Mary Wells - post My Guy at motown

[Motown Eddie]

Great post,but my question is..would the great but underrated[dear lover]have reached mary if she had stayed,because with the motown machine behind her that little gem would've blown up,anyone else with an opinion on this?

If Mary Wells had stayed with Motown, I'm sure that all of her hits would've been done by the in-house writer/producers at the label. I could easily see "Dear Lover" being recorded and having great potential on the 'R&B charts' by Barbara Acklin instead of Mary [[since Barbara's best known hit singles were written & produced by Carl Davis who co-wrote "Dear Lover").

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

If Mary Wells had stayed with Motown, I'm sure that all of her hits would've been done by the in-house writer/producers at the label. I could easily see "Dear Lover" being recorded and having great potential on the 'R&B charts' by Barbara Acklin instead of Mary [[since Barbara's best known hit singles were written & produced by Carl Davis who co-wrote "Dear Lover").

And really, the reason for "Dear Lover' was to recapture and duplicate that Motown feeling and sound. Had Mary remained at Motown, she would have had "The Real Thing" in terms of songs supplied by Motown writers. The only time a Motown artist recorded a non-Motown song was when a Motown producer wanted to do a cover of another artist's hit.

[arr&bee]

and really, the reason for "dear lover' was to recapture and duplicate that motown feeling and sound. Had mary remained at motown, she would have had "the real thing" in terms of songs supplied by motown writers. The only time a motown artist recorded a non-motown song was when a motown producer wanted to do a cover of another artist's hit.

i hear you,but don't sleep on[dear lover]because it's as good as anything she did at motown to my ears.

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

i hear you,but don't sleep on[dear lover]because it's as good as anything she did at motown to my ears.

Exactly. It was one of her best post-Motown recordings and one of the times where they nailed that Motown Sound as close as possible. I wasn't downgrading the song, but commenting on the fact that the song was recorded by Mary precisely because it was that good. There was an urgent need to get a hit and the feeling was the only way to do so was to create that Motown feeling. "Dear Lover" accomplished what many of her other post-Motown songs didn't.

Had Mary been at Motown, my thought was Mary would have already had a ton of possible hits at her disposal by Motown's in-house writers already. I don't recall any other time when someone outside of Motown ever approached the company with a song for one of their hit artists, so as great a song as "Dear Lover" is, would the writers have said, "Hey, let's take this to Motown to have Mary Wells record it" knowing Motown was pretty exclusive about publishing and ownership of their songs?

Might be digging myself into a bigger hole here, so switching gears, another song I wish that had been released was "Love Letters." That one had a fantastic Motown flavor as well. I think the lyrics could have been tweaked a bit, but that song, I always hit REPEAT several times when I play it.

[robb_k]

There was an urgent need to get Mary a hit, and the feeling was the only way to do so was to create that Motown feeling. "Dear Lover" accomplished what many of her other post-Motown songs didn't.

Had Mary been at Motown, my thought was Mary would have already had a ton of possible hits at her disposal by Motown's in-house writers already. I don't recall any other time when someone outside of Motown ever approached the company with a song for one of their hit artists, so as great a song as "Dear Lover" is, would the writers have said, "Hey, let's take this to Motown to have Mary Wells record it" knowing Motown was pretty exclusive about publishing and ownership of their songs?

Many people forget that Barrett Strong was working in Chicago with Carl Davis at Okeh, Constellation, and ATCO Records, on songwriting and assisting in production. It was he and ex-Motowner, Sonny Sanders, who helped add Motownish elements into The Chicago Sound, especially used with Mary Wells and The Artistics' early, Okeh material [[such as the super-Motownish "This Heart of Mine", "So Much Love in My Heart", "I'll Come Running", and "Loveland". Strong wrote several of Mary's ATCO songs, and was involved in the production of "Dear Lover".

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

Many people forget that Barrett Strong was working in Chicago with Carl Davis at Okeh, Constellation, and ATCO Records, on songwriting and assisting in production. It was he and ex-Motowner, Sonny Sanders, who helped add Motownish elements into The Chicago Sound, especially used with Mary Wells and The Artistics' early, Okeh material [[such as the super-Motownish "This Heart of Mine", "So Much Love in My Heart", "I'll Come Running", and "Loveland". Strong wrote several of Mary's ATCO songs, and was involved in the production of "Dear Lover".

Strong and Davis did excellent work with their productions. It always fascinates me that the appeal of what Motown was doing was so strong, even Chicago was trying to fit into that Detroit vibe. Seems for a hot minute, there was a great Chicago Sound, but it couldn't get enough traction to hit as big or as consistently on the charts as Motown. Then I realize it all goes back to how far sighted Berry was in developing the careers and images of his artists as opposed to just getting hits.

[Motown Eddie]

And really, the reason for "Dear Lover' was to recapture and duplicate that Motown feeling and sound. Had Mary remained at Motown, she would have had "The Real Thing" in terms of songs supplied by Motown writers. The only time a Motown artist recorded a non-Motown song was when a Motown producer wanted to do a cover of another artist's hit.

One thing about the Chicago Soul Sound of the mid '60s is that there were a lot of songs from that era that had a strong Motown influence [[think classics like "Rescue Me", "Whispers" & "Higher And Higher" for instance). And we can include Mary Wells' "Dear Lover" in that list as well.