Dipping into the past last month has given me the travelling bug, so with my portable record player tucked under my arm, I’m heading for February 1973 for my first stopover.  In actual time, I had been living in London for three years and was enjoying the immediacy of being in a vibrant city that embraced all types of music, including of course, my beloved Motown.  I lived in Ealing when I first moved to London, then after a year, relocated myself and my record collection to Bayswater, right in the centre of a metropolitan hub. Dusty Springfield had lived or was living in the same area, but I didn’t know that at the time.  It was wonderful, particularly when I walked along Bayswater Road sponging up the different cultures and experimenting with strange sounding food.  Sometimes, strange tasting too!   Working at EMI Records in Manchester Square, it took me around an hour to walk from Chepstow Road.  Being free from public transport deadlines was a joy – and I liked walking!

Anyway, I digress.  Kicking off this trip down memory lane, Gladys Knight & The Pips had performed at the London Palladium late-1972.  Their short tour pushed “Help Me Make It Through The Night” into the top twenty.  The success of this prompted a specially compiled album “20 Golden Greats”/”Help Me Make It Through The Night” from which their next UK hit “The Look Of Love” was lifted.  The single peaked at no 21 in February 1973.  Then two years later, the group sued Motown, Multi-Media Management and Jobete for $1 million in damages, demanded ownership of their compositions recorded while signed to the company, and wanted their outstanding royalties.

Gladys wrote in her autobiography Between Each Line Of Pain And Glory  that they asked Motown’s accounting department to draw out $3,000 from money not collected on their records because they needed it to pay their taxes.  “Motown claimed to have no record of it. … They said if we would sign another contract, they would pay our taxes for us. We weren’t that desperate.  We hired a lawyer and said our goodbyes. We won that lawsuit.”

They also sought to prevent Motown releasing further material which would clash with their Buddah releases.  When I later met up with Gladys at a press reception, I asked her if she would talk to me about her stay at Motown.  Her reply was to the point: “You wouldn’t like what I have to say about that.”  I pursued the matter not.  As an aside, I’m going to see the lady when she performs in Eastbourne this coming July.  I would very much like her autograph to add to my collection.  We’ll see…

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas’ “Greatest Hits – Volume 2” and “The Motown Sound Volume 1” were among the compilations issued in February ‘73, but I’d like to spend a little time with Marvin Gaye’s “Trouble Man” soundtrack because it came at an unsettled period in his life.  For instance,  he and Anna were separated, his personal life in tatters, while, on the other hand, his career had reached stratospheric success with “What’s Going On”, and he’d recently re-signed with Motown in a then-hefty $1 million deal.  His next project, however, was an unexpected move which would, once more, stretch Motown’s promotion department to the limit.  I’ll explain…

In the wake of the Isaac Hayes-penned movie soundtrack for Shaft (based on the book and script written by Ernest Tidyman, Chris Clark’s then-husband) and the growing popularity in low-budget Black flicks, Marvin decided to jump on the merry-go-round to write his only film score “Trouble Man”, which, perhaps, was an apt title for him at this time.  Motown was quick to point out this release was not the follow-up to “What’s Going On”, that would be left to “Let’s Get It On” later in 1973.

Marvin totally immersed himself in the project, adopting the role of the film’s main character Mr T to write the whole album:  “I’ve had ‘Trouble Man’ within me for a long time but it took a serious piece of negativity to bring it out.  It was an indication of my ability to do music that would not be categorised as blues or soul, which I had never had a serious opportunity to delve into commercially, because Motown are only interested in strong commercial stuff.”  In hindsight, much of Marvin’s own frustration was channelled through the leading man, who, like him, was anti-establishment and blatantly refused to acknowledge society’s rules and regulations. A perfect vehicle for Mr Gaye, I’d say!

Briefly then, Mr T was a central figure in the worst of Los Angeles’ urban Black ghettos, the home for gamblers, racketeers, pimps and so on.  The film’s plot was based around the hero being hired by two gamblers – one white, one black – to crush the conflict between their gang and their rivals.

The ensuing story revolved around his escapades involving the obligatory cops, hoods, loose women, shoot-outs and double crosses. Filming began on location in Los Angeles on 17 April 1972 with television actor Robert Hooks playing Mr T.

Even though Trouble Man the movie offered similar ingredients to that of other Blaxploitation films, it bombed, much to Marvin’s annoyance: “I might have got a film score award if more people had seen the movie.  I wanted to be different and I wanted it to have sensitivity and all the things that make me, and then I wanted to also say that I could divert from ‘What’s Going On’ and actually go into another area completely.”  Sadly, without the film’s visuals to back up the music much of the excitement of the soundtrack was lost, yet for Marvin’s fans it was a pleasant musical distraction.  “I think to write a score for a film one must either be very sensitive or extremely mechanical.  If you are mechanical you write the standard sound for a certain scene or emotion.  In my case I depend on my feelings towards the characters in the scenes.”

