 Various Artists At first I thought that this installment in the Motown Year By Year series would be weak, as it had some overly obvious singles ("You Are the Sunshine of My Life," "Let's Get it On," "Living For the City"). But then I suddenly became obsessed with the song "Touch Me in the Morning," probably Diana Ross's most underrated single – and just an awesome song – and suddenly my perspective on this disc changed completely. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is still forever tainted by Jim Nabors's creamy cover version, which I have listened to hundreds of times, but when I sit down and actually listen to Stevie's version (rather than just thinking about it) I have to say, it's a great song. Still not a favorite, but a pretty great way to start a CD. 1973 was a better year for Motown than you might think – although it was the year they moved from Detroit to Los Angeles, they were still very much in the game of R&B hitmaking. The first six tracks here are stellar – an absolute party. "Sunshine," "Daddy Could Swear, I Declare" by Gladys Knight & the Pips, "Keep On Truckin'" by Eddie Kendricks, "Let's Get it On," "Touch Me in the Morning," and Willie Hutch's "Brother's Gonna Work it Out" (from The Mack). "Yowza!," as Jon "Bauser" Bauman might say, in between "I can help the next customer" and "Who had the turkey reuben?" I think part of my problem with this disc before I got it was that it had so many tracks I already had on other albums … but that goes to show how good a year it was for Motown, that so many of their albums from 1973 remain worthwhile. Now, let me ramble on a bit more about "Touch Me in the Morning" – part ballad, part disco anthem, sonically straight out of 1977 yet somehow released in 1973 – halfway between "Theme From Mahogany" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" – and featuring possibly the all-time greatest songwriting hook ever written ("If I've got to be strong" – with the drums shadowing the vocal line, slightly behind the beat) as well as one of the best pre-choruses ever ("Well I can't say goodbye in the cold morning light …"), not to mention one of Diana's most credible and glorious vocal performances. Hearing this song 25 years later, you really understand why she is still considered the grandest diva of all, even though she likes the white men and probably should cut down on her addiction-addiction. Though not every cut is phenomenal, the flow is excellent and the lesser tracks are welcome for fleshing out what would otherwise be the standard "Motown Greatest Hits" collection. The singles that are featured are actually nice to have even if you own the albums, because the single versions are different (especially "Living For the City," which in the single edit omits all that horseplay in the middle part). Some second-tier Motown classics are worthy of rediscovery ("Masterpiece" by the Temptations, a "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" rewrite thankfully edited by over ten minutes from the album version), "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" by Gladys, "Baby Come Close" by Smokey (a great make out song, according to the liner notes – I wouldn't know, I haven't seen another human being since the dawn of the internet). A couple less memorable offerings by the Jackson 5 ("Get it Together"), Edwin Starr ("There You Go"), and Eddie Kendricks ("Boogie Down") are still worthwhile, and there's a track from Diana & Marvin's duet album ("You're a Special Part of Me" … not the best track they could have picked but still a good one). The disc closes with two unreleased tracks, "Still Holding On" by C.P. Spencer, and "Feel Like Givin' Up" by ex-Temptation Paul Williams, who did in fact give up shortly thereafter (he shot himself in his car, parked a few blocks away from Motown). It's a pretty straightforward "I want you back" kind of song, the sort of thing you'd find as an album track by the Delfonics, but of course it does have the VH1 "Behind the Music" characteristic of having the perfect title for a song recorded by an artist right before offing himself.
Review by Pedro Gommorrah |