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  1. #51
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    Baby Loves out again. JUST in case youve missed it. Aaaarrrggghh. Paulo xxxx

  2. #52
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    Not having heard every Motown song [[hard to believe, I know!), I would have to agree that I've Never Been To Me is the worst I've heard. It is one of the most insipid songs EVER! The only time I've liked that song is when I saw a cabaret performer do it and she got more and more deranged as she sang the song, bringing herself to hysteria at the end just screaming "I've never been to me, I've never been to me! God help me get to me!!!!"

  3. #53
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    Paulo...I take it you won't be bidding on this then

    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUPREMES-BABY-...-/360345612646

    personally it's a record I never tire of...it finishing that is.

  4. #54
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    There are a number of tracks that I can't stand:

    baby love
    I can't get next to you
    - these two spring to mind immediately.

    But then, since 2000, with re-issues, the stuff that I think should have been left in the vaults include:
    * the velvelettes [[I struggled to listen to even the first disc I thought it was so awful, and still haven't heard the second disc as I can't cope with it)
    * billy eckstine

    I'm sure that there are others, but overall, I liked the vast majority of matreial issued on Motown, Rare Earth, Soul, Gordy, Tamla, Mowest, VIP.

  5. #55
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    i cant dance to the music you playing...phew[[how long?) marthas way out of her vocal range it hurts my ears and gives me stomach ache.
    i hear a symphony by anyone.it goes round and round and round and round and round...like that it doesnt know when to stop

    i just called to say i love you.....just mush
    Last edited by tamla617; 07-03-2011 at 05:12 PM.

  6. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by gordy_hunk View Post
    There are a number of tracks that I can't stand:

    baby love
    I can't get next to you
    - these two spring to mind immediately.

    But then, since 2000, with re-issues, the stuff that I think should have been left in the vaults include:
    * the velvelettes [[I struggled to listen to even the first disc I thought it was so awful, and still haven't heard the second disc as I can't cope with it)
    * billy eckstine
    The Velvelettes, really? Now, I thought that was a great collection though I preferred the released version of "Sayin' Something" to the one on the Anthology. They have such a classic Motown sound, I'm surprised you would consider it better off left in the vaults! Well, I guess we have to agree to disagree on that one!

  7. #57
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    Mama'a Pearl!

  8. #58
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    kenneth

    I fully agree with you on The Velvelettes 'Anthology' being a great collection [[playing now as I type this...) as it must represent most if not all of their Motown recordings. I do have my favourites of course, and find I don't fully appreciate absolutely all the tracks.

    I must say I like the alternative version of 'He was really sayin' somethin' just as much as the released version! That skipping beat is very infectious, and the sax break is much funkier than on most of the released Motown tracks back in the day.

    If anyone here doesn't yet have it, you might think of checking it out.

    Special thanks to those who were major contributors to the project...and who regularly post here.... *smile *

    No names, just read the [[very!) small print in the liner notes... and which were written by The Velvelettes themselves.....

  9. #59
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    The Composer near the bottom of the barrel too.

  10. #60
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    Haaaaaaaaa,this is funny because when we think of motown you don't really think of clunkers but there were some...bareback,up the creek without a paddle-the temps[the two worst songs in the temps mighty collection ever,yuk]..hold on as long as i can-the marvelettes[i love my girls but this stinker should've been burned at the stake,hehe]..get the cream off the top-eddie kendricks[say it ain't so eddie,say it ain't so]..!

  11. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by mhc View Post
    "Last Time I Saw Him".... HIDEOUS..
    You kidding? I think the lyrics are great, and funny! She gives the guy who romanced her all of her money so he can go away to "set us up", and never returns while she waits, and waits, and waits! In other words, the fool just gave all her money away! Brilliant! One of her best songs!



    And, why does every thread around here somehow morph into a Supremes/Diana Ross thread. Is that all you guys listen to?

