Originally Posted by
copley
I first heard of Blinky Williams in 1968 upon the release of ‘I Wouldn’t Change The Man He Is’ which was her initial Motown single. During her five year tenure less than a handful of singles were issued and three albums were scheduled but cancelled. Her duet album with Edwin Starr ‘Just We Two’ was excellent but failed to make an impact. She can be heard on the soundtrack to the movie ‘The Lady Sings The Blues’. Upon leaving Motown Blinky stopped singing secular music in favour of sacred, in other words she went back to her roots.
Jump forward to 1998 and the release of ‘Motown Sings Motown Treasures’ which included Blinky’s previously unreleased version of ‘The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game’. This set the ball rolling, albeit ever so slowly, and during the next 20 years several more tracks escaped from the vaults leading to the successful ‘Free Blinky From The Vaults’ campaign started by ardent fan whose cries were echoed by many others. In autumn 2019 word came that a Blinky project was nearing completion and on 6th December the gates finally opened with the release of the double CD ‘Heart Full of Soul’.
So with the background set what have we got and was it worth the 50 year wait. Well of course it was worth the wait as it’s the best Motown album ever! There are 46 tracks of which over half were previously unreleased. When you hear the quality of the music you will understand when I say that the much delayed release of Blinky’s recordings is the crime of the century. Motown should be ashamed at how Blinky was treated. However, she is finally free and has got the recognition she deserves including from none other than Berry Gordy so all is forgiven.
Blinky’s vocal range is like none of her Motown contemporaries. With a background of singing gospel with the Church of God in Christ Singers [[COGICS) she can sound raw, bluesy, melodic, tender, joyous but always soulful. It’s really impossible to pick out favourite tracks so I’ll name only a few like ‘What More Can I Do’ with Roy Gaines, ‘This Time Last Summer’, ‘A Little Bit Of Heaven [[On A Little Patch Of Earth), ‘I’m Just A Woman [[Not Strong)’, ‘You’re The Loser Now’ & ‘I’ll Make It Up To You’. Oh and I must not forget to mention her version of ‘For Once In My Life’ which blows all others out of the water.
Blinky worked with some of Motown’s greatest writers and producers. Gil Askey, Ashford & Simpson, Frank Wilson, Don Hunter & Clay McMurray the latter also helped to put this package together but sadly died before it was released. The CD has a colourful 40 page booklet packed with information and great photographs.
Blinky herself has been fully active in promoting ‘Heart Full Of Soul’ by appearing in LA and autographing CD’s. Hopefully she will come to the UK in 2020 to perform an ‘out of the vaults’ concert.
For me and many others this has been a dream come true. Making this possible I’d like to thank Andy Skurow, Joe Marchese, Gordon Anderson, Kevin Reeves, the Free Blinky From The Vaults campaign and of course Blinky herself for the wonderful music.
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