Ok may be a daft idea but ive been thinking about the ultimate playlist from tunes that many of us use week in week out at generic parties. it may not work in some situations but im hoping to pick up a few ideas when somebody askes for a particular genre as well as share ideas with everbody else

What i would like is for you to input your top ten tunes (or near enough) as we work through the genres , in no particular order and we can see how it goes

starting with Motown

1. I cant help myself - Fourtops
2. This old heart of mine - Isley Bros
3. Tears of a clown - smokey robinson
4. Heard it throught the grapevine - Gladys Knight & The pips version
5. Dancing in the street - Martha and the vandelas
6. You cant hurry love - Diana Ross & the supremes
7. You keep me hanging on - supremes
8. Baby love - supremes
8. get ready - temptations
9. nowhere to run to - martha and the vandelas
10. signed sealed delivered - stevie wonder

over to you.

could be extending to top 20 thinking about what i have just left out.

I would play Loco in Acapulco - The Four Tops :)

But that was recorded for Arista, long after the Tops left Motown.

Hi my 2 favorite motown track are the velvelettes--needle in a haystack and the Elgins--- heaven must have sent you,both must play numbers in any motown set in my opinion

It may of being, which I'm not aware of, but I find it goes down better than any other Four Tops song!

Good Idea for a thread, some of my favourites have already been mentioned but would like to add the Jackson 5, I want you back & ABC, always get a good reaction for me anyway. Also ain't no mountain high enough, great tune

Cool choices will update the list later after a few more suggestions.

IMO the girls are better than the boys.

jackie wilson - your love keeps liftin me higher / sweetest feeling

I would have said, I Can't Help Myself or It's The Same Old Song

May have been two of there best know hits.

Mine would be

Chairman of the board - Youve Got Me Dangling On A String

Frankie Wilson - Do I Love You

Muriel Grey - nine times out of ten is also one of my fave northern soul tracks.

Nik

Motown??

Anyway..

Good thread!

For me;
The Contours - Do you Love Me

Jas

Agreed. A classic

Sorry around these parts northern Soul and Motown go hand in hand. I know Motown is a label but around here it is used more as a request for a genre of music. Sorry to have confused you Jason.

Nik

Hehe, not a problem - it just looked like you mis-understood the original post.

Does that mean we can list the same songs when we get around to Northern Soul?

To be honest I did not read the original post and was just replying to the post I quoted so sorry to the OP also.

Nik

That's not a Motown recording either, although the writers, performers and owners of the label (Invictus)were ex-Motown

I know see my previous post.

Nik

That was recorded for Brunswick

Maybe we should expand the on the original to include 'the classic motown sound'

Dont worry Nik, apololgy not needed, you were just jumping the gun in excitement (i hope) - soul and northern soul are coming soon.

I would like however to try to distinguish between some of the genres that are simular to avoid potentilay upsetting a die hard fan.

I vote for spinner as judge and jury on this one.

keep em coming folks



Just been listening to that on spotify on an album called - standing in the shadows of motown.

I have both the DVD and the CD with that title and "Higher & Higher" is on neither.

However one non-Motown song - "Cool Jerk" - is included (recorded by the Capitols and isued on Atlantic in the UK) although I believe the Funk Brothers (Motown house band) played on it.

My word, if we're going to be this picky, why even bother? I dread to think what's going to happen when we try to do a Trance list, and can foresee rows about whether Bon Jovi is pop or rock. And can Shania Twain be pop and country? I predict a riot!!!

Why? Is there something wrong with describing things correctly?

Unlike Trance, for example, Motown is not a genre. It is material recorded on the Motown group of labels - Tamla, Gordy, Soul, Motown etc.

What's "picky" about that?

I'd suggest that for future lists - some background into the genre/style is provided. This is a dammed good topic, so really look forward to seeing many more areas covered.


