Customer Reviews

Ridin High//Sugar N Spice

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Unfortunately the Ridin' High part of this CD has sub par sound quality and the bass lines in particular tend to be hard to hear - definitely improved with aggressive use of bass tone control if you have it. For me the high point of Ridin' High is To Sir With Love with a memorable counterpoint bass part.

Now to Sugar n' Spice - the best original Motown album I've yet heard. The sound quality, songs, arrangements, playing and singing is wonderful in its variety and sophisticated funkiness. I also agree with a previous reviewer - the bonus track I Can't Dance to that Music You're Playing is excellent.

Bottom Lines:

1. If you love bass buy this CD and feast on the (often extraordinary) counterpoint - at this period in his career Jamerson was on fire.

2. If you love Motown buy it for the wonderful music on Sugar'n'Spice, (to me the strongest album under the Martha & the Vandellas name). The good songs on Ridin' High are a bonus.

"Ridin' High" came after Motown released a Martha and the Vandellas Live album which, incredibly, had totally different performances on side A of the mono issue and side A of the stereo issue and was so badly miked it's incredible it was even released. "Ridin' High' was an attempt to move the Vandellas to a new, more sophisticated level, and Martha was given the opportunity to record important material from outside the Motown library, along with the usual tracks-that-didn't-make-single-status. The results are mixed as usual--you sort of get a real album and sort of don't--but throughout Martha sings her heart out. The hit singles here are terrific--Richard Morris proved a most sympatico producer who made records that didn't sound like typical Motown. The album did very well, and definitely benefitted from the attractive, non=-girl group cover. Everyone waiting for a great followup had to be disappointed when "Sugar and Spice" emerged. The cover was clever, though the girls were back in evening-gowned group uniform, but the album was strictly a random collection of sides not good enough for single release, with nothing on the album relating to anything else and one of Motown's strangest songs, "Shoe Leather Expressway" included (a song about walking as compared to driving--huh?). The single "Taking My Love and Leaving Me" was strictly B-side stuff, though as usual Martha makes the song sound miles above its true worth. This all was recorded over the period of several years and sounds totally aimless, with no sugar OR spice. What make it worthwile, as always, is Martha. She can take the most routine or lame lyric, toss it up in the air, and make it come down convincing and riveting. What a talent!

"Ridin' High" came after Motown released a Martha and the Vandellas Live album which, incredibly, had totally different performances on side A of the mono issue and side A of the stereo issue and was so badly miked it's incredible it was even released. "Ridin' High' was an attempt to move the Vandellas to a new, more sophisticated level, and Martha was given the opportunity to record important material from outside the Motown library, along with the usual tracks-that-didn't-make-single-status. The results are mixed as usual--you sort of get a real album and sort of don't--but throughout Martha sings her heart out. The hit singles here are terrific--Richard Morris proved a most sympatico producer who made records that didn't sound like typical Motown. The album did very well, and definitely benefitted from the attractive, non=-girl group cover. Everyone waiting for a great followup had to be disappointed when "Sugar and Spice" emerged. The cover was clever, though the girls were back in evening-gowned group uniform, but the album was strictly a random collection of sides not good enough for single release, with nothing on the album relating to anything else and one of Motown's strangest songs, "Shoe Leather Expressway" included (a song about walking as compared to driving--huh?). The single "Taking My Love and Leaving Me" was strictly B-side stuff, though as usual Martha makes the song sound miles above its true worth. This all was recorded over the period of several years and sounds totally aimless, with no sugar OR spice. What make it worthwile, as always, is Martha. She can take the most routine or lame lyric, toss it up in the air, and make it come down convincing and riveting. What a talent!

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas always had a loyal cult following in Britain, so it's not surprising that Motown UK has finally reissued all their original albums as twofers in CD format. The good news is that they're all given the royal treatment (similar to the Supremes reissue), with annotated track listings, bonus tracks including alternative takes, glorious colour pictures on the covers and booklets and above all, great audio quality from digital remastering. The not-so-good news is that the albums themselves are of variable quality and not always essential to all but hardcore fans. The best of the 3 later releases is to my ears is "Natural Resources/Black Magic", the weakest and least essential being "Riding High/Sugar & Spice". "Dance Party/Watchout" is worth buying if only for the dance set.

According to Martha Reeves' autobiography, "Riding High" was one of their most popular albums. If so, it must have sold on the back of the hits lifted from it because to my ears, this was possibly the most problematic album the group ever recorded. Except for "Honey Chile", the hits featured on the set were....yes..hits but definitely not their best or most memorable. "Forget Me Not", a good song and a surprise smash in the UK and "Show Me The Way" were two of the stronger tracks on the album. "Leave It In The Hands Of Love" sounded like a Four Tops' tune whilst "I'm In Love (And I Know It)" and "Without Love" were average uptempo Motown fare. But their covers of Bacharach/David's "Always Something There To Remind Me" and "I Say A Little Prayer" and Lulu's "To Sir With Love" were wide off the mark. This wasn't necessarily the group's fault. They were fine but the arrangements were perfunctory, throwaway or just plain awful. The concept behind "Riding High" may have been symptomatic of Motown's strategy at the time to break their artistes (including the Supremes) to a wider audience. Hence, the mish mash of different styles on a single album.

"Sugar & Spice" was essentially an album of outtakes from different sessions quickly assembled for release in 1969 by Motown when the group temporarily disbanded due to the collapse of Martha's health. Not surprisingly, the album didn't spawn any major hits. Again, the material wasn't top draw, consisting of mainly filler material. Except for the two Ashford and Simpson produced compositions, notably "I'm A Winner", and Deke Richard's "Loneliness Is A Lonely Feeling", the rest including two Holland-Dozier-Holland songs just sound like Supremes rejects. Martha & the Vandellas also shouldn't have bothered with cabaret standards like "What Now My Love". This kind of material doesn't suit their style, nor do they showcase Martha's glorious voice to its best advantage.

The alternative vocals version of the non-album hit song, "Sweet Darlin'" is great though. This twofer is only for hardcore fans and completists.