Some Motown songs are known around the globe. Sexual Healing, Billie Jean and Eaten Alive being perfect examples.

But besides the famous songs, there are many Motown song that are GREAT but were only minor hits compared to the obvious hits, because of bad promotion or whatever...

So, my songs would be:


Diana & Marvin: You Are Everything and My Mistake. (I know they were hits in the UK, but they're not on the usual compilations!)

Jackson 5 (and MJ solo): Darling Dear, What Goes Around Comes Around

The Elgins: Darling Baby

The Marvelettes: Which Way Did He Go, Strange I Know, I Need Someone, When You're Young In Love

Marvin Gaye: Where Are We Going

Stevie Wonder: Love a Go-Go

The Spinners: It's A Shame

All the Syreeta tracks Stevie was involved in!


As said before, IÄm sure many of you know some songs, but theyre not the ususal candidates for Motown greatest hits.
[Edited 2/28/09 12:31pm]

graecophilos said:

'Knowledge is Power'

Too many songs not championed by so-called Motown lovers:

Diana Ross' "Surrender"
Marvin Gaye's "Try It, You'll Like It"
Willie Hutch's "I Can Sho Give You Love"
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' "I Can't Stand to See You Cry"
Eddie Kendricks' "My People (Hold On!)"
Stevie Wonder's "Heaven Is a Zillion Light Years Away"
The Velvelettes' and Diana Ross' versions of "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You"
Diana's version of "Reach Out, I'll Be There"
Marvin & Diana's entire album, lol
Marvin & Tammi's "I'll Be Satisfied" (gotta love Tammi when she matches Marvin's grit at the end)
Mary Wells' "When I'm Gone"
Brenda Holloway's "Think It Over"
Marvin's "I'm Going Home" (the 1972 original)
----
I can go on and on right now but I'm gonna stop right there... I agree on the Elgins' "Darling Baby"!

Technically "Sexual Healing", "Billie Jean" and "Eaten Alive" weren't Motown songs but they WERE released by Motown-associated acts.

Lady Dujour - Johnny Gill

I'm surprised no one put Today's "Girl I Got My Eyes on You" until most recently. Hell the Motown 40 collection chose "Him or Me" and I think "Girl..." was the most successful (and better) track for them. I just love that Teddy beat! You normally don't associate the Motown Sound with New Jack Swing but it works here IMHO.

"Love Is Here (And Now You're Gone)" by Diana Ross and the Supremes.This is actually my favorite song by them.I don't think it did as well as their other singles.

Marrk said:

yeah, but you realized it was supposed to be funny.

[quote]

graecophilos said:

Those are not Motown songs "Billie Jean" is on Epic Records while "Eaten Alive" is from RCA Records.

SoulAlive said:

It went number-one.

Actually there's tons of Supremes songs I think should've done better than what they did:
"Let Me Go the Right Way"
"A Breath-Taking Guy" (I love that over "Your Heart Belongs to Me")
"When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes"
"Mother Dear" should've been released as a single
"Mother You, Smother You"
"I'm Going Down for the Third Time" gave the group a soulful edge people thought they didn't have, there was a lot of grit in that song and Diana's cool vocals meshed with Flo and Mary's soulful breakdowns!
"Some Things You Never Get Used To"
"Honey Bee (Keep On Stinging Me)" (great Diana Ross solo, you notice no background vocalists on this, lol!)
"The Shadows of Society"
Their's and Diana's solo version of "Keep an Eye"...

The Supremes had some GREAT gems that were even better than some of their signature tunes!

"Silly Wasn't I" by Valerie Simpson

graecophilos said:

I got the point...

But you know some of us Motown theorists had to act like you were serious.

SoulAlive said:

Great track! Motown never really respected Ashford & Simpson despite their accomplishments over there. No wonder Motown never got behind their own works especially with Valerie's solo recordings.

Timmy84 said:

Wow,did it really go Number One?! I thought it was one of their forgotten singles,lol.I've even seen Supremes compilations that don't even have it included.

SoulAlive said:

Yep, #1 for two weeks in the early months of 1967.