And finally, he obviously realised he would be open to criticism with this release, while admitting it wasn’t in the same league as Isaac Hayes or Curtis Mayfield with his “Superfly” soundtrack:  “I don’t think you would classify my soundtrack with any of the highly entertaining ones such as ‘Superfly’ or ‘Shaft’.  I wrote specifically for this motion picture out of the classical soundtrack mould because, quite frankly, that’s how I’ve always viewed writing for films.”  I’m happy to say, the soundtrack wasn’t totally relegated to the rubbish bin because in 2010 it was re-issued with bonus tracks. Before leaving Marvin, thought I’d make this observation.  The last three titles on the album – “Deep In It”, “Don’t Mess With Mr ‘T’” and “There Goes Mr ‘T’” – wind down the soundtrack within six short minutes, but not before an eerie indication of Marvin’s destiny.  A gun shot was heard.  The music stopped, the album finished.

Another significant album at this time was from ex-Temptation, the lovely Eddie Kendricks.  I write ‘lovely’ because I spent some time with him when The Temptations performed at The Talk Of The Town, one of London’s top nightspots (which was nicknamed the “Soup In A Basket Cafe” by myself and others, with apologies to  owner Bernard Delfont).  Eddie and his crystal falsetto were late comers to the party because he planned to leave The Temptations and didn’t want to travel to London.  He was persuaded otherwise, thankfully, but, as I recall, missed the opening night.  I was reminded of our meeting because I chanced to find a couple of photos of us, with me wearing my brand new midi coat, and him a stripey sort of outfit. Eddie once said that he had actually stayed with the group longer than anticipated because he felt he wouldn’t get the support he needed if he went it alone.  His relationship with Berry Gordy wasn’t that good, he said, “(He’s) a man I don’t know.  I only met him about three times.  I know he didn’t particularly care for me.”

Irrespective of whether Berry cared for him or not, Eddie’s first solo album was the aptly titled “All By Myself” with its UK release in September 1971.  It was a collection of thoughtfully conceived songs that would stand him in good stead for future albums. It was produced by Frank Wilson, who confirmed that Eddie was already checking out material for a possible solo album while still recording with The Temptations: “We just decided we would try and do something to show Eddie’s versatility as a vocalist, and try and do an interesting album, which meant I had to convince him to do stuff in his lower register as well as his falsetto.”

The beautiful “This Used To Be The Home Of Johnnie Mae”, co-written by Leonard Caston, was lifted as a single, followed by “I Did It All For You”.  Instead of being responsible for The Temptations’ arrangements and vocals, Eddie was able to concentrate totally on himself.  As an aside, he had also served as the group’s wardrobe manager, being responsible for the famous purple suits, and given the nickname “corn” because his favourite food was cornbread.

Eddie’s second album, “People…Hold On” was British released in February 1973.  The album’s title drew on West African traditions, with heavy call-and-response elements and choir chanting.  Reviewers called this release his ‘breakout album’ because one track, “Girl You Need A Change Of Mind” was said to be one of the first disco records at seven-plus minutes long.  And, more importantly, it took its singer into the nightclubs and a whole new record buying market. This, of course, meant album sales began building up, but to placate radio stations, Motown had no choice but to edit a version for airplay.

Prior to “Girl You Need A Change Of Mind” which went on to hit the top twenty in the UK soul listing, a couple other tracks were single-ised – “Let Me Run Into Your Lonely Heart”, an interesting funk jam in the style of Sly and the Family Stone,  and “If You Let Me”, a rather seductive funk soul charmer. And, believe me, Eddie was that quietly spoken charmer, a gentleman of rare, honest qualities.

By the time he had lined up “Eddie Kendricks,” his third album, Leonard Caston and Frank Wilson had honed their skills.  “When (we) got together, we would look at just different pieces of grooves,” Frank stated. “Things would start musically, and if we really liked it, we’d work at coming up with the melody and the structure. Then we’d get with Anita Poree.  She’d come up with the basic lyric idea, and we’d work together to completion.”

As both Leonard and Frank could sing falsetto, they would select the key and styling without Eddie, only bringing him to finalise the song.  And it was this thinking that was behind Eddie’s biggest hit, “Keep On Truckin’ (Part 1)”.  Having put a foot in the disco market with “Girl You Need A Change Of Mind,” this new single elevated Eddie to the top of the US pop chart, and UK top twenty, while I walked around London sporting a “Keep On Truckin’” badge on my T- shirt. Hah! The perks of working for the record company, my friends.

Following a further handful of albums, Eddie became frustrated by the lack of creative and financial control and left Motown in 1978 for Arista Records.  From here, he hooked up with Atlantic. His future would include him teaming up with his Temptation buddy, David Ruffin, and both together with Hall & Oates.  Moving on, Eddie and David planned to tour and record with another group member Dennis Edwards, but before the project could play out, Eddie was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1991, and David Ruffin died of a drug overdose in the June of that year.  Following his surgery, Eddie continued touring through the summer of 1992, then the disease caught up with him, taking his life in  October.  Such a dreadful loss: such a waste of two great talents.

Now I’ve got the travelling bug, it’ll be interesting to see where I end up next month. Until then, my feet are firmly entrenched in February 2024.

Sharon Davis

(Quotes: Thanks to “The Billboard Book Of Number One R&B Hits” – Adam White and Fred Bronson)