"Motown DEEP Cuts!" "Mary Wells When I'm Gone" "Women Of Motown"
на канале: Motown Deep Cuts, PAMS Jingles & More with Tomovox
LOTS and LOTS of debate over whether or not this would have been Mary's follow up to "My Guy" if she had stayed at Motown.
It's good. It's got the cool, jazz vibe of "My Guy", but this one sounds more like something you'd hear in one of those small, jazz clubs that only the coolest people know about. I very much like that this has such a bare-bones, stripped-down sound. We really hear the genius of The Funk Brothers. We also get to enjoy Mary singing in such an intimate, "You Are There" tone, it's as if we are eavesdropping the very moment Mary is breaking up with her cheatin' man.
What's mesmerizing about this is that Mary sounds not at all concerned that she's ditching the guy. If we didn't understand English, from her soft tones, we might very well conclude she was whispering sweet love talk into this guy's ear. That's the beauty of what Mary and Smokey Robinson worked out for role Mary was to play in the mini drama. I have to believe Smokey coached this specific, I-couldn't-care-less delivery from Mary because we also hear the same tones when Brenda Holloway covered the song.
That delivery, nonchalance, near-indifference is very effective because it frames Mary (and later, Brenda) in the light of a woman who knows her worth. Instead of crying in the middle of the night as in most breakup songs, Mary has all the leverage here. She knows she can easily find someone better. It's the guy who has to worry if he'll ever find another as good as Mary.
Then you have the Andantes. Well, the Andantes just made everything sound that much better. Even if the ladies didn't record in the studio at the same time Mary did, they are so dang good, it FEELS as if they were all together. It SOUNDS like we're at that intimate jazz club watching and listening to one heck of a live show.
Oh! And the ending. Mary, Mary, Mary. As if the rub salt into the wounds of the cheating guy she's ditching, Mary channels the vibe of Mae West for some of her sexiest, SEXIEST vocals ever, EVER committed to record.
Recording Info from the site Don't Forget The Motor City http://www.dftmc.info/titles/tw-04.htm
When I'm Gone (William Robinson) published Jobete 01-Jun-64
Mary Wells; recorded Hitsville, completed 11-May-64 ; produced by Smokey Robinson
unreleased; 45 (M): Motown M 1061 A
16-Nov-66; LP (S): Motown S653 Vintage Stock
16-Nov-66; LP (M): Motown M653 Vintage Stock"
#marywells #motown #motownmusic #northernsoul #motowngreatesthits #motowndeepcuts #womenofmotown