For Mowtown;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motown

A list of recording artists;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Motown_Records_artists

Now - the aim is to get a good playlist to cover "Motown" - so perhaps the above list will aid in finding a few classic tracks!

Jas

Hey somewhere near is goood enough for me (dodgy mid 90's indie or pop lets argue that one later)



Arrgh...another indie or pop arguement

I think a lot of tunes may drop into a generic party tune slot like the afore mentioned Shania Twain which may include scissor sisters amy winehouse etc etc etc etc.



I found it on the 2004 deluxe version which is a 2 cd set. It lists higher and higher as Jackie Wilson and the funk brothers. clicky


More motown for now.

Do you generally find though that someone asking for some Motown music really just means they want some soul? I doubt they will stop you in your tracks (pardon the pun) if you drop you in a song recorded on the wrong label.

I sometimes find that some people who ask for Motown really haven't got a clue whereas others really know their stuff.

If asked for soul there are so many eras and sub-divisions that it's better to ask for some examples.

Some people mean Luther Van Dross or Gwen McRae. Others mean Wilson Pickett or Sam & Dave.

So if somebody comes to ask for some Motown you could safely play the following. OK some tracks are not strictly motown but have the same feel and style and only the die hard motown fans would have something to say. Thanks for the input.

1. I cant help myself - Fourtops
2. This old heart of mine - Isley Bros
3. Tears of a clown - smokey robinson
4. Heard it throught the grapevine - Gladys Knight & The pips version
5. Dancing in the street - Martha and the vandelas
6. You cant hurry love - Diana Ross & the supremes
7. You keep me hanging on - supremes
8. Baby love - supremes
8. get ready - temptations
9. nowhere to run to - martha and the vandelas
10. signed sealed delivered - stevie wonder
11. Loco in Acapulco - The Four Tops
12. velvelettes--needle in a haystack
13 Elgins--- heaven must have sent you
14 Jackson 5 - I want you back & ABC
15 ain't no mountain high enough
16 jackie wilson - your love keeps liftin me higher / sweetest feeling
17 the Contours - Do you Love Me

i would not play Loco in Acapulco or Higher and higher in a Motown set but all the rest I would.

Nik

As said already, Motown tracks are ones that were released on the Motown label. However in the 90s Boys to Men and Shanice released tracks on the Motown label, also Rick James released Superfreak in 80, but I wouldn't play these tunes on a motown night. Saying that I would play Lionel Richie - Dancing on the Ceiling which was a motown release in 1986!

I've done a few Motown nights and tend to play many of the tunes already listed but also some classic soul tunes such as:

Arthur Conley - Sweet Soul Music
Sam and Dave - I'm a soul man
Aretha Franklin - Respect

Northern Soul tunes like:

R Dean Taylor - There's a ghost in my house (Wierd tune but seems to get requested)
Gloria Jones - Tainted Love

Some Funk:

The Temptations - Papa Was a Rollin' Stone
James Brown - Sex Machine
Edwin Starr - War
Commodores - Brick House

I found you need a lot of tunes to do a night of this soft of music as most of the tunes are about 2 mins long :-0

Also, many of the motown tunes are quite slow and better of at the start of a night saving the classics for later on.

I would also add:

Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston - It takes two

I always find at many of my events a few Motown / Soul tunes will get people going. I think because it is uplifting music you can dance to liked by young and old!

As a followup to this, I'm lacking in the Motown department, which compilations would you recommend me purchasing to fill in quite an empty gap?

Cheers,

David

Have a look on the Amazon website. Loads of Motown CDs listed there.

There was a series of compilation LPs issued in the 1960's that have been reissued on CD called Motown Chartbusters. All well known tracks.

Motown 50 is good (and cheap) as is Tamla Motown Gold.

I saw Motown 50, which seemed to be one of the better ones, but there's always so much choice its hard to work out the wheat from the chaff!

EDIT: [deleted this bit as an idiot I didnt read the amazon page properly]

Thanks spinner!


Cheers,

David