Behold, a selection of some of my favourite things produced, arranged or in some way dreamed up or touched by the ears and fingers of Detroit songwriting gods Holland, Dozier and Holland. It’s mostly a shit load of releases from the Invictus label they started after running away from Berry Gordy in 1967, hence their use of a number of strange disguise monikers including Edythe Wayne to allow them to keep putting out incredible music whilst being sued to fk by Motown. Impossible to tell how much of the genius of this stuff is direct from HD&H’s imaginations or was basically down to their handy knack of surrounding themselves with supreme musicians like the Funk Brothers & Mckinley Jackson but you can get a good idea of the general madness of it all in this documentary http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL89DE56EFFC5A5EE5:
Sofas to the side then for an hour of swaying, funk-gurning and whispers in your partners ear along the lines of ‘I’ve been a lady all my life but right now I want to be a woman tonight’
Chairmen Of The Board – Morning Glory/Life & Death(Part 1)
100 Proof (Aged In Soul) – Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)
Freda Payne – The Unhooked Generation
Barrino Brothers – Livin’ High Off The Goodness Of Your Love
Harrison Kennedy – Sunday Morning People
Eloise Laws – Touch Me
Laura Lee – Crumbs Off the Table
The 8th Day – She’s Not Just Another Woman
Barbara McNair – My World Is Empty Without You
The Supremes – I Hear A Symphony
The Honey Cone – The Day I Found Myself
The Isley Brothers – This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)
Chairmen of the Board – Everything’s Tuesday
The Glass House – I Can’t Be You (You Can’t Be Me)
Laura Lee – If You Can Beat Me Rockin’ (You Can Have My Chair)
The Flaming Ember – Stop The World And Let Me Off
The Politicians – Free Your Mind
100 Proof (Aged In Soul) – I Can’t Sit And Wait
Harrison Kennedy – Hypnotic Music
Parliament – Come In Out of the Rain
Big big up to ma dudes Six and Gussy for turning me on to a load of these tracks over the years. If you fancy some diggin there are a ton of Invictus and Hot Wax 7″ inches out there as they had massive backing at the time, plus there are some good ‘Invictus hits’ albums on Itunes or Amazon whichever is your go to purveyor of digital.
