Customer Reviews

20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection

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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.

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.

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.

Kim Weston possessed a great talent for singing; and when she sang she performed passionately. Marvin Gaye himself did two famous duets with her entitled "It Takes Two" and "What Good Am I Without You." I don't think we hear enough as we should from Kim but my understanding is that life took her in a different direction.

"It Takes Two" starts off the album with a catchy melody and the lyrics are great. Kim Weston and Marvin Gaye sing beautifully together without a single superfluous note! Their interpersonal chemistry shines on this number. "Helpless" takes you by surprise as Kim's beautiful voice instantly draws you in so that your entire attention focuses solely on the music and this album. "Helpless" boasts a fine musical arrangement, too.

Other fantastic numbers on this CD include "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)" and "Looking For The Right Guy." "What Good Am I Without You" has a great beat and the female chorus in the background enhances that '60s Motown feel to this duet with Kim and Marvin Gaye.

The album ends with the striking grandeur of "Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing." If Kim wanted to do a "Black National Anthem" she certainly succeeded with this track. The melody stirs your emotions and the choir increases the beauty of the song. Kim's voice is perhaps in its best form on this last track; her vocal range and style provide an operatic quality to this number that few other Motown singers could ever achieve. Awesome!

The liner notes include an essay based on an interview with Kim herself about her life; David Nathan and Harry Weinger wrote this essay well. The artwork features fantastic pictures of Kim as well.

Kim Weston deserves more recognition than she ever received for her sultry and soulful vocal talent. She could take a song and breathe life into it so that you remembered it vividly for quite some while.

I recommend this CD for fans of Kim Weston and the 1960s Motown sound. People who enjoy classic R&B and 1960s pop music will also enjoy this album.

Great job, Kim!

There, on the covering of this CD, is a sticker boldly saying "All of her Classic Hits including IT TAKES TWO (with Marvin Gaye), HELPLESS, TAKE ME IN YOUR ARMS and LIFT EV'RY VOICE AND SING." Now, if you're familiar with this vast series from 20th Century Masters - The Millenium Collection - you know they invariably have just 11 tracks, but in this instance that would fit the bill since Kim only had 9 hit singles from 1963 to 1970, 3 on Tamla, 2 on Gordy (both Motown subsidiaries), two for MGM, and one each on Pride and People.

Then you turn it over and, if you're at all familiar with Kim's music, you at once furrow your brow when you see A Thrill A Moment, Just Loving You, Looking For The Right Guy, A Little More Love, and I'm Still Loving You. Not only were these never hits for Kim, not on the R&B, Pop Hot 100 nor Adult Contemporary charts, they weren't even the flips-sides of any of her hits!

In the discography that comes with the fold-out insert you find that each was a failed single, four issued on Tamla and one on Gordy from 1963 to 1965. Nice to see, as several never previously came out on albums, but why these and not I Got What You Need, a # 99 Hot 100 in April 1967 on MGM 13720, Nobody, a # 39 R&B in early 1968 on MGM 13881, and Danger, Heartbreak Ahead, a # 49 R&B in January 1970 on People 1001? Not huge hits by any criteria, but at least legitimate chart-makers whose inclusion would then support that sticker's claim.

The sound is excellent and the insert also contains two pages by "Kim Weston in Los Angeles as told to David Nathan - additional interview material and editorial by Harry Weinger." There are also a few more nice photos of the gorgeous Kim.

As to what is here, well, I suppose you can say that the six hits included were, indeed, her "classic" ones. Her first came in summer 1963 when Love Me All The Way went to # 24 R&B but a mediocre # 88 Billboard Pop Hot 100 on Tamla 54076 b/w It Should Have Been Me, but any follow-up hit would take well over a year, and even then it took a duet with the great Marvin Gaye on What Good Am I Without You. Not only was this the height of the British Invasion, but Billboard had also suspended the R&B charts throughout all of 1964, so the # 61 Hot 100 on Tamla 54104 b/w I Want You 'Round was a modest showing, considering the presence of Gaye.

Another full year would then go by before she returned to the charts, this time with Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While), which hit # 4 of the re-instated R&B charts in November 1965, but only a modest # 50 Hot 100, this time on Gordy 7046 b/w Don't Compare Me With Her. The following spring, in April 1966, she had Helpless make it to # 13 R&B, but that Top 40 Hot 100 still eluded her as it only reached # 56 on Gordy 7050 b/w A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knocking Everyday).

What it took to change that was another duet with Marvin, and this time It Takes Two peaked at # 4 R&B and # 14 Hot 100 in March 1967 on Tamla 54141 b/w It's Got To Be A Miracle (This Thing Called Love). A month later she turned up with MGM for the above-mentioned I Got What You Need, and followed that almost a year later with Nobody and, in early 1970, with Danger, Heartbreak Ahead, now with the People label (the last two also listed above).

Her final hit, presented here, was also initially an MGM release on MGM 13927 in 1969, but it wasn't until this 1970 issue on Pride 1 that it charted at # 50 R&B and # 120 Hot 100 "bubble under" in June b/w This Is America.

The inclusion of those missing hits would have made this one of the best in the 20th Century collection.

I am a big Motown fan, having grown up in the 60's. This song (Looking for the Right Guy) takes me right back to my teenage years. It was always one of my favorites, I just bought it for myself and one of my childhood friends for Christmas!!

I got this CD for ONE SONG and it was an altenative cut of "Love Me All The Way". Same music track, but she's not pouring out her soul like she did on the single that was released. I'm dissapointed. The other songs are great but why muck up that song? Why do these companies put "alternative" cuts on these compilations. Just like Marvin Gaye's "Stubborn Kinda Fella CD'. Pride & Joy is an alternative cut....that SUCKS..........................