It wouldn’t be Motown’s 60th Anniversary without visiting their premiere singer, songwriter and producer. As legend goes, Smokey Robinson met Berry Gordy with a notebook of songs, of which maybe one or two Gordy considered viable, yet he was impressed with the teenager’s moxie. So goes the template of who Gordy accepted into the fold,…
Tag: Stevie Wonder
A Dancing Holiday: Toe Tapping Tunes That Avoid The Christmas Crush
If you’re anything like me, all you need really is one spin of Christmas Music to be completely over it. Don’t get me wrong, one of my earliest mixes dealt with the Christmas Conundrum, getting past Phil Spector’s dominance with a variety of vintage seasonal gems not always beholden to Christmas. Listening to the same…
Under The Covers: 33 Outsourced Covers From The Golden Age of Motown
Berry Gordy was slightly notorious for being adverse to seeking outside material for hit songs for his singers. Very rare during the Motown classic hit era were any of the major hits for artists from the pens of someone that wasn’t attached to the Motown Family. I can only think of two off the top…
Don’t Trust The Weatherman, And Always Carry Your Umbrella: 35 Tunes For That Rainy Day Feeling
Nobody really warned me that summer ends right after Labor Day in the Pacific Northwest. After a long (short) Summer of 2 months, it’s been mostly rain, rain (please go away) in the Portland Metropolitan area. This is truly bizarre to me, living in the Bay Area, splendid, vaguely summery weather lasts all the way…
Guys Gone Uptown: 32 Sophisticated Soul Tunes from Stylish Gents
I definitely spend more time in terms of creating mixes that explore the vast contributions that women, particularly Black women, have made to popular music. Every once in a while tho, I feel a bit guilty for ignoring the legacy of the legions of handsome men that worked tirelessly in the studio and stage crafting…
Better Luck Next Time: 40 Hits that happened for someone else
Sometimes, it’s like, with a song, dust yourself off and try again. The perfect moment for a tune to become a success entrenched in the Pop Culture lexicon sometimes isn’t its first time up to bat. Sometimes it takes competition and revision to get things right. With this, I’ve gone a bit overboard, giving you…
Sylvia’s Work: Sister Soul Songwriter Standing In The Shadows of Motown 1964-1975
The music industry isn’t a kind place to women. Even now, there’s more hurdles that keep women mostly out of control of their artistic output rather than giving them the full creative reign of their male counterparts. The situation is more heightened for Women of Color, especially Black women. Often, and yet still, you are…
Hitsville Vaults ’66: The Top Twenty Motown potential hits you didn’t know existed.
You may or may not know, Motown records in its Golden Years from 1961 through 1968 was a constant hive of activity. The operations worked 24 hours a day each day of the year, some Motown gems were recorded and pressed on major holidays, some efforts saw release on others. Was December 31, 1965 a…
Civil Discourse – Civil Disobedience: Your Civil Rights Mixtape 1962-1971
When it comes to politically themed soul music, many jump to make reference to either “A Change Is Gonna Come” or the extensive performative politics of Nina Simone. One could say that’s a pretty cursory and surface look at how the politics during a period of social change showed up in a variety of ways…
Stevie Wonder “I Gave Up Quality For Quantity” (1965, Unreleased. From Cellarful of Motown, Volume 2, 2005)
Stevie Wonder “I Gave Up Quality For Quantity” (1965, Unreleased. From Cellarful of Motown, Volume 2, 2005) Motown has two Taurus legends that celebrate birthdays on May 13th, so we’re gonna take a full 48 hours to pay proper tribute to both. First up, we’re paying tribute to Stevie Wonder on the eve of his…
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