You must've bought some cheap bootleg compilations because the official ones have that song. I got a Supremes compilation with that song featuring an unedited ending.
[Edited 2/28/09 12:22pm]

Timmy84 said:

Motown must have felt really embarassed when they signed with Warner Bros. and established themselves as a successful duo This may explain why Berry Gordy wasn't too keen on bringing them back to produce Diana's 'The Boss' album in 79.

Timmy84 said:

One of my favorite less known songs by the Supremes is Whisper You Love Me Boy.

SoulAlive said:

Exactly. Diana Ross personally wanted Ashford & Simpson to work on "The Boss". I think she did this to get back at Berry for not letting Rick James produce her album.

graecophilos said:

I love that song too. Mary Wells recorded it originally but she left Motown before they could put it out. I also love the Supremes' version of "He Holds His Own". Not quite fond of their version of "My Guy" but I love Diana, Mary and Flo's vocal interactions as if they were fighting over the same guy, lol. I also love their version of "Put Yourself in My Place".

Timmy84 said:

This song I like very much. But it's quite old, The Sisters Love did a version of it in the late 60s.

I have to say i like the whole shelved You're The Man album!!

graecophilos said:

Word!

Timmy84 said:

Timmy, I have it as a physical CD. (self burned). Thinking of it, Marvin could have had more good albums out, no? You're The Man, Love Massage...

Both could have benefited from their precedors success, especially the You're The Man album could have being renamed in Where Are We Going (as a shameless follow-up to What's Going On.)

Anyway, MG had a phenomenal career and great album, so I don't wanna spoil his discography. it's just a thought.

graecophilos said:

Good thought but maybe it was meant to be that way. In a way Berry and Marvin's arguments did lead to great moments in Marvin's career, it allowed him to grow. When "You're the Man" was shelved, out came "Let's Get It On", which was controversial enough, then "I Want You", then "Here, My Dear", "Love Man" was canceled in place of "In Our Lifetime". The shelved "Ballads" album came out later as "Vulnerable". I mean in a way, you can see how diverse dude was.

"Whisper You Love Me Boy" by the Supremes?? I love that song!!!! I had forgotten all about it!! I seriously need to go get some of their albums.There's a forgotten song by them...it's called "Everything Is Good About You".....love that one too!!

SoulAlive said:

Like I said, The Supremes had some great joints that Motown for some reason did NOT release. IMHO, the original Supremes never got enough credit for their harmonies and Diana never got props for the way she handled some songs. She was also very diverse.

Timmy84 said:

I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, I think Ms. Wilson version of what went down behind the scenes has sorta reduced or painted Ms. Ross as nothing more than a "black barbie doll" who could hold a tune. All ego's aside, Ms. Ross in retrospect had an extraordinary ability to sing melodies and an ease of delivering/interpreting a lyric(s) that's has been greatly under-appreciated. Some of those R/B/Pop tunes weren't as easy to sing as they appeared, she makes it sound that way.
[Edited 2/28/09 15:41pm]

TD3 said:

Yeah I feel you on that. But yeah you're definitely right about Miss Ross' vocal abilities. People always talk about Karen Carpenter being this deep vocalist, well I put Miss Ross in that SAME category. Too bad Motown didn't really pay attention to her music in the early 1970s. They were too busy trying to make Miss Ross a movie star. Time magazine actually lambasted Berry Gordy in their review of "Mahogany" saying that Berry "squandered one of America's natural resources: Diana Ross". That tells you something...

Of course I meant Ms. Wilson and not Ms. Mary Wells....

TD3 said:

I know.

I refuse to read that book (even if Harley thinks I should).

"I Wanna Be Where You Are" Michael Jackson. How great is this song.

Lots of Michael Jackson/Jackson 5 songs, but I'm not sure half the time whether their originals or remakes
[Edited 2/28/09 15:28pm]

Arnotts said:

A MAJORITY of the Jackson 5/early MJ/Jermaine and Jackie solo recordings that came out had nothing BUT covers. Only a handful were originals, lol.

Of the 18 hits they had in Motown, I think about two of which were covers ("Doctor My Eyes" in England and "Forever Came Today" in the US.

I count the J5's "Don't Let Your Baby" and "All I Do Is Think of You" and MJ's "Take Me Back" and "We're Almost There" as the underrated joints in the Jackson canon.