Martha Reeves - Love Blind

[midnightman]

Another post-Motown funk number from Mama Martha.

[daviddesper]

Never cared for that song. As for the photo, isn't that from the Sugar n Spice shoot?

[midnightman]

^ Yeah, it is.

[marv2]

Do you what album this is from?

[marv2]

Someone said that they thought Martha would be a great Rock singer. Martha can sing Pop, Rock, Jazz, Gospel and like here, pure Soul music !!!!

[TheMotownManiac]

It’s from her Arista outing The Rest Of My Life...... another disappointment. Clive Davis showdown have known there was no hit here. Sad.

[TheMotownManiac]

There were several listenable tracks that needed work to hit as singles. Second Chance has a radio friendly chorus, but the verse stinks. This Time I;lol Be Sweeter, the rest of my life and thank you all had good elements, but were far from ready for Top 40.

[reese]

LOVE STRONG ENOUGH TO MOVE MOUNTAINS was always my favorite from the Arista album.

[mowsville]

Wow..i absolutely love the track "love Blind"..why on earth does Martha not use her voice like this now..i know shes a lot older and the voice changes but even her last days at Motown were getting to the point where her voice was unlistenable with that strange warbling...i personally can not listen to Martha sing nowadays its just too painful to the ears.

[marv2]

Does anyone know the album this song came from?

[TomatoTom123]

Does anyone know the album this song came from?

Yo Marv it is from her 1976 album The Rest Of My Life on Arista Records...

[marv2]

Yo Marv it is from her 1976 album The Rest Of My Life on Arista Records...

Thank you TomatoTom123.

[TomatoTom123]

Thank you TomatoTom123.

Welcome Marv... and, please, call me Tom

[midnightman]

Wow..i absolutely love the track "love Blind"..why on earth does Martha not use her voice like this now..i know shes a lot older and the voice changes but even her last days at Motown were getting to the point where her voice was unlistenable with that strange warbling...i personally can not listen to Martha sing nowadays its just too painful to the ears.

Why did her voice even GET like that?
Like she's not a soprano, she's an alto [[or mezzo soprano, I forget). Then suddenly around '69 or so, she starts doing those strange warbles.

It started around the time she came back from her nervous breakdown, I think. When they came out with "Taking My Love and Leaving Me" [[though it could've been earlier since the warbles started coming in around '67). And then it just got worse from there.

[motony]

Martha wrote "Love Blind" which is a great record, if promoted it would have been a hit. It was produced by the same people that did "Supernatural Thing" by Ben E King.

[midnightman]

Martha wrote "Love Blind" which is a great record, if promoted it would have been a hit. It was produced by the same people that did "Supernatural Thing" by Ben E King.

I wonder why Clive didn't promote it! Then again, he didn't promote Phyllis Hyman either and Phyllis was the FIRST R&B queen of Arista [[prior to Dionne's and Aretha's arrivals)...

[luke]

Did Clive mention Martha in his book? Odd that he helped Melissa, Taylor, Deborah, Whitney et al but not Martha... maybe the album just didn’t click.

[TheMotownManiac]

I don’t hear a hit here at all. I like it as an album cut, but the verse is too wordy and blah melodically. The production goes nowhere, repeats ad nauseum, then fades. Her voice is buried in the mix too far and needed to be more prominent and brighter. Radio wouldn’t touch this if Clive himself serviced the PD in every city. Seriously, if you look at what was hitting in 76, can you see this on any list? With some work, this could go top ten R&B, as the groove is good, but it was gonna take a huge shot to get Martha back on the charts. Gordy failed, Perry failed, now Davis...... she needed a slam dunk like I Will Survive or, Had she stayed at Motown and languished for another five years, maybe she could’ve had don’t leave me this way after ross turned it down.shes have taken it to number 1.

[daviddesper]

If the record-buying public couldn't make Bless You any bigger hit than they did a few years earlier, as sensational a song as that was, then there was simply nothing Martha could have done to have another mega hit. She had her glory days, as sensational as they were in the 60s, and deserves major kudos for still being out there giving us great live shows and keeping the memories alive.

[TheMotownManiac]

I wouldn’t go on thinking Clive didn’t promote Martha - that line is used more than “good morning” around here. WHY on God’s green earth would Clive sign Martha, invest in an album and release three singles but not promote her? No one can promote iffy product into a hit. 99% of the cries if lack of promotion are BS.