  12. #62
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    Quote Originally Posted by westgrandboulevard View Post
    kenneth

    I fully agree with you on The Velvelettes 'Anthology' being a great collection [[playing now as I type this...) as it must represent most if not all of their Motown recordings. I do have my favourites of course, and find I don't fully appreciate absolutely all the tracks.

    I must say I like the alternative version of 'He was really sayin' somethin' just as much as the released version! That skipping beat is very infectious, and the sax break is much funkier than on most of the released Motown tracks back in the day.

    If anyone here doesn't yet have it, you might think of checking it out.

    Special thanks to those who were major contributors to the project...and who regularly post here.... *smile *

    No names, just read the [[very!) small print in the liner notes... and which were written by The Velvelettes themselves.....
    Hey, great minds think alike!

  13. #63
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    the temps version of war and their original version of its summer [[spoken rather than sung)

  14. #64
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    Thank you lads. I did try my best and I still do try for them.

    It was the first Motown CD to feature TOTAL input from the artist - selection of tracks, liner notes, photograph, pictures and right down to that hairstyle plonked on Cal's head on the cover cos the original picture cut it off!!!

  15. #65
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    I think we did somewhat of a poll for the worst Motown songs or perhaps it was the songs we are the most tired of ~ and I think Baby Love may have won; but Marvin's Grapevine and Martha's Dancing in the Street finished way high up that poll.

  16. #66
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    Quote Originally Posted by jobeterob View Post
    I think we did somewhat of a poll for the worst Motown songs or perhaps it was the songs we are the most tired of ~ and I think Baby Love may have won; but Marvin's Grapevine and Martha's Dancing in the Street finished way high up that poll.
    You're right, I also contributed to that thread.

    But to me, there's a marked difference between "songs you're tired of hearing" vs. "bad songs" [[due to writing, out-of-tune, whatever).

  17. #67
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    Quote Originally Posted by tamla617 View Post
    ...and their original version of its summer [[spoken rather than sung)
    I prefer that one over the later slower re-recording.

    Seriously, except for being a liberal, I constantly find myself at odds with the membership here on anything that has to do with music.

  18. #68
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    Quote Originally Posted by jobeterob View Post
    I think we did somewhat of a poll for the worst Motown songs or perhaps it was the songs we are the most tired of ~ and I think Baby Love may have won; but Marvin's Grapevine and Martha's Dancing in the Street finished way high up that poll.
    I can listen to "Baby Love" a lot more than I can Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". That Big Chill/California Raisins thing back in the 80s killed it for me.

  19. #69
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    soulster
    you're aloud an opinion,i cant stand it,you like it.no right or wrong.

    i used to like "here come the girls"allen tousaint and the meters.then a chemist over her got hold of it.girls aloud recorded it.top 10.now its being remixed [[original version) for the ads and has become the signature for the chemist.does my head in and wrecked any enjoyment i got from a good song

  20. #70
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    Why is "No Matter What Sign You Are" such a stupid idea? There is no scientific basis for Astrology, so it makes perfect sense to me to ignore birth-signs as the basis for a relationship.

  21. #71
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    Debbie Dean's "I Cried All Night" is so bad it hurts my ears. It scored the minimum 1/10 on the Motown Junkies site.

  22. #72
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    Quote Originally Posted by 144man View Post
    Why is "No Matter What Sign You Are" such a stupid idea? There is no scientific basis for Astrology, so it makes perfect sense to me to ignore birth-signs as the basis for a relationship.
    Well...since you ask.

    Okay, admitted, it's unlikely that people actually speak the way that a singer sings the words in a song. But the lyrics to this are absolutely inane:

    "No matter what sign you are,
    You're going to be mine, you are!"

    I mean, I'm just sayin'...

  23. #73
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    Kenneth,

    Don't take me too seriously.......it rhymes, what more do you want?

  24. #74
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    Quote Originally Posted by 144man View Post
    Kenneth,

    Don't take me too seriously.......it rhymes, what more do you want?
    Thanks 144man...!

