Unissued Contours ??

[jsmith]

"I Just Can't Stop The Feeling" by the Contours [[most likely).
An unissued Motown track ..........



How come this hasn't escaped on CD in the last 10 years [[or has it) ?

[copley]

Still unreleased

[mr_postman]

Wonderful song. Hadn't heard. I notice there's no group backing and I can't recognize the lead singer. Anyone know who it is?

[Roger Polhill]

It doesn`t sound like the Contours or Motown to me.

[motownmorph1]

I seem to recall that the track was originally un-finished & certainly the start of the track was edited & added in by a record producer in the UK. Thats how I heard it, so it could well be wrong, but maybe that is why it has still not come out on any compilation!

morph

[westgrandboulevard]

For what it's worth...

The intro sounds to me like an Ian Levine Motorcity sound - for example, as used on 'Hurt the One You Love' by David Ruffin.

The drum and bass does sound authentic Hitsville/Golden World, as if it were recorded about the same time, if not the same session as Shorty Long's 'Baby Come Home To Me'.

The vocal doesn't sound like anyone from the 60s Contours, but would certainly have made a great track for them. Could originally have been an unknown session singer doing a demo at Motown for someone - but would strings have been already added at that point?

Or could the vocal be much newer, added at the same time as the intro?

[keith_hughes]

It isn't the Contours. It's most likely the demo vocal for the song [[titled "Can't Help This Feeling", and written by Marilyn McLeod and Dean & Weatherspoon) which was recorded Sept 12 1968. The track was destined for the Four Tops, and they duly added their vocals, thereby wiping the demo vocal, and their finished version remains in the Vaults, unissued.

This version has been around for a while, but the start of the track has been very cleverly added by someone - as I've known it till now, the recording fades in at the beginning, indicating the original source was damaged in some way.

No-one I know has ever identified the demo singer convincingly.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, it's one of those voices which sounds vaguely familiar - but perhaps only because, at times, it reminds a little of one or two other more instantly recognisable voices......

[mysterysinger]

Some of the vocal phrasing sounded a lot like Levi Stubbs but I'm convinced now that it's actually Joe Stubbs.

[copley]

Thanks Keith.

[keith_hughes]

Joe Stubbs cut half a dozen solo tracks at Motown between Oct 68 and Mar 69 [[one of them was issued on Cellarful 4), so the timing certainly works, Mystery Singer.

[thisoldheart]

this great song was recorded by the tops and is still in the vaults?! we need another from the vaults album! no downloads, a real cd with a nice big annotated booklet!

[kenneth]

Some of the vocal phrasing sounded a lot like Levi Stubbs but I'm convinced now that it's actually Joe Stubbs.

You all are amazing! I believe you are correct if, as Keith confirms, the timing coincides. It certainly sounds like Joe Stubbs if you play it side by side to the track from Cellarful of Motown Vol. 4.

[snakepit]

Joe Stubbs was the vocalist on "Just a little misunderstanding"........
this vocal is similar...but I'm not totally covinced
more plays needed

[kenneth]

I know I've voiced this before, but I would love to see a late Contours set including many of the Joe Stubbs and Dennis Edwards vocals. I bet there's some great stuff by them in the vaults.

[westgrandboulevard]

I keep giving it a listen. It's a really good track.

Joe Stubbs had a rather distinctive way of singing. On certain words his voice took on a squealing, rather harsh tone, as though he was tensing his throat.

While, to me, it's quite evident in his voice on the Cellarful of Motown Vol 4 track [['The Girl I've Chosen To Be My Bride') - and also on his later Motorcity recordings - but I don't hear it at all on this recording.

The male singer on the uncredited track, to my ears, has a lighter, smoother and slightly more melodious singing voice than Joe Stubbs. A voice perhaps more similar in intonation and phrasing to Smokey Robinson, although without the airiness and clarity that distinguishes Smokey's voice.

There's just something familiar about the 'crying' tone in that singer's voice, but I can't place it....

[snakepit]

not Joe Stubbs

maybe Dean or Weatherspoon?

