"Jimmy Mack Martha & The Vandellas" Mono & 3 Stereo mixes "Motown Greatest Hits" "Women Of Motown"
Sometimes the stories behind a hit is as interesting as the song itself. Martha & The Vandellas's 1967 hit, "Jimmy Mack," is one of those songs. It's fascinating- because there are about three versions that hit the marketplace: the mono mix heard on the 45 and played on the radio, a stereo album mix and another stereo album mix for one of those Motown Big 16 Hits packages. The story behind how the song was released (and why there are two distinctly different versions) has been explained, the most complete being in the notes of Volume 7 of the exhaustive "The Complete Motown Singles" release. Rather than paraphrasing the story, Imma just include it here word for word:
"'Jimmy Mack' appears to have been originally recorded as a potential follow-up to "In My Lonely Room" back in 1964. While "Dancing In The Street" was the obvious choice at the time, "Jimmy Mack" languished for nearly threee years. Lamont Dozier recalls why.
'Billy Jean Brown, who was head of [Motown's] Quality Control, had deliberately never brought 'Jimmy Mack' to meetings, because she didn't like the song,' he says. 'It just sat there.' It may have been forgotten until Martha Reeves spoke her mind.
'Martha was upset that we weren't giving her enough attention anymore...' Dozier says. 'So Berry [Gordy] ordered all of the songs we had on Martha out of the can. he wanted to hear them in the meetings. When he heard ['Jimmy Mack'], he was beside himself. He flipped out. He looked at the date on it and said, 'You mean to tell me this song has been in the can for a year-and-a-half?' He turned to Billie Jean and said, 'Get this damn thing ready to go out immediately! Don't you ever do that again!' He was scolding her.'
"Jimmy Mack" was first released on the Vandellas' Watchout! album at the end of 1966. The LP version was the re-recorded version from '64. For the 45, H-D-H went back to the first, more driving version, adding handclaps and other overdubs in January 1967. The Andantes augmented the original background vocals that included Annette Beard, who had left the group to become a full-time mother."
So there's the story of why the stereo and mono mixes of "Jimmy Mack" are completely different. However, this is still a really confusing story. The stereo LP version of "Jimmy Mack" is version 4 that was recorded June of '64 and definitely has "Motown Sound '64" stamped all over it. It has that "Where Did Our Love Go"/"Baby Love" swing/shuffle beat. I can also hear where maybe H--D-H could have been working on this with a view to moving Martha & The Vandellas away from the "Heat Wave"/Roaring 20's sound.
Where things get sticky is the weirdness of the timeline of everything involved with the mono version. "For the 45, H-D-H went back to the first, more driving version, adding handclaps and other overdubs in January 1967." OK, but if that's the case, then that first version seemed to be a quantum leap from the "Baby Love" shuffle beat H-D-H were working with in 1964. The tempo, the drumming style/ fills, even the brass sounds like something that would have been recorded in '66 or '67. The stereo version sounds jazzy, while the mono version has a harder stomp sound but also a breezier drum groove.
The other question this whole thing raises is how did the mono version, completed in January 1967, make it onto an LP that was released in November of '66? I have both the stereo and mono LPs and that always struck me as odd too. The only thing I can figure is that the mono LP was released in 1967, sometime after the stereo LP.
At any rate, it's a great song. My preference is for the rockin' mono version, but I know there are those who prefer the jazzy, stereo version. Included here are 4 versions of "Jimmy Mack":
1. The mono/45 version
2. The stereo jazzy version
3. A stereo mix of the "jazzy" version with added handclaps
4. A recently-mixed stereo version of the mono/45/radio version. This can be found on the 2013 Hip-O Select 50th Anniversary: The Singles Collection 1962-1972
Here is all the recording information for "Jimmy Mack" as found on the site "Don't Forget The Motor City"
Jimmy Mack (Brian Holland-Lamont Dozier-Edward Holland Jr) published Jobete 14-Jan-66
The Vandellas; recorded Hitsville, completed 18-Jun-64 ; produced by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier ; [v4 1st odb (LP)]
16-Nov-66; LP (S): Gordy S920 Watchout!
16-Nov-66; LP (M): Gordy G920 Watchout!
The Vandellas; recorded Hitsville-GW, completed 17-Jan-67 ; produced by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier ; [v4 2nd odb (45)]
03-Feb-67; 45 (M): Gordy G 7058 A
Dec-67; LP (S): Motown S666 A Collection Of 16 Original Big Hits Vol. 8
Dec-67; LP (M): Motown M666 A Collection Of 16 Original Big Hits Vol. 8
29-Apr-13; CD (S): Hip-O Select B0017845-02 50th Anniversary: The Singles Collection 1962-1972 [2013 stereo mix of the 45]
http://www.dftmc.info/titles/tj-01.htm
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