Ridin High//Sugar N Spice [Extra tracks, Import]

Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Martha Reeves | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 29, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import
• Label: Island UK
• ASIN: B0000647GS
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #449,101 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Promise To Wait My Love

2. Honey Chile

3. (Theres) Always Something There To Remind Me

4. Leave It In The Hands Of Love

5. Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone

6. Im In Love (And I Know It)

7. To Sir With Love

8. Forget Me Not

9. (Weve Got) Honey Love

10. I Say A Little Prayer

11. Without You

12. Show Me The Way

13. Taking My Love (And Leaving Me)

14. Shoe Leather Expressway

15. Youre The Loser Now

16. Im A Winner

17. What Now My Love

18. Soul Appeal

19. Loneliness Is A Lonely Feelin

20. I Love The Man

See all 27 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great surprise!, August 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Ridin High//Sugar N Spice (Audio CD)

I just received this CD on Friday and have been listening to it all weekend. Most people have given "Ridin High/Sugar & Spice" only mild reviews. "Ridin High" is generously packed with singles (Honey Chile, I Promise to Wait, Love Bug, Honey Love). To me, all of these songs are great! They have a nice sweet and funky feel to them. Also included are some excellent B sides. "Show Me The Way" and "I'm In Love" are both gems. The former is a hard driving dance tune while the latter is a jazzy, finger snapper written by Stevie Wonder. H-D-H's "Leave It in the Hands of Love" is a classic song which could have been a hit. Even the non-Motown covers sound good to me, especially "Say A Little Prayer."

"Sugar & Spice" was the real exciting surprise. Besides the single release, "Taking My Love", I had not heard any of the other selections. To me, this is a nice collection of songs from a variety of sources (HDH, Sylvia Moy, Deke Richards, Ashford & Simpson). From the great uptempo numbers (I'm A Winner, Shoe Leather Expressway, Heartless) to the ballads (the beautiful "You're the Loser Now" and the superb album closer "I Hope You Have Better Luck that I Did"), Martha Reeves really displays her vocal talents. I think she sounds just great on the standard "What Now My Love". Every song has something to offer, even the lesser numbers ("I Love the Man" & "Soul Appeal"). The single "Taking My Love" is a pleasant soul/pop number that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Supremes album. Also, the nicely arranged "Loneliness Is A Lonely Feeling" is a treat and should have been a single.

This CD also includes some bonus tracks including the excellent "I Can't Dance to that Music You're Playing" which was never included on a album until "Live Wire-The Singles".

Even though I already have the "Live Wire-Singles" collection, which contains many of the same singles as "Ridin High", I am still glad I have "Ridin High/Sugar & Spice." The singles especially have a nicer sound quality than they do on "Live Wire", probably due to better re-mastering. Also, "Live Wire" left off some classic B-sides ("I'm In Love" & "Without You") which I have been trying to find for years and finally have them on "Ridin High".

Anyway, I guess I'm in the minority with these two albums as I find them to be enjoyable listening experiences.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two late sixties albums, August 17, 2003

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ridin High//Sugar N Spice (Audio CD)

By the time these albums were recorded in the late sixties, line-up changes were beginning to take their toll. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of good music here.

The first album, Riding high, featured Martha Reeves, Rosayln Ashford and Lois Reeves. Lois was new to the group, having just replaced Betty Kelley. The two biggest American hits were Honey chile (just missed the top ten) and Love bug leave my heart (top thirty). O promise to wait my love and We've got honey love were minor American hits. In the UK, none of those charted, but a remix of Forget me not just missed the top ten. Riding high also features fine covers of To sir with love (Lulu), I say a little prayer (Aretha Franklin) and Always something there to remind me (Sandie Shaw).

The next album featured yet another line-up change, with Sandra Tilley replacing Rosalyn Ashford. Only one American single was released - Taking my love, which didn't quite make the top 100. No British single was released - indeed, the album was not given a British release until 1970, although it was released in the USA in 1969. The best known song here is probably What now my love, a cover of a song first written and recorded in French by Gilbert Becaud, but which became popular in Britain and America after translation into English. The remaining songs appear to be originals, though I cannot be sure of that.

These are not the strongest two albums that Martha and the Vandellas recorded, but if you enjoy the other three twofers by them in the same series, you should enjoy this.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Late Sixties Motown, July 14, 2007

By 

Laurence Upton (Wilts, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ridin High//Sugar N Spice (Audio CD)

These are the first two albums to be released following the name change at Motown's behest to Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Both are usefully paired up on this 2 Classic Albums 1 CD, along with three bonus tracks.

Ridin' High reflected the changes happening within the group, at Motown and in the world. The album was one of their most popular and included the hit single Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone. This had been recorded in April 1967 with Vandellas Rosalind Ashford and Betty Kelly, but by the time the album came out in May 1968, Betty had been replaced by Martha's sister, Lois Reeves. Lois appeared on several other singles that preceded and followed up the album: Honey Chile (their last big Top Ten single), I Promise To Wait My Love, I Can't Dance To That Music You're Playing, Sweet Darlin' and (We've Got) Honey Love. However other songs recorded before Betty's exit include the storming Leave It In The Hands Of Love and I'm In Love (And I Know It).

Motown's sound had evolved as new musicians, producers and songwriters had come on board and most of the album was produced by newcomer Richard Morris from the Golden World label. Some of the songs reflected what was going on in Viet Nam, including I Promise To Wait My Love and Forget Me Not, and several were written especially for Martha by Sylvia Moy, who had also joined the company as a result of their acquisition of Golden World.

New writers were needed as the Holland-Dozier-Holland team had left the label in spring 1967. They had worked extensively with Martha and the Vandellas in the past, as had Mickey Stevenson who had also left the company, and two of the Holland-Dozier productions from the early 1967 sessions with Rosalind Ashford and Betty Kelly that had produced Leave It In The Hands Of Love were held over for the next album, Sugar N' Spice, namely I Can't Get Along Without You and I Hope You Have Better Luck Than I Did.

Sugar N' Spice came out in October 1969, at a time when Martha Reeves was having a lot of personal problems as well as problems with Motown, and the record was largely assembled from material left in the can, the oldest being Heartless, recorded in May 1966. The opening track, Taking My Love (And Leaving Me) was initially recorded in 1967 when Betty and Rosalind were still in the band, but featured newer additional vocals from Rita Wright (aka Syreeta) and the Andantes. It was the only single taken from the album, with Heartless on the flip, and was not released in the UK, though You're The Loser Now was on the B-side of I Gotta Let You Go a year later.

The cover depicted Martha inside a huge spice jar with Lois Reeves and new member Sandra Tilley, who had replaced Rosalind during 1969, though all of the newer cuts on the album had been recorded with Rosalind, before Sandra joined. These include I'm A Winner and It Ain't Like That, the first songs Martha Reeves had recorded with another new team, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Two more Ashford/Simpson productions turn up on her next two albums, possibly all from the same sessions? It isn't such a consistently strong album as Ridin' High but certainly has its moments.

The bonus tracks raise the bar again and are the single I Can't Dance To That Music You're Playing, an alternative vocal version of the non-album single Sweet Darlin', and an alternative, longer mono mix of I Promise To Wait My Love.