  25. #75
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    I hereby nominate Little Lisa's "Puppet on a String" from 1965. Strangely enough, the flipside, "Hang on Bill," is actually a halfway decent attempt at the Crystals / Shangri-La sound.

  26. #76
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    Quote Originally Posted by kenneth View Post
    Well...since you ask.

    Okay, admitted, it's unlikely that people actually speak the way that a singer sings the words in a song. But the lyrics to this are absolutely inane:

    "No matter what sign you are,
    You're going to be mine, you are!"
    But, there are people out there who really do base the success of a relationship based on astrological signs. I don't but...

  27. #77
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    I find Tom Clay's "What the World Needs Now Is Love" incredibly moving. A lot of thought has gone into its construction. The assassination and contemporary news reports had great impact on everyone old enough to remember them, and I can't argue with the sentiments on segregation and bigotry when seen through the eyes of a little girl: "I think it's when somebody's sick".

    This is in fact a rockumentary, and it's unique. There must be someone else out there who will speak up for it.

  28. #78
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    Yes 144man, there is......

  29. #79
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    Quote Originally Posted by soulster View Post
    You kidding? I think the lyrics are great, and funny! She gives the guy who romanced her all of her money so he can go away to "set us up", and never returns while she waits, and waits, and waits! In other words, the fool just gave all her money away! Brilliant! One of her best songs!



    And, why does every thread around here somehow morph into a Supremes/Diana Ross thread. Is that all you guys listen to?
    I don't care for it, either. It stems from the song being a country song, and not being sung that way. Dottie West's version is the definitive version of that song.

  30. #80
    RossHolloway Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by 144man View Post
    I find Tom Clay's "What the World Needs Now Is Love" incredibly moving. A lot of thought has gone into its construction. The assassination and contemporary news reports had great impact on everyone old enough to remember them, and I can't argue with the sentiments on segregation and bigotry when seen through the eyes of a little girl: "I think it's when somebody's sick".

    This is in fact a rockumentary, and it's unique. There must be someone else out there who will speak up for it.
    I agree with you 100%. The very first time I heard this song was in 1986 and it brought tears to my eyes. I thought it was a very powerful and moving song. I still do.

  31. #81
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    The worst Motown song is "Buttered Popcorn".

  32. #82
    RossHolloway Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by copley View Post
    Although I like the backing track the lyrics to 'I'm Living In Shame' must be some of the worst ever written! Home made jam indeed!

    DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES - "I'm Living In Shame"


    Mama was cookin' bread
    She wore a dirty raggedy scarf around her head
    Always had her stockings low
    Rolled to her feet just didn't know
    She wore a sloppy dress
    Oh no matter how she tried she always looked a mess
    Out of the pot she ate
    Never used a fork or a dinner plate
    I was always so afraid that
    The uptown friends would see her
    Afraid one day when I was grown
    That I would be her
    In college town away from here
    A new identity I found
    That I was born elite
    With maids and servants at my feet
    I must have been insane
    I lied and said mama died on a weekend trip to Spain
    She never got out of the house
    Never even boarded a train
    Married a guy, was living high

    I didn't want him to know her
    she had a grandson two years old
    That I never even showed her
    I'm living in shame
    Mama, I miss you
    I know you're not to blame
    Mama, I miss you

    Got a telegram
    Mama passed away while making home made jam
    before she died she cried to see me by her side
    She always did her best
    Ah cooked and cleaned and always in the same old dress
    Working hard, down on her knees
    Always trying to please
    Mama, mama, mama can you hear me
    Mama, mama, mama can you hear me
    I'm living in shame
    Mama, I miss you
    I know you've done your best
    Mama, I miss you
    Won't you forgive me mama
    For all the wrong I've done
    I know you've done your best
    Oh I know you've done the very best you could
    Mama I thought you understood
    Working hard, down on your knees
    YEP, I still love this song. It really is an underappreciated record. I understood the message and intent behind the song.

  33. #83
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    Quote Originally Posted by daviddesper View Post

    My vote for a huge hit that I just never personally "got" would have to be Papa Was a Rolling Stone.
    Think of it as a blues song and it may make sense to you.

