Customer Reviews

Stubborn Kind of Fellow / How Sweet It Is

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

 

 

Although Marvin Gaye rebelled against the production line sound of Tamla and ultimately broke the mould with his self-produced What's Going On, one could never detect any antipathy from the consummate performances he gave on everything he recorded from the moment he signed to the label in 1961, seeing himself as the new Black Sinatra, and much as I admire his later work, for me it is the recordings he made in the sixties that include some of the best records that Motown would put out.

This CD comprises two of the finest of his early albums, That Stubborn Kinda' Fellow, his second album, from 1963, and How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You, from 1965, his fifth solo album. Both are beautifully mastered from the original tapes and come in an attractive package containing all the important rudimentary information, if occasionally incorrect through omission or misprint. The first caveat to note is that although the cardboard sleeve that contains the package has the legend <<<STEREO>>> printed large on the front cover, this is only true of the second album. That Stubborn Kinda' Fellow is presented entirely in mono, as was the original album, although all but a couple of the tracks subsequently appeared in stereo on Marvin Gaye's Greatest Hits (1964).

That Stubborn Kinda' Fellow is Tamla at its earthiest, most thrilling and exuberant, and benefits from the newly signed Martha and the Vandellas providing soaring backing vocals on six of the ten tracks (two of these from when they were still a quartet known as the Del-Phis). Some of the recordings date from 1961 and 1962 (before the Vandellas were on the label), and on these former singles and B-sides (Soldier's Plea, Taking My Time, I'm Yours You're Mine and Hello There Angel) the Love-Tones or the Andantes provide vocal backup.

Stubborn Kind Of Fellow and Hitch Hike had both been hit singles and led to the album being commissioned; and Pride And Joy (with a new vocal) was to be Marvin's greatest hit to date a couple of months later. Although considered as a single, the ska rhythm of Wherever I Lay My Hat was not found on a 45 until it became a B-side in 1969. The album was not released in the UK though some of the singles from it came out on the Oriole label, without denting the charts.

Whilst the anorak within me wants to see Marvin Gaye's entire Tamla catalogue released two at a time in this series, my bargain-hunter side concedes that this pairing represents the cream of his output in the first half of the sixties, especially since they share company with aspirational non-pop albums such as Hello Broadway This Is Marvin and A Tribute to the Great Nat King Cole.

How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You is a smoother, more seductive album and is in many ways more consistent than That Stubborn Kinda' Fellow. It kicks off with four sublime A-sides, You're A Wonderful One, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), Try It Baby (on which David Ruffin guests) and the much covered Baby Don't You Do It. All of these were big US hits, though fared less well in the UK, where three of them were released on the Stateside label. All but four of the rest of the album tracks were released as B-sides at the time, though both Now That You've Won Me and Forever (the Marvelettes song) were in different versions to these.

The album was recorded between February 1963 and August 1964 with a variety of producers and songwriters and came out in the UK on the newly launched Tamla Motown label in a slightly re-sequenced version, apparently having 14 tracks, though I haven't been able to confirm this by finding a track-list.

There are no bonus tracks, which could have included the related B-sides If My Heart Could Sing, When I'm Alone I Cry (both from the album When I'm Alone I Cry) and Walk On The Wild Side (from Hello Broadway), but perhaps there are plans for these albums to appear in the series.

Between them these two albums have more fabulous Motown moments that one should possibly expect on one CD, featuring one of its finest male vocalists.

These import two-fers' are terrific. They feature terrific sound quality and great packaging. The albums included are:

THAT STUBBORN KINDA FELLOW (1963) ***1/2 (3.5 out of 5) Marvin's first real release (not counting the supper club flop THE SOULFUL MOODS OF MARVIN GAYE) is possibly the grittiest and most soulful album that Motown ever released in the sixties. This lends the disc a little more cohesiveness than the majority of the label's releases during the decade. The three singles are classics and include the seminal hits "Stubborn Kinda Fellow" (#46 Pop, #8 R&B), "Hitch Hike" (#30 Pop, #12 R&B), and "Pride And Joy" (#10 Pop, #2 R&B). As for the album tracks, Marvin's rendition of "A Soldier's Plea" is almost unbearably moving and "Taking My Time" is a hidden gem. Like most Motown records of the era, THAT STUBBORN KINDA FELLOW is expertly crafted and extremely pleasurable, even if it's not always memorable.

