Search - Martha Reeves & Vandellas :: Dance Party & Watchout

Finger-clickin' genius

Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 09/25/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dance Party kicks off with the timeless classic hit Dancing In The Street (turned down by Kim Weston) and also has Nowhere To Run and Wild One, along with their B-sides, both having already been big hit singles when the album came out in April 1965. One of these, There He Is (At My Door), dated from 1963, and was originally on the album Come And Get These Memories, but has a new vocal on this version. By 1965 Martha's Vandellas were Betty Kelly and Rosalind Ashford, both from Detroit. 

Most of the album was co-produced by Mickey Stevenson, but three were Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier productions, including Nowhere To Run and their version of the Motown dance standard Mickey's Monkey, written for the Miracles. They had sung on Marvin Gaye's original version of Hitch Hike in September 1962, and their own version was held over from the same period. It completes the album in fine style, to make up a first rate dance party record in the true Motown idiom, full of finger-clicking rhythms, generous percussion and punchy horns and brass.

Watchout! was the follow-up album in 1966 and contains the hit songs Jimmy Mack (held over from 1964, it was to be remixed for single release in 1967) and I'm Ready For Love, which features the archetypal 1966 Motown sound with those great bass runs. What Am I Going To Do Without Your Love was also a single but had left the charts largely untroubled. On the other hand, Third Finger Left Hand, the B-side of Jimmy Mack and also rescued from a 1964 recording session, is a great Holland-Dozier-Holland song which went on to became a hit in its own right. It wasn't on the original album but is included on this double-length CD as a bonus track, along with two other previously unreleased stereo mixes. One Way Out is a true floor-filler and was to come out as a B-side the following year. There are more ballads than dance floor numbers on this record, including two songs written by Smokey Robinson. One is a total scorcher called No More Tearstained Make Up. This may have been considered as a single at one time as a longer alternative version appears as an extra track.

Missing from this (and the other albums in the series) are the non-album singles from this period, In My Lonely Room/A Tear For The Girl (1964); You've Been In Love Too Long/Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things)(1965); and My Baby Loves Me/Never Leave Your Baby's Side (1966).

Two essential Martha and the Vandellas albums on one good value all-stereo CD (note though that the mono mixes of some of these tracks were slightly longer)."

Their 2 best LP's on one disc!!

T. A. Shepherd | Palmdale, Ca. 93550 | 03/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"And leave it to the E.M.I. Studios to do the honors. Not only every righteous track from Dance Party and Watchout! are included, but also three bonus tracks. We have first time ever stereo mixes of Third Finger, Left Hand (B-side of Jimmy Mack), and the unreleased Can't Break the Habit, which appeared in the early 80's on a compilation L.P. entitled "Motown Superstars: The Unreleased Masters" or something. "No More Tearstained Makeup" from Watchout! is one my favorites. The lyrics (Smokey Robinson, of course) are so captivating the listener hangs on every word. Dance Party contains the three singles from their heady days of late 1964 to early 1965; Dancing in the Street, Wild One and Nowhere to Run. Obviously, the latter was the final run of "Can't Break The Habit", which sounds as if Martha becomes disinterested half way through. "Run" is far more consistant and soulful making its way into the national top ten. There He Is (At My Door) is a throwback to the track on Come And Get These Memories. The vocal was re-done and is stronger. (Collector's Note: The original version was recorded by the first incarnation of the Vandellas, The Vells with Gloria Williams singing lead. This group didn't last and Martha became the lead singer and the rest, as they say...) Watchout! contains two singles, proper: the less popular, but certainly ambitious What am I Going to do Without Your Love (Sylvia Moy, Mickey Stevenson)and Holland-Dozier-Holland tour de force, I'm Ready For Love, again a national top ten hit. Jimmy Mack, an album track of high degree, was re-mixed in an uptempo beat and released as a single the following year (1967). Perhaps the underdog on the album is the re-make of an earlier Kim Weston single, Go Ahead and Laugh. A true jazz ballad in the tradition of Love Makes Me Do Foolish Things, this is torch balladry at its best. These two albums have stood the test of time just as much as (dare I say it?) Rubber Soul and Pet Sounds. I don't mean they are as daring and innovative, but for these ladies, they are not to be missed. If you missed thier re-issue in the States in the 80's, don't miss them this time around."