Answer for March 27, 2014 Yesterday’s Answer: The answer to yesterday’s question was the first “Psychedelic Soul” genre song to chart on the Billboard R&B chart that emanated from Motown Records was the Temptations 1968 hit “Cloud Nine.” “Your problems never cease. They just change.” Phil Jackson Motown Records – Part 7 Transition to Co-Pilot Norman Whitfield The problem in trying to do what I am trying to do here in trying to cover the significance of a juggernaut like Motown Records had on Black Music is that it is impossible to do it in an abridged way. As much as has been written and the fact that they still remain highly relevant as is demonstrated by the current popular Broadway show, it seems there still are so many areas that get insufficient mentioning. Case in point of how I glossed over the departure of Holand-Dozier-Holland (H-D-H) without stopping and ensuring that you are aware of the impact that they had on American Music. It is was nothing short of phenomenal. As mentioned in a previous post, they formulated as a team starting in 1963 and they worked at Motown until the end of 1967 officially, even though some of their songs can be heard in subsequent years after their departure because the had created these pieces before leaving. Their production work at Motown was spread over 13 separate Motown acts, but mainly they were assigned to 3 particular artists Martha and the Vandellas, the Four Tops and the Supremes. In looking at what they accomplished with 3 groups alone, we are talking about between them 45 songs that they worked on for them that charted on both the Pop and R&B charts. Of these 45 songs there were 33 Top Ten R&B songs, 29 Toop Ten Pop songs, 11 # 1 R&B songs and 11 # 1 Pop songs. Incredible numbers considering how difficult it was for Black music to get equity during the mid-60’s at the time that they flourished. All of them made them the first Black superstar production team. In addition to their songwriting and producing duties, by 1967 Eddie Holland was in charge of Motowns artist and repertoire department while Brian led the labels quality control section. In late 1967, after a series of discussions to get better compensation from the label, H-D-H stopped submitting songs for Motown artists to record. By early 1968, after Gordy refused to meet their terms for a new contract, H-D-H had left the label altogether. Alarmed at their departure, Gordy sued the team for breach of contract and stopped them from writing or producing for any other record company. Although Gordy later claimed that the lawsuit was merely a ploy to bring H-D-H back into the Motown fold, it was years before the legal action was settled. In the meantime the 3 acts that I mentioned before took very strong hits on their output. At Motown Records (1964-1977) (1964-1972) (1963-1972) Supremes Four Tops Vandelllas R&B Charted Hits with H-D-H 17 13 15 R&B Charted Hits after H-D-H 22 14 9 Top Ten R&B Hits with H-D-H 13 10 10 Top Ten R&B Hits after H-D-H 10 4 0 #1 R&B Hits with H-D-H 7 2 2 # 1 R&B Hits after H-D-H 2 0 0 Pop Charted Hits with H-D-H 17 13 15 Pop Charted Hits after H-D-H 19 14 9 Top Ten Pop Hits with H-D-H 13 5 6 Top Ten Pop Hits after H-D-H 6 0 0 #1 Pop Hits with H-D-H 9 2 0 # 1 Pop Hits after H-D-H 2 0 0 In the meantime, the former Motown employees were busy launching their own record labels, Hot Wax and Invictus Records. It was not until 1970 that the labels could release material without fear of legal reprisal from Gordy The timing of the exodus was during a time when America was in the midst of a social transformation and the music in America was becoming more in sync with radical changes that the young people were experiencing. In the mid-60’s Motown had adopted a motto “Music of Young America” but their music was extremely popular but strategically they were more directed toward finding au audience suited for the Las Vegas strip more than what young America was adapting to. The two directions were diametrically opposed to each other. The emergence of Sly and the Family Stone, Rock acts like Jimi Hendrix and the path of Pop acts like the Beatles were changing the whole landscape of music in America. In Black America the name ascribed the direction that Sly was taking things was named “Psychedelic Soul.” This music was also influenced by the civil rights movement, it had a darker and more political edge than much acid rock. Building on the funk sound of James Brown, however it was pioneered by Sly and the Family Stone with songs like Dance to the Music (1968), Everyday People (1968) and I Want to