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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 12, 2021 6:55:01 GMT
Over to Motown ... by the 1980s a bit hit and miss, but still with some standouts, like this from Rick James in 1984:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 14, 2021 10:12:08 GMT
In 1983 Motown prematurely celebrated its 25th anniversary, bringing back various vintage acts to record albums specially. The Four Tops came back from a stint at Casablanca and recorded with various producers, including HDH for the whole of side 1. For me there's a couple of standout tracks, including this uptempo tune that would easily fit the profile of this series:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 15, 2021 9:03:00 GMT
The Temptations' album marking Motown's 25th a year early in 1983 had the whole of side one produced by Norman Whitfield. OF those tunes, for me this is the standout:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 16, 2021 5:07:40 GMT
The Junior Walker 25th anniversary album was probably the most consistent of the lot, with production divided between Hal Davis and Willie Hutch. Junior even did a version of "In and out", but he also did these:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 17, 2021 11:31:59 GMT
Skipworth and Turner released 2 albums and not just one track. From their Patrick Adams-produced 1985 album comes this instrumental:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 18, 2021 15:26:10 GMT
Here's a bit of a curve ball by People's Choice, who released a 4 track EP disguised as an LP in 1982, including this:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 20, 2021 10:29:03 GMT
Back to Motown. The Dazz Band's downtempo tunes age better for me, but this uptempo track from 1985 had less of the gimmicky production of the time and was all the better for it:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 21, 2021 18:05:11 GMT
Here's a largely forgotten release from the tail end of the Britfunk scene in 1983 by The Biz:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 22, 2021 14:48:02 GMT
The 1985-released second album by Womack & Womack, Radio MUSC Man, didn't make such a splash as their first, and while Robbie Vincent used to hammer "Maze" I always thought this track was one of the best. Lovely production.
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Post by MickeyFinn on Nov 23, 2021 6:51:35 GMT
Willie Collins' 1986 album features this underplayed Womack & Womack authored track:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Dec 3, 2021 11:28:10 GMT
Back to the great year that was 1981 for this type of music, and a surprisingly under-reissued track by Jeanette Lady Day:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Dec 5, 2021 14:06:31 GMT
Back to Motown for this 1984 gem by Bobby King that hasn't been reissued since it appeared on Ralph Tee's "Motown Trackin'" comp way back in 1986:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Dec 7, 2021 6:30:48 GMT
On the same album Bobby King did a version of the Leon Ware penned "Show me your magic", which Leon also recorded later on his 1987 "Undercover" album. That's not available unfortunately, but this track from the same album, recorded previously by Billy Griffin, is:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Dec 10, 2021 12:18:51 GMT
Back to 1981 for this underplayed and underappreciated track by an artist who could be described the same way - Bobby McClure:
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Post by MickeyFinn on Dec 13, 2021 8:00:03 GMT
Staying in 1981 for this lesser known version of the James Perry track "April lady" by Wax, off a very strong album produced by Lenny White. This hasn't appeared on a compilation for over 30 years, having been selected on the Rare 2 collection by Dez Parkes:
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