatoTom123]

a what that is not necessarily a what?? :confused:

a name that's not necessarily a bad thing ;);)

[robb_k]

16056
In my opinion, the only British productions that get remotely close to Motown are "Right Back Where We Started From" by Maxine Nightengale, and Ian Levine's Motor City label recordings of ex-Motowners [[and the latter leave a lot to be desired). The only producers to "get near" to The Motown sound were, themselves, ex-Motowners [[Mike Terry, Joe Hunter, Don Davis, George Kerr and Sidney Barnes, Robert Bateman, Sonny Sanders, Holland-Dozier and Holland, Popcorn Wylie and Tony Hester, Freddie Gorman, Jack Ashford, Barrett Strong, George McGregor, and a handful of other Detroit producers, who used mainly moonlighting Motown arrangers and musicians, and even some of their moonlighting and former songwriters, recording for Ed Wingate's and JoAnn Bratton's Golden World/Ric Tic Records, Don Davis' and LeBaron Taylor's Revilot/Solid Hit/Groovesville Records, Wilbur Golden's Correc-Tone Records, Don Davis' and Hazel and Robert Coleman's Thelma Records, Jack Ashford's Pied Piper Productions, Joe Hunter's and Fred Brown's Brohun Productions [[Kable/Mickay's Records),Popcorn Wylie & Tony Hester's A-La-King Productions[[Soulhawk/Pamline Records) Ollie McLaughlin's Karen/Karla/Moira Records, Mike Hanks' D-Town/Wheelsville USA Records, and H-D-H's labels.

[marv2]

16056
In my opinion, the only British productions that get remotely close to Motown are "Right Back Where We Started From" by , and Ian Levine's Motor City label recordings of ex-Motowners [[and the latter leave a lot to be desired). The only producers to "get near" to The Motown sound were, themselves, ex-Motowners [[Mike Terry, Joe Hunter, Don Davis, George Kerr and Sidney Barnes, Robert Bateman, Sonny Sanders, Holland-Dozier and Holland, Popcorn Wylie and Tony Hester, Freddie Gorman, Jack Ashford, Barrett Strong, George McGregor, and a handful of other Detroit producers, who used mainly moonlighting Motown arrangers and musicians, and even some of their moonlighting and former songwriters, recording for Ed Wingate's and JoAnn Bratton's Golden World/Ric Tic Records, Don Davis' and LeBaron Taylor's Revilot/Solid Hit/Groovesville Records, Wilbur Golden's Correc-Tone Records, Don Davis' and Hazel and Robert Coleman's Thelma Records, Jack Ashford's Pied Piper Productions, Joe Hunter's and Fred Brown's Brohun Productions [[Kable/Mickay's Records),Popcorn Wylie & Tony Hester's A-La-King Productions[[Soulhawk/Pamline Records) Ollie McLaughlin's Karen/Karla/Moira Records, Mike Hanks' D-Town/Wheelsville USA Records, and H-D-H's labels.

Robb! Exactly! That is the song I was thinking of, "Right Back Where We Started From" by Maxine Nightingale. It sounded like something the Supremes would have recorded. In fact, when I first heard it in late 1975, I thought it was the Supremes.

[marv2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9csfcb2QU2Q

[144man]

^^^That record sold a million in the USA, which only goes to prove that Motown stopped producing the sound that made them famous earlier than they should have done.

[marv2]

I don't know if the Foundations were trying to sound like a Motown production, but this thread has made me want to go listen to their music since I have not heard it in a good while.

[marv2]

Hey check this out:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuHhLiRkxNM

[marv2]

and my favorite.......


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXRs0coMSbU

[jaybs]

The Foundations were part of my 21 years in radio, and I and the station never thought of them as Pop Music! I never remember playing them in night club appearances, but I did play Motown & Philly.