Take You Higher (1969), which had a sound that emphasized distorted electric rhythm guitar and strong basslines. After losing H-D-H, Motown Records felt they needed to do something dramatic to recover. Of the staff the most suited staff member to lead a change for the new direction was taking was a young and proven talent songwriter/producer Norman Whitfield. Whitfield had no musical training, but he noticed the early successes of musicians connected with the labels that coalesced into Motown. When I saw Smokey Robinson driving in a Cadillac, to be absolutely point-blank, thats what inspired me. I actually ran up behind him and asked him: ‘How do you get started?,’ he was quoted as saying in Londons Independent. Joining a band called the Mohawks as a tambourine player and working at a service station, Whitfield began trying to get a job at Motown. After being turned down repeatedly and even chased off the premises by label founder Berry Gordy, he finally impressed Gordy with his persistence and musical smarts. In 1962 Whitfield was hired for $15 a week as a member of Motowns quality control team. His job was to listen to Motown demo recordings and critique them in a report for Gordy, who would select songs for release. Soon Whitfield was trying his hand at songwriting, teaming with Marvin Gaye on Pride and Joy. With singer and songwriter William Smokey Robinson established as the producer for Motowns top act, the Temptations, Gordy gave Whitfield production work with less prominent Motown groups like the Velvelettes and the Marvelettes. Co-writing with Motown staff songwriter Eddie Holland, Whitfield began to accumulate a catalog of hit songs like He Was Really Sayin Something, a moderate success for the Velvelettes in 1964 and again for the British female vocal group Bananarama in 1982. Whitfield got his shot with the Temptations themselves in 1966, and he rose to the occasion with Aint Too Proud to Beg, co-written with Holland and tailor-made for the gruff, passionate voice of Temptations vocalist David Ruffin. After the moder- ately disappointing chart performance of the Robinson-produced Temptations song Get Ready, Aint Too Proud to Beg was released as a single and gave Whitfield his first number one hit on the R&B charts. Another rivalry—a romantic clash with songwriter Barrett Strong, who vied with Whitfield for the favors of various women—helped propel Whitfield to the top of the heap at Motown. The pair realized that tensions between them shouldnt get in the way of their obvious chemistry as songwriting partners. One of their first collaborations was I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Whitfield was excited about the song and recorded versions of it with various groups, including the Miracles and the Isley Brothers, but it was a recording by Gladys Knight & the Pips that scored a hit with both R&B and pop audiences in 1967. Whitfield recorded the song again with Marvin Gaye in 1968, using the technique (as he had with Ruffin) of pushing the singer into the top notes of his range. Gayes version was an even bigger hit, and the song eventually became a pop music standard. Whitfields technique of recording a song with several different artists, searching for just the right sonic landscape, was unusual, and it pointed toward the next phase of Whitfields career. Arguably the first black/African-American producer as auteur, noted the Independent, Whitfield began to create complex arrangements making use of synthesizers and rock guitars. Whitfield admitted that he was inspired in part by the pioneering soul-rock fusions of Sly & the Family Stone, but he and Strong combined stylistic fusions with new political and social themes in their lyrics. By 1968 the Temptations main producer, Whitfield created widely acclaimed hits like Cloud Nine (1968), which dealt with drug abuse, Ball of Confusion and Psychedelic Shack (1970), and the epic Papa Was a Rollin Stone (1972). A throwback to the romantic themes of earlier Motown music was the lush Just My Imagination, from the 1971 Temptations LP Skys the Limit. Also important were the Temptations and their producer Norman Whitfield, who moved from a relatively light vocal group into much more serious material with Cloud Nine (1968), Runaway Child, Running Wild (1969) and Psychedelic Shack (1969). The discussion about the importance of Norman Whitfield like that of H-D-H warrants much more discussion and must beand will be furthered.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 13:33:52 +0000
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