HOW SWEET IT IS TO BE LOVED BY YOU (1965) *** (3 out of 5) This popular release is little more spotty and generic than THAT STUBBORN KINDA FELLOW, however HOW SWEET IT IS contains enough quality material to be a good listen. The title song hit #6 on the Pop chart (his best selling single at that date) and is one of the most infectious singles to ever hit the airwaves. The disc's other hits are the driving "You're A Wonderful One" (#15 Pop), the soothing "Try It Baby" (#15 Pop), and the rocking "Baby Don't You Do It" (#27 Pop), all of which are great releases. The superb "No Good Without You" makes excellent use of it's killer refrain, and Marvin's vocals on "Now That You've Won Me" and "Forever" are particularly lovely. The rest of the record's material is typical Motown filler: nothing special, but perfectly listenable.

It is somewhat ironic that these two albums should be re-issued in Britain, since neither the original albums nor the singles released from them made any impact in Britain at the time of their original release. OK, so one single (How sweet it is) just scraped into the bottom of the chart (then made up of a top 50) at 49, but that hardly counts as a hit. Things have changed a lot since then and Motown is perhaps more popular in Britain now (proportionate to population) than America. So it was no surprise that these two excellent but largely overlooked albums became available as part of a major re-issue series early in the new millennium. All the songs are originals as far as I know, being written by Motown's regular songwriters, sometimes including Marvin as co-writer.

Stubborn kind of fellow, the first album here (actually the second of Marvin's career) provided Marvin's first breakthrough in America, when the title track made the top ten in the R+B charts, while also becoming a minor hit in the pop charts. Three other singles were released from this album, these being Hitch hike (a major R+B hit, not quite making the top ten, and a minor pop hit), Soldier's plea (which didn't chart) and Pride and joy (a number two R+B hit and a top ten pop hit). The album tracks include what I believe to be the original version of Wherever I lay my hat, which Paul Young covered in 1983 and took to number 1 in the UK charts. My chart book suggests that the Temptations were first to record the song but gives the date as 1966. Marvin's recording is from 1963.

How sweet it is to be loved by you, the second album here (actually the fifth of Marvin's career) was released early in 1965, but most if not all of the tracks were recorded in 1964. Indeed, the first single from the album, Try it baby, which made the top 20 of the American pop charts, was released in June 1964. The follow-up, Baby don't you do it, was also a 1964 release but only a minor hit. There were no R+B charts in 1964, as they had been abandoned late in 1963 due to their similarity with the main pop charts. In early 1965, the R+B charts were re-launched with new rules to provide a clear distinction between the two charts, just in time for the title track to become a massive hit in both of those American charts. Unlike the companion album here, none of the album tracks seem to have found fame elsewhere, but they are all of a high quality and showcase Marvin`s then-burgeoning talent well.

Marvin's style changed over the years; you'll even notice the difference between the two albums paired here. While his reputation rests primarily on his later recordings, there is a lot of great music here.

Two outstanding albums in to one. It took me back to my middle school days, You knew immediately that Marvin was gonna be a super star. Excellent quallity and outstanding ship time.

This is a light and refreshing CD by the late Marvin Gaye...taught me a lot about the way an Aries man thinks...easy listening and heartfelt(: It is s lovely mixture of so many of his tunes that have since been remixed and made hits all over again.

these Albums Combined make a Good Album but as two albums seperate I'd say slightly better than Average."Wherever I Lay My Hat,Stubbonr Kind of Fellow,Hitch Hike,How Sweet it is to be Loved by you,etc.. brings this Set up.He hadn't quite found His Voice fully here but He could make a Song His Own already&you are Hearing a Artist just getting Warmed up onto a Legendary Career.

Ever since I was two years old, I always loved both music and loved to sing alot-both popular and rhythm-and-blues! For instance; before Motown was to completely captivate my music world for the next forty-one years (from 1959 through 2000), I enjoyed Mother's music-great superstars such as Connie Francis, Tony Williams and the Platters, Nat 'King' Cole, Pat Boone, Lavern Baker, Dion DiMucci and the Belmonts,Dominico Modugno (Di Blu Di Pinto Di Blu-in English,'Fly Away To The Cloud, Get Away From The Maddening Crowd), Early Elvis Presley, Brenda-May Thomson (Brenda Lee to you and me in the music world),Steve Lawrence and Prez Prado, justg to name just a few of the many music stars who had a positive inpact on both my listening and dancing pleasure and even my my personal life! Because of both my mother's positive upbringing and the love for music she put into my heart since babyhood, life has been a great joy and gladness for me. And; to make a good situation better, you wonderful people here at Amazon.Com have made my College career a very good experience-from September of 2002 right through June of 2009-Graduation Day, when I received my Bachelor-In-Science Degree in Law. You made it possible for me to obtain all mt Mother's old vinal record albums on CD, since many of them are hard to find and now, they are out of stock and out of print. So, allow me to take this chance to thank you for both improving my music collection and finishing College-both on a joyful, as well as an academically high level!

Best Regards,
LEON WOLCOTT-PARALEGAL,B.S.,A.L.R.E.