Willie Hutch ‘Tell Me Why Has Our Love Turned Cold’

[jsmith]

This track was supposed to form the A side of a UK T/Mot 45 in early 1974, but it was withdrawn from release listings at the last minute and never made it onto a 7" vinyl release [[anywhere in the world I believe).
EMI's UK T/Mot was going it's own way during in this period and ignoring many US Motown releases, however this was in the main via them putting out old Ric Tic / Motown related 45's [[lots & lots of them).
Motown had gone from being the trend setter it had been in the 60's, to just another label that mainly followed fashion trends in the type of sounds it was recording / releasing. Even so, it missed out on many genres of 70's black music that was trending during those times. It was even late on the case with 'Philly soundalikes' [[most majors jumping on the bandwagon before Motown),
One of the few new 'cutting-edge sound' artists it had in 73/74/75 was Willie Hutch. Of course, he'd been around for a decade but had reinvented his sound by 73.
Anyone know why EMI proposed putting out "Tell Me Why Has Our Love Turned Cold" on 45 but then changed their minds. Willie had enjoyed 2 pop 45 hits in the US in 73 [[both of which had been massive R&B chart hits) but hadn't got anywhere near hit [[chart) status in the UK -- which may well have been why his intended 45 didn't actually materialise.
The track doesn't seem to have ever been considered for 45 release in the US and yet it's quality was there for all to see.
It certainly has stood the 'test of time' and this is just confirmed further by it being 'sampled' in the rap / hip hop era.

[jsmith]

Willie even performed the track on SOUL TRAIN and still Motown didn't put it out on a US 45.
To me the song has a "The World Is A Ghetto" vibe -- a massive 72 WAR hit. That, along with Willie's fine vocals, alone should have made it a strong contender for 45 release.
Had Motown execs lost the plot to such an extent by 73/74 that they couldn't see this track was ultra commercial.

[jsmith]

Tamla Motown in Italy went it's own way too in 74 -- but they actually released the 'different track' on 45 that their execs liked ...

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

Willie even performed the track on SOUL TRAIN and still Motown didn't put it out on a US 45.
To me the song has a "The World Is A Ghetto" vibe -- a massive 72 WAR hit. That, along with Willie's fine vocals, alone should have made it a strong contender for 45 release.
Had Motown execs lost the plot to such an extent by 73/74 that they couldn't see this track was ultra commercial.

I remember a journalist described this 70s period as Motown being corporately lazy. Motown got big, then got complacent. Quality Control, I'm sure by this time was a distant memory left behind in Detroit.

[MIKEW-UK]

Absolutely love Wille Hutch. Listen to all his vinyl albums all the time. However, I truly believe the rawer vocals and the unsweetened sound would never appeal to the mass market. It was this raw sound that was so welcome at Motown but light years away from the traditional Motown sound. A little too raw to cross over? A little too real? I think so, but it does not diminish my appreciation of the great output at Motown. Always mystified that his Whitfield albums didn’t have the appeal of the Motown albums.