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Volume #0117 July 14, 1998
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Also available on 4 & 8 track tape cartridges and Musicassettes
Subject: Re: Can't Forget the Velvelettes
Sent: 07/12/98 1:20 pm
Received: 07/12/98 11:22 pm
From: David Feldman, feldXXXX@XXXderables.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com
>We can't forget about the Velvelettes either. I rank the Motown
>girl groups that I know of from best to worse as the Marvelettes,
>the Velvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, and then the Supremes.
>Not that the Supremes were bad or anything, but if you go track by
>track with the 3 big Motown girl groups on any one of their
>compilations, the Marvelettes will always come out on tops with
>quality, not necessarily commercialism.
Will,
I only have the Velvelettes' singles. What else is out there that
you would recommend?
There are two main reasons I'd place the Supremes over M&V. One is
their higher quantity of great songs (sure it isn't M&V's fault
that they weren't given first dibs on Holland, Dozier, Holland's
"A" material). The second, and this was quite a surprise to me, is
how much better the Supremes were live. They were absolutely
terrific live, whereas M&V couldn't reproduce their sound live.
Without a doubt, though, IMO, the best Motown group live were the
4 Tops. The Tempts were better showmen, but the Tops, somehow,
were able to do recreations of their most complex harmony
arrangements, notably "Bernadette" and "Reach Out I'll Be There."
And of course, when you have Levi Stubbs singing "Ask the Lonely"
or "Baby I Need Your Loving," you are close to heaven. Some of
the other great Motown singers, such as Marvin Gaye and Smokey
Robinson, were clearly masters of the studio and not in their
element live (although I've heard great recordings of Gaye live, I
never saw him measure up to the genius of his recordings when I saw
him live).
I'm glad to see another Marvelettes fanatic here. I can't
overemphasize how much pleasure they've given me in the last few
years.
Dave Feldman
CD of the Month: It's a tie!
Belle & Sebastian: "If You're Feeling Sinister"
Billy Bragg & Wilco: "Mermaid Ave."
Word of the Week: "blasphemous"
Lyric of the Week: Woody Guthrie:
"I said little girl, it's plain to see,
there ain't nobody who can sing like me.
She said it's hard for me to see,
how one little boy got so ugly."
Best Time Killer of the 90's: Filling out the UPDATED gender survey at
"http://www.imponderables.com"
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Re: the songs of...brian hyland??
Sent: 07/12/98 5:10 pm
Received: 07/12/98 11:22 pm
From: Marc Wielage, XXXX@XXXtrax.com
To: Spectropop List, spectroXXXX@XXXties.com
CC: Jeffrey Thames, KingoGrXXXX@XXXom
Jeffrey Thames 
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