[bradburger]

Joe Stubbs had a rather distinctive way of singing. On certain words his voice took on a squealing, rather harsh tone, as though he was tensing his throat.

While, to me, it's quite evident in his voice on the Cellarful of Motown Vol 4 track [['The Girl I've Chosen To Be My Bride') - and also on his later Motorcity recordings - but I don't hear it at all on this recording.

I'd agree with this.

Joe had a unique kind of voice, and the vocalist on this track in my opinion is not Joe.

Whilst I can't say the voice is familiar to me, it would be interesting to find out who it is!

Producer/writer perhaps?

Well, I've heard William Weatherspoon's voice on the demo vocal of 'Baby Hit & Run' [[I seem to recall a lot of people thought that was Joe too!), but this does not sound like William Weatherspoon either.

Cheers

Paul

[soulwally]

No it's not Joe for me either. His is quite a distinctive voice. But what a track this is! The strings are the icing on the cake.

[bradsupremes]

I keep going back to this track. What a song! It would be great to see this get released...that's if this demo vocal still exists somewhere on a master tape good for mixing. If not, I'd love to hear the Four Tops version. I can only imagine what Levi did to this.

This just goes to show you the Motown vaults are nowhere near empty. I can only imagine how many demos there are just as good as this. In fact, I heard a demo vocal for the Supremes intended "It Only Happens When Love Is Gone" and couldn't get over how good the song and demo vocal was.

[mysterysinger]

A parallel discussion....
http://www.soul-source.co.uk/soulfor...-this-feeling/

[westgrandboulevard]

Soulwally

This thread from early 2014 might be a useful cross-reference for your new 'Contours Mystery' thread.....

[robb_k]

That is surely NOT Joe Stubbs, whose voice is scratchy and rough. This voice is too smooth, I think he sounds like William Weatherspoon. The instrumental and song writing sounds like an Ian Levine Motor City production from the 1990s.

[soulwally]

Soulwally

This thread from early 2014 might be a useful cross-reference for your new 'Contours Mystery' thread.....

I actually took part in this discussion and have no memory of it! I must have REALLY liked the strings.
Thanks WGB.

[robb_k]

The problem is that the instrumental just doesn't sound like a 1960s Motown recording, other than the strings being reminiscent of the strings recordings used by Motown. The instrumental sounds a LOT more like Ian Levine's 1990s Motor City recordings. And this song is just about 3 minutes long, more like the recording times of Levine cuts. Motown's mid 1960s cuts rarely were that long. I just don't hear any of The Funk Brothers on this recording, nor do I hear The Detroit Symphony Orchestra's string players, or a 1960s Motown voice I can recognise.

[bradsupremes]

The problem is that the instrumental just doesn't sound like a 1960s Motown recording, other than the strings being reminiscent of the strings recordings used by Motown. The instrumental sounds a LOT more like Ian Levine's 1990s Motor City recordings. And this song is just about 3 minutes long, more like the recording times of Levine cuts. Motown's mid 1960s cuts rarely were that long. I just don't hear any of The Funk Brothers on this recording, nor do I hear The Detroit Symphony Orchestra's string players, or a 1960s Motown voice I can recognise.

At first I didn't think it sounded a Motown recording, but after playing it numerous times, it does have the characteristics of the Funk Brothers. By 1968, lots of Motown recordings were going over the 3 minute marker. Keith Hughes confirmed this is a Motown recording as this is a demo vocal for a track eventually recorded by the Four Tops. Their version is currently unreleased. The piano riff at the beginning was added by Ian Levine, but that's just about all he added.

[robb_k]

At first I didn't think it sounded a Motown recording, but after playing it numerous times, it does have the characteristics of the Funk Brothers. By 1968, lots of Motown recordings were going over the 3 minute marker. Keith Hughes confirmed this is a Motown recording as this is a demo vocal for a track eventually recorded by the Four Tops. Their version is currently unreleased. The piano riff at the beginning was added by Ian Levine, but that's just about all he added.

