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Listening to Tammi's solo version of this great song it sounds to my ears that it was an unfinished duet with the second verse, that Marvin sings on the Unreleased 1968 album, being just instrumental.
Does anyone have any information about this song please and whether it was recorded by Tammi with intentional "gaps" for Marvin to sing "into"?
Thanks.
There was a very short time span between completion of the last of the Marvin & Kim tracks and the completion of Tammi's solo of "Tears At The End Of A Love Affair". They would have had to already know that Marvin & Tammi were to be paired up as a team if your theory is to hold but that's not impossible. The "Take Two" album covers a couple of years recording output but Kim was still at Motown until 1966 and "It Takes Two" not released as a single until December 1966 [[though recorded much earlier that year) - on that basis I doubt that TATEOALA was meant for a Marvin & Tammi duet. What does seem apparent is that Motown were "opportunistic" in dubbing Marvin's vocals on to existing Tammi tracks in order to meet a need shall we say and I suspect that's the most likely answer given the completion dates below from DFTMC. But things may be a little more blurred than that.
Tears At The End Of A Love Affair [[Harvey Fuqua-John Bristol-Sylvia Moy) published Jobete 01-Apr-66
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell; recorded Hitsville-GW, completed 05-Mar-68 ; produced by Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol ; [MPG mistake in odb]
12-Mar-68 [acetate]; LP [[M): Q HEM-0164/5-FNDD
Tammi Terrell; recorded Hitsville, completed 12-May-66 ; produced by Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol ; [2nd odb]
25-May-66 [acetate]; 45 [[M): CCMN 0972-NHDD [with horns]
May-66 [acetate]; 45 [[M): CCMN 0306-NHDD
Jan-69; LP [[S): Motown S652 Irresistible
1991; CD [[S): Motown MOTD 5231 Irresistible
16-Jul-01; CD [[S): Spectrum 544 491 2 The Essential Collection [UK]
01-Oct-10; CD [[S): Hip-O Select B0014792-02 Come On And See Me: The Complete Solo Collection
Interesting information mysterysinger, thanks. However, if the song was recorded primarily as a Tammi solo it really does seem strange to have a whole section of instrumental just after Tammi's first verse which is so early in the song.
I wonder what this aspect in your annotations means:
LP [[M): Q HEM-0164/5-FNDD
I guess we will never know the overall approach!
Never actually listened to the "Duet" version of this tune all the way through. As I stated long ago, the mix in my opinion is less than appealing. Here's my take on events:
"Tears" had always been envisioned by Bristol & Fuqua as a solo track for Tammi. Marvin never entered their minds as the idea to pair them wasn't even on the table yet. We tend to forget that Motown did this primarily to give Tammi more exposure through Marvin since they couldn't really get a breakthrough song on her.
The song[[ like most at the time)only had two verses and had they relied on just those, the song would've been criminally short. Thus explaining the "gap", which is actually an instrumental break [[ listen to the whistling sound) as a guitar or saxophone probably wouldn't sound right. Had they not done that they would have to milk the chorus like a cow to get a decent running time for it. That's not a hole intended for Marvin.
Explaining the " 68" version of the tune, it's a botch job. Marvin sings the original second verse all the way through as it was written. Then the engineer had to create a "third verse" with Tammi singing the first half of the second verse and Marvin repeating the second half. Why sing the same verse twice? Wouldn't it make more sense to write a new verse?. Couldn't though with Tammi being in Ill health at the time and the "You're All I Need" album being readied for release. So I can see why this was never used or even mixed initially: it simply doesn't work and wasn't needed anyway.
I ALWAYS know your comments are going to make for excellent reading.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quinn
I also just noticed, when Marvin sings his part, the Andantes' backing vocals don't match at all what he sings. I'm sure, had they decided to use this, that would have been fixed in the final mix, although this isn't the first time I've heard a Motown song that had been "repurposed" yet had non-matching backup vocals still left in the mix.
This is all interesting, thanks.
Even though the song is "bodged" I find it rather likable.
If only we had more from these two great artists.
Here's the Tammi solo mix from that May 25th 1966 acetate: -Quote:
25-May-66 [acetate]; 45 [[M): CCMN 0972-NHDD [with horns]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQge6HM3Uzw
Cheers
Paul
This acetate is probably very rare? I thought the Marvin overdub sounded strange to me and I was surprised when Tammi sang the same verse twice, it really confused me
I don't think MG ever truly finished a duet version of TearsQuote:
Originally Posted by TammiTerrellFan
The unreleased "duet" of "TATEOALA" is on a streaming only release on Iheartradio called "Motown Unreleased 1968". I found the duet sounding very off...loved to hear the Tammi vocals toward the end of the song not featured on her LP though