Blue-Eyed Motown

Part two of my little excursion into this genre concerns a couple of pale faces who recorded for Berry Gordy's somewhat famous record label.

Striking six-foot-tall blonde Chris Clark was signed to Motown at the age of 18 in 1964 and she could have been their Dusty Springfield but they didn't really know what to do with her. Clark considered herself more of a blues singer which didn't really fit with Motown's sound and image. Some also think America and it's radio stations (black and white) just weren't ready for a brassy white woman singing black music, especially one who was having a love affair with black man Berry Gordy as Clark was. Her second single for the label "Love Gone Bad" was a minor R&B hit in 1966 but none of her other releases did that well, although she was a cult success among British soul fans who nicknamed her "the White Negress." She had more success behind the scenes writing songs with Gordy and she eventually became VP of Motown's new film division where she had a hand in the script of the Diana Ross vehicle "Lady Sings The Blues" (now we know who to blame!) Lots of Clark's recordings remain in the Motown vaults and the fabulous "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" from 1967 has recently surfaced on a couple of compilations like the utterly essential A Cellarful of Motown. This song was originally recorded by Frank Wilson and his version is notable for being the most valuable Motown rarity ever as some collector (or bloody fool) recently paid £15,000 for an original copy of it. But you don't need that kind of cash to hear Chris Clark's fabulous version, in fact you can get it for free right here! You lucky people. Just promise to buy either "A Cellarful of Motown" or Tamla Motown Connoisseurs at some point.

Canadian R. Dean Taylor was initially signed to Motown as a songwriter and made contributions to hits like The Four Tops "I''ll Turn To Stone" and The Supremes "Love Child" before being given the chance to record his own tunes. "Indiana Wants Me" from 1970 was his biggest hit, getting to to No. 1 in the States. Terrific record though this is, it's not exactly blue-eyed soul, more like a Jim Webb/Glenn Campbell-style pop melodrama. "There's A Ghost in My House" however is an absolutely blazing soul stomper and one of the greatest blue-eyed soul records ever. Co-written with Holland-Dozier-Holland, this was originally released in 1966 but, incredibly, was never a hit in America (are you people mad?) Thankfully British soul fans came to the rescue and it became a monster on the Northern Soul scene and eventually a Top 5 UK chart hit when it was re-issued in 1974. Frankly though, outside of the two songs mentioned here (and "Gotta See Jane") the rest of Taylor's output isn't all that good as I found to my chagrin when I bought one of his albums many years ago. Mostly he's like a bad Neil Diamond with psychedelic pretentions. But don't let that put you off buying The Essential Collection.

[Download]
Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) - Chris Clark
There's A Ghost In My House - R. Dean Taylor