Yes, I listened to it about 39 times, and I DO now hear some recogniseable Motown session players on it. The drums sound to me like Uriel Jones, and some of the guitar licks ring a bell. The problem for me was that the recording sounds very muddy. But, I think that is because this could be a tape of a tape of a tape. The bass doesn't sound like James Jamerson, or anyone else I can recognise. The demo singer is no one I can recognise. The song was produced by Dean and Weatherspoon. This singer doesn't sound like William Weatherspoon. And James Dean didn't sing demos, as far as I know. I wonder who the singer is?

[westgrandboulevard]

Just random thoughts....

My ears tell me it does sound, in essence, of 60s Motown origin. The rhythm track has a sound of the mid-late 60s, and it has more the sound of Hitsville Studio B, than of the Snake Pit.

To my ears, it doesn't have the sound of a West Coast Motown band track from the late 60s.

It has the same additional 'knock knock' effect doubling on the drum beat as was used on Martha's 'Soul Appeal' and the latter part of Shorty Long's 'Baby Come Home To Me'.

The opening intro [[2-3 seconds) seems to be identical to the intro used on David Ruffin's 'Hurt The One You Love' for Ian Levine's Motorcity label [[1990), although it's possible that someone else has used that as a sample.

It's possible that the drum hit and the piano chords which then follow are also dubbed, and then mixed down to replicate a piano on the original track.

It seems to have been professionally compiled.

I think probably not, but is it possible the vocal was dubbed much later than the original rhythm track?

I'm thinking of Venecia Wilson's 'This Time I'm Lovin' You'. The vocal [[with new lyrics) was added, by/on behalf of Ian Levine, to the instrumental track of 'Hey Girl', by Peter Hamilton Generation, on Jamie, 1968, to give a replicated 60s Northern Soul sound.

Also : if this is a demo vocal from 60s Motown, would the strings have already been added at that stage in the recording process?

[robb_k]

Just random thoughts....

My ears tell me it does sound, in essence, of 60s Motown origin. The rhythm track has a sound of the mid-late 60s, and it has more the sound of Hitsville Studio B, than of the Snake Pit.

To my ears, it doesn't have the sound of a West Coast Motown band track from the late 60s.

It has the same additional 'knock knock' effect doubling on the drum beat as was used on Martha's 'Soul Appeal' and the latter part of Shorty Long's 'Baby Come Home To Me'.

The opening intro [[2-3 seconds) seems to be identical to the intro used on David Ruffin's 'Hurt The One You Love' for Ian Levine's Motorcity label [[1990), although it's possible that someone else has used that as a sample.

It's possible that the drum hit and the piano chords which then follow are also dubbed, and then mixed down to replicate a piano on the original track.

It seems to have been professionally compiled.

I think probably not, but is it possible the vocal was dubbed much later than the original rhythm track?

I'm thinking of Venecia Wilson's 'This Time I'm Lovin' You'. The vocal [[with new lyrics) was added, by/on behalf of Ian Levine, to the instrumental track of 'Hey Girl', by Peter Hamilton Generation, on Jamie, 1968, to give a replicated 60s Northern Soul sound.

Also : if this is a demo vocal from 60s Motown, would the strings have already been added at that stage in the recording process?

In many cases, not, But, in some, they were. But, this could be the demo vocal track put over the finished backgrounds which had been used on The Four Tops' recording of the song.

I have also been told that Ian Levine added the piano and intro to this recording [[thus, the muddy sound, as its a 2nd or 3rd generation that has additions on top of it.

[bradsupremes]

Ian Levine used the drum kick off from 'The Touch of Venus' for the Andantes 'All Around The Motor City.' So it wouldn't surprise me if he used the piano riff from the David Ruffin track.

I'm rather surprised the Four Tops track hasn't been released yet unless it was only recently discovered after the Lost & Found set was released. Perhaps whenever work on the next Motown Guys CD from Ace begins [[wink wink) maybe it'll get considered.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes indeed, bradsupremes.....if this thread is any guide, inclusion of the Four Tops track on an Ace collection would be a strong draw.....