Originally Posted by
WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance
I think the reason why some feel they are hearing an LA sound and not Detroit is because the sound on the Supremes' cut is an exceptionally "clean" sound and as a result, to me, it sounds a little dull. I can't quite figure out if the Elgins' version was started on the old three-track system and later bounced to eight tracks or if both the Supremes and Elgins backing tracks were done on the eight-track equipment. At some point, I think the recording equipment Motown was using had been upgraded so much that the music ended up sounding "sterile" sometimes.
Listening to the Elgins' version of 'Heaven Must Have Sent You', that's the '65/'66 Motown Sound [[think 'This Old Heart Of Mine', 'Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart', 'Helpless' [both the Tops and Kim Weston versions], 'It's The Same Old Song'); there is a very rich, full, almost dense sound- probably what Mike McLean referred to as something like "ten pounds of music in a five pound bag." Yes, it may have been a technically imperfect sound, but I guess to my uneducated ears, that sound had character and was vibrant. The backing track for the Supremes' version sounds a bit too perfect with absolutely not a lick of dirt or grime. The arrangement also is nothing close to the full-on arrangement of the Elgins' original.
I've noticed the same issue with the Supremes' remake of 'My Guy', Martha and the Vandellas' remake of the Four Tops' 'Since You've Been Gone' and generally anytime Motown redid a pre-'66 song with post-'66 recording equipment and musical arrangement. Something gets lost in the music because you can't re-create the sound made on the older recording equipment; everything sounds just a bit too polished and as if the tapes had been cleansed with the strongest disinfectant ever made.
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