Valerie Simpson Interview On Early Beginnings, Motown, Nick Ashford, and Career Highl

The ultra talented Valerie Simpson

What non Motown label song do you think sounds most like a Motown Song?

Covers of Motown songs don’t count

I would say Cool Jerk by the Capitols but if I remember right wasn’t it all Funk Brothers playing on it? Which to me would disqualify it

I always thought that Karma Chameleon by Boy George had a Motownesque feel to it

When the Motown sound became a phenomenon a lot of labels and artists tried to emulate it

Who do you think did it the best?

Mickey's Monkey
Twistin' Postman
Come On Do the Jerk
Can You Jerk Like Me?
Shotgun
Hitchhike

All of the above songs were original compositions released on various Motown labels, and all contain the names of dances.

I know there are more. Can you name more songs released by Motown that contain the names of dances that are NOT covers?

I am a little puzzled about something. There were a total of four Mable John 45's issued by Tamla.

Tamla 54031 ---- 54040 ---- 54081
All of these were shown on the label as MABLE JOHN.

The unique one is Tamla 54050 - Actions Speak Louder Than Words.
This is shown on the label as MABEL [not Mable] John.

I was looking on discogs and there are copies of the first three with some of each for sale; however, on the 54050 there are NONE for sale.

Could this be because of the misspelling of her first name - doubtful!

Does anyone have any insight into why none of 54050 are available for people to buy? It is the only one of the three I do not have in my collection.

Mable is someone who RARELY gets any attention on the Motown Forum.

Shebang

I'm working on a University module which looks at George Clinton and the mothership connection. As background I'm trying to fill in a bit of his 60s work. his Revilot period obviously spawned some success.
Revilot was Don Davis owned I understand and I see Mike Terry as arranger on I Wanna Testify. I understand that the rest of the parliaments weren't on the record. So who would have been the backing singers and musicians? Did Revilot use Motown moonlighters as per Golden World or have their own network of musicians?
Thanks for any help you can give.