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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of Motown magic here...,
By
This review is from: 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection (Audio CD)
Although she did not achieve the commercial success of some of her labelmates at Motown, Kim Weston saw five of her recordings make the top-10 pop charts with her best-known being her duet with Marvin Gaye, "It Takes Two". Ironically, this tune, her biggest and last charting Motown effort, occured after she had moved to MGM.
This mid-price collection, as one in the Millennium Collection series, gathers up all her Motown charting hits plus one of her singles done while at MGM. While there are other Kim Weston compilation CD's available, this one offers the stereo versions of her recordings as opposed to the mono versions found in most other collections. All the tracks here appear in stereo with the exception of track 10, and while these stereo versions differ to varying degrees from the mono single versions, the clarity and effect of the stereo sound stage make these tunes come alive. Weston worked with many of the best talents at Motown including Holland-Dozier-Holland (the powerhouse writing team behind the Supremes) and Smokey Robinson of the Miracles. Her H-D-H tunes were powerful ditties with that distinctive pounding beat and inexplicably did not make more headway on the charts. Her tunes "Helpless" and "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me For A Little While)" have the energy and dynamism that deserved much more sales action. After Mary Wells left Motown, Weston was given a Smokey Robinson ditty, similar to Wells' "My Guy" but with its own qualities and quintessential Robinson wordplay. That tune, "Looking For The Right Guy", should have put Weston firmly onto the pop charts but again, somehow, this superb tune fell between the cracks and did not see the light of pop top-100 day. The successful pairing of Weston with Marvin Gaye hinted of what could have been, and the string of hits for Marvin Gaye with his new singing partner Tammi Terrell may have been Weston's success story had she stayed with Motown. In spite of the lack of commercial success for Weston, this collection does showcase her talents and the often first-rate material she was priviledged to have while at Motown. The only criticism here would be the exclusion of her only pop-charting MGM hit, "I Got What You Need", a minor hit in 1967, a somewhat puzzling oversight in that another MGM tune has been included here. Nitpicking aside, this collection does offer a sampling of some great classic-era Motown music from one of their leading ladies.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Little More Kim,
By
This review is from: 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection (Audio CD)
All but one of the 11 tracks have appeared elsewhere, so I bought this disc for the last track, "Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing". But there are other delights as well, such as many extended stereo mixes, mainly her hits with Marvin Gaye. Also, the "night falls" verse in Helpless is reconstructed fleshing it out to 2:50 instead of 2:36. The last track is worth every cent and more, because we hear Kim's sanctified roots for the first time since her first single, "Love Me All The Way". In these two recordings her Gospel music training takes full command. She comes on like Dorothy Love Coats at times. Hearing "Love Me" for the first time back when the first "16 Hits" LP was released was an experience I'll never forget. Jazz is prevelent here as well in her second release, "Just Loving You". When she lets go a chuckle after singing the first verse, you get the idea. The liner notes are from an interview, which was conducted here in L.A. by David Nathan. There are many things we do not know about Kim because she wasn't in the spotlight that her contemporaries were. A singer of varied talents, it's such a shame that radio spins her lone top 10 hit, and that one is shared with Marvin Gaye. In 1965, I took her current record, "Take Me In Your Arms" to school and played it for everyone and they were floored. Kim wasn't really the Aretha Franklin or Dinah Washington of Motown--she was the Kim Weston of Motown!! This is an essential companion to Greatest Hits and Rare Classics in which all of her B-sides accompany some of the greatest singles to ever come out of Hitsville.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT! SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE OF IT!,
By A Customer
This review is from: 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection (Audio CD)
Already owning a copy of Kim Weston's "Greatest Hits and Rare Classics" CD, I bought this one for the closing track, the early 70's Black radio staple "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." It was a nice surprise to hear great alternate takes of "Helpless" (also included in the "Motown Year by Year 1966" CD now out of print), "A Thrill A Moment" and "A Little More Love." I would've liked vaulted material like Ms. Weston's superior version of the Supremes' "Any Girl In Love (Knows What I'm Going Through)" to have been included. The only bad thing about "The Best of Kim Weston" is that there's not enough songs. The mastering is excellent, the photos ditto and the liner notes by the great lady herself, one of the most criminally underrated vocalists of R&B.
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