Two days of rehearsals and her segment was completely cut from Motown 60. And when the Motown stars were asked to stand, no recognition at all?
To be a fly on the wall at her house this evening.....
Two days of rehearsals and her segment was completely cut from Motown 60. And when the Motown stars were asked to stand, no recognition at all?
To be a fly on the wall at her house this evening.....
They cut her and the Vandellas out of Motown 45 too. I wonder if she knew in advance of the broadcast that they would be cutting her out?
You could spot her sitting not far behind Berry. I didn’t think the Vandellas were there with Martha, performing. Am I wrong?
She had a rightfully pissed look. The camera caught her at the exact right time. The show sucked.
I noticed she looked pissed several times the camera caught her. Like StuBass said, there was no way she would know they were cutting her segment so it had to be about something else.
Maybe cutting her portion was for the best and saved her from embarrassment. We all know the condition of Martha's voice. It's not held up like her counterparts. I do think the Grammys should have at least given her during the Motown family acknowledgement moment an upclose shot with her name showing. There was no need to re-show that awful J.Lo segment. That was a waste of a good 6 minutes where we could have seen Martha, Claudette, Otis or Duke share their memories. But as for a performance, cutting her singing segment was probably for the best.
If she would just stick to the original vocal arrangements and not add all those trills and flourishes, which were never that great to begin with, she'd probably sound about as good as any of the other Hitsville singers of a certain age. In the middle 1970s when she added an octave she loved showing it off, but that was then, this is now. All our voices age after all. She's a law unto herself, though, for better or for worse. As mentioned, if they had included her segment, if she was trilling up and down the scales, it would probably have done her a disservice.
So y'all think they cut her out to save her from embarrassment? I mean social media can be cruel. I can imagine Twitter's reaction to Martha Reeves if they heard the classics and then see her onstage with the trills. Either way, it is sad. She is a true legend, she should've gotten SOME shine.
What an absolute disgrace to be so disrespectful to Martha. She and the various Vandellas were a staple of Motown, gave it perhaps its most iconic song [[Dancing in the Street), and this is the thanks in old age she and the Vandellas get. It's downright criminal.
The comments about the trills and what not illustrates something Motown was VERY good at: they stressed the importance of singers sticking strictly to the melody line and not "coloring outside of the lines" too much. There are examples of alternate takes of well-known songs where the singer was given more leeway and when they tossed in those little trills and extras, it rarely worked. I think even David Ruffin suffered a bit when he went solo. Don't get wrong, he was an incredible singer, but a lot of the 2nd-tier producers I think were prone to just let David go with what he felt, mainly on his first solo album, and it just muddled what could have been even greater performances. When he was with the Tempts, Norman, Smokey and H-D-H always kept his vocals reigned in and it just made the performances all the stronger. I think Martha too felt that she had earned the right to do a song how she felt it should be done. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't so well.
One idea would have been to have one of these young performers they needed for ratings to appear but wrap it into appearances by Duke and Otis and Mary and Martha-if such appearances are palatable for all concerned
I love Martha but she MAY have been pissed about her actual performance after it was done [[she has to know what she sounds like these days) and if it's like recent stuff we've seen who knows what the audience reaction was? the audience was not made up of Reeves fans willing to look past what has happened to her voice..just saying..
If she sounded anything like she did on her last CD, it’s no wonder her performance was cut. I was really shocked with how awful she sounded on that, and that was released in 2004 so I doubt that she’s gotten better since then.
Martha May have been pissed, but not about being cut as she sang Nowhere To Run At the taping. From all I’ve spoken to, it was a bad night for Martha - very, very, bad. Still, she should have been given her props in some fashion. Also, Smokey’s songs were cut way down in time as were Stevie’s. Diana was featured in the first 30 40 minutes but was deemed the highlight and edited to the end. Also, I’m told Thelma tore the place apart in person. I feel very, very bad for Martha.
Yes but there was a time when Martha could carry a very good tune; I mean many very good tunes - Dancing, Nowhere, Heat Wave etc.
And Bob never did a song where he bothered with that.
A sad time for Martha Reeves who is always a positive spirit and loves Motown and it's artists.
Martha & The Vandellas were a great Motown legacy group with Marthas terrific leads on some really great material on their recordings and she's been a huge Motown booster throughout the years... I agree that her voice has waviered and quavered throughout the years at various times. I've heard her really bad vibrato, and I've heard her perform much better as time has marched on. I don't know how her taping went for this particular show...Now that we've addressed that question...I can also say, based on VERY reliable first hand accounts, that most may not be aware of...and also despite the fact that Martha has been closely tied to Detroit and the Motown Museum...that she and Berry Gordy have had a somewhat strained relationship throughout the years, including the time in the 80's that Martha in a huff fled the scene of a Motown television taping in Los Angeles [[for reasons I won't go into except that involved Jean Carne) and Berry tracked her down and reportedly told her that if she did not return IMMEDIATELY...he'd see that she NEVER worked on ANY Motown project again... She did return...True story...
Last edited by StuBass1; 04-24-2019 at 05:48 PM.
Maybe I missed it but when camera went to Martha she looked happy. Janie Bradford did not.
Sort of recently she sang love makes me do foolish things she was wearing a blue suit [[i think on YouTube) and in another instance she did an interview in Detroit small cafe and sang I’ll Be There. Maybe w only a small piano. Her talent is there. Nobody can work the stage like Martha.
Last edited by detmotownguy; 04-24-2019 at 09:02 PM.
Go find what Joni Mitchell has to say abt Dylan......
If the Vandellas would sing along with her it might control things a bit. She just gets carried away.
There is a reason that some of the Motown alumni were not only not performing on the special...but received little acclaim or mention... I realize that it was a NARAS production...but there are reasons behind who was featured and who was not... I can understand the Tempts and Tops not performing with only one original [[non-lead) member...but for some others...there are reasons... Don't know the current relationship between Berry/Martha, Diana/Mary, Diana/Gladys...etc...but there has been history between all of them and it still wouldn't surprise me if those old feuds didn't play a significant role in the fact that they were largely ignored...
Good point, Stu. :/
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