  34. #84
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    Quote Originally Posted by RossHolloway View Post
    YEP, I still love this song. It really is an underappreciated record. I understood the message and intent behind the song.
    You know, the Shangri-Las could have probably pulled off "Living in Shame" a few years before. It was right in line with their "3 minute melodramas" like "Leader of the Pack" and "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" [[which has a similar them to "Shame"). But even they would have had to change the arrangement...it's way too frenetic and also changes tempo too much for the song content and lyrics, in my opinion.

  35. #85
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    Quote Originally Posted by 144man View Post
    I find Tom Clay's "What the World Needs Now Is Love" incredibly moving. A lot of thought has gone into its construction. The assassination and contemporary news reports had great impact on everyone old enough to remember them, and I can't argue with the sentiments on segregation and bigotry when seen through the eyes of a little girl: "I think it's when somebody's sick".

    This is in fact a rockumentary, and it's unique. There must be someone else out there who will speak up for it.
    Yes .. I like it a lot too, though I have to in the right kind of mood to really appreciate it.

    I like the much maligned "Hello" by LIONEL RICHIE too ..

    Roger

  36. #86
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    And while no one puts Baby Love on their worst song list, it appears on a lot of lists of songs we are really tired of..............but still, in concert, it is one of the songs that gets a huge reaction from all the grey haired men and women who flock to Diana's concerts.

  37. #87
    smark21 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by kenneth View Post
    You know, the Shangri-Las could have probably pulled off "Living in Shame" a few years before. It was right in line with their "3 minute melodramas" like "Leader of the Pack" and "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" [[which has a similar them to "Shame"). But even they would have had to change the arrangement...it's way too frenetic and also changes tempo too much for the song content and lyrics, in my opinion.
    I'm not sure that The Shangri Las, a group of white girls, could have convincingly sold a song about a Black woman who passes for white.

  38. #88
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    Quote Originally Posted by smark21 View Post
    I'm not sure that The Shangri Las, a group of white girls, could have convincingly sold a song about a Black woman who passes for white.
    It wasn't a song about a black woman who passes for white! It was about a black woman who "married up" being embarrassed of her poor past and not wanting it discovered.

  39. #89
    smark21 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by jeff9nyc View Post
    It wasn't a song about a black woman who passes for white! It was about a black woman who "married up" being embarrassed of her poor past and not wanting it discovered.
    In interviews, Diana Ross said the song was based on the character Sarah Jane in Imitation of Life.

  40. #90
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    what were motown & smokey thinking when they put out "the composer" for the supremes? bad move all the way around!

  41. #91
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    "I've been undressed by kings and seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see..."...tripe like this should've stayed buried in the Motown vaults, but for some godawful reason it got a second lease on life, giving Charlene 15 minutes of fame that [[deservedly) ticked away VERY fast, and also enabled her to sing an equally execrable duet with Stevie Wonder [["Used to Be", which I haven't seen mentioned yet).

    Do you have to ask me what MY least favorite Motown song is now?

    Best,

    Mark

  42. #92
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    Quote Originally Posted by mark speck View Post
    "I've been undressed by kings and seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see..."...tripe like this should've stayed buried in the Motown vaults, but for some godawful reason it got a second lease on life, giving Charlene 15 minutes of fame that [[deservedly) ticked away VERY fast, and also enabled her to sing an equally execrable duet with Stevie Wonder [["Used to Be", which I haven't seen mentioned yet).

    Do you have to ask me what MY least favorite Motown song is now?

    Best,

    Mark
    Thank you! Thanks for someone around here who finally agrees with me. This song has to be the worst piece of shit anyone ever wasted tape on. Either someone was on drugs or owed someone a very big favor to get this turkey on wax!

