Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland compositions, as performed by the Funk Brothers, are a major part of the “Motown Sound” and this song is no exception.
I will just let you listen to all of these renditions by the Motown artists and let you hear for yourself. This is Classic Motown at it’s best IMHO.
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#9 R&B, #50 Pop
First here is the extended version by the very under-rated and so often over -looked Elgins. This 1966 hit is my favorite!
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And this version of “Heaven Must Have Sent You” is the Funk Brothers with The Andantes on vocals. For those of you that don’t know — this is the Motown “House Band” and the “House Backup Singers”
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This Supremes rendition comes from my 2000 Box Set Bonus Disc (Now OOP). Since I have digitized most of my music collection I don’t have the Box Set Booklet at my fingertips, but I will eventually locate it and see if it has a recording date for this tune and update this post accordingly.
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Naturally Bonnie Pointer’s first Motown LP released in 1978, produced by her husband Jeffrey Bowen, had the required Jobete published cover tunes, but this one was given a “Disco” flavor to update it to the then current sound of pop music. It was actually quite successful in 1979.
Now it is time for your opinion readers. Pick you fave and tell us why in the comments section.
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The Elgins – How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (1966)
Marvin Gaye originally released the song in 1965 and had a chart buster on it in 1965. Of course to reap the benefits of Gaye’s success there were many covers of the song released to try for more hits on the track.
The Elgins made a great cover of HSIITBLBY — don’t you agree? Hard to believe that the following year (1967) this great group disbanded.
I had a post last year on the Motown versions of “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) ” made from 1964 – 1966. In it I mentioned there was one Motown cover of the song, by the Elgins, that I did not have a digital version of to share with you at the time.
I always keeps my promises (maybe latter than earlier) so here is the Elgins version and a poll so that you can finally select your favorite version of this awesome tune.
To refresh your memory here is the link to the original posting from 1/1/08 right here so that you can listen again to the other three versions before you vote.
I am so looking forward to seeing what the results of the poll will be so please vote.
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The Elgins – Darling Baby (1966) #4 R&B, #72 Pop
The Elgins came about from a merger of Motown/Tamla artists Saundra Mallett and The Downbeats.
It took three years before the group’s first single, “Darling Baby,” was released on the Motown/VIP label. With a little more promotion I am sure in would have been a national hit, but you know how Motown did things, hiring many, many great talented artists but only promoting a select few!
Amazingly, even without promotion “Darling Baby” made the top Pop 100. Just goes to show you that good music will find a way! Of course this was another great song composed by Holland, Dozier and Holland so it just had to be a hit — didn’t it?
The original Motown single release of Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is” was in September 1964. The song, composed by Motown’s own Edward Holland, Jr., Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, went to #6 on the Pop Singles chart in January 1965, and #3 on Billboard’s Soul Singles chart. It was also released on the Marvin [...]