  43. #93
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    I'll come out of the closet as a fan of I've Never Been To Me, probably because it's always sounded to me like an old Diana Ross record. Ron Miller probably wrote it for her and someone rejected it but it has all the markings of the Ross sound. The pronunciation of " hey " borrowed from Touch Me In The Morning, the recitation in the middle done dramatically ala Aint No Mountain High Enough, and the whole woman searching for herself that was prevalent in seventies feminism. Dave Berry and every Drag Queen with a hot roller certainly haven't helped it's reputation but there are far worse offenders in the Motown catalog. I do agree that Used To Be is pure dreck though....

  44. #94
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    What exactly is wrong with Tom Clay's "What The World Needs Now" ? It makes a statement, it's a song that is ponderous and serious as a heart attack, but sometimes that kind of thing needs to be heard. So there. I heard it for the first time probably just a year or two after it came out, and always knew at that young age, that this song was making a very serious statement. I don't find it overwrought or melodramatic......"Livin In Shame" or "In The Ghetto" is in that category. Ironically "Livin In Shame" might have been a good song had it been given a harder edged production and had someone sing it who didn't have such a bright, chipper voice.

  45. #95
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    Glenpwood... I don't mind "I've Never Been To Me" at all. When it comes on the radio, I listen to it, as opposed to when "My Girl" or Marvin's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" come on..... then I promptly change the station. I STILL don't understand the appeal of Marvin's version of that song. It just sucks donkey balls... while I could listen to Gladys' version all day and not get tired of it. But back to Charlene. She's a perfectly good singer, but more in the folksie kind of vein. At the time of it's original release, "I've Never Been To Me" predated Mary Macgregor's "Torn Between Two Lovers" by several months, and both songs are very similar. For me.... the spoken interludes pushed Charlene's song into schlocky territory. If the spoken parts were edited out, i'd really like it a whole lot more. And besides, I can't believe you guys are slaggin on Charlene, when Motown put out stuff like this:

    Last edited by jillfoster; 07-06-2011 at 01:27 AM.

  46. #96
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    Jill,

    I've Never was good enough to be recorded by many others Inc Walter Jackson and The Temptations......full story on the song here

    http://my.opera.com/n_august/blog/show.dml/413722

  47. #97
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    Quote Originally Posted by jillfoster View Post
    What exactly is wrong with Tom Clay's "What The World Needs Now" ? It makes a statement, it's a song that is ponderous and serious as a heart attack, but sometimes that kind of thing needs to be heard. So there. I heard it for the first time probably just a year or two after it came out, and always knew at that young age, that this song was making a very serious statement. I don't find it overwrought or melodramatic......"Livin In Shame" or "In The Ghetto" is in that category. Ironically "Livin In Shame" might have been a good song had it been given a harder edged production and had someone sing it who didn't have such a bright, chipper voice.
    If you think about it, Stevie Wonder used the same device of a background "soundtrack" in the extended version of "Livin' for the City." I actually like both songs, though I definitely like the edited version of Wonder's better than the long version. I'm not familiar with the single edit of Clay's, if there was one, but I find the version on "Motown Sings Bacharach" a little too long.

  48. #98
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    Quote Originally Posted by MIKEW-UK View Post
    Jill,

    I've Never was good enough to be recorded by many others Inc Walter Jackson and The Temptations......full story on the song here

    http://my.opera.com/n_august/blog/show.dml/413722
    Okay , now that others have blazed the trail first, I will chime in and admit I like "Never Been to Me" as well, though the spoken bridge version does cross the line a bit. Very interesting blog about it quoted by Mikew-UK...I had no idea the Temptations did this. The "male" lyrics I think are actually more interesting than the more predictable "female" lyrics. Quite a find.

  49. #99
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    Here's The Temptations version off the R-E-U-N-I-O-N- album for lovers of the song! Dennis does a very nice lead and it ain't schlocky. I'll have to post Walter Jackson as it's not on YouTube!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tBd2Tn3seI

  50. #100
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    And if you're really brave, try this with its opening rap and ad libs. If you think Charlene's version is bad, feast on this! Kenneth, quite a find, eh?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhnq0...eature=related

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