Motown In Mono & Stereo: "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) - Kim Weston" & Alt. Vocal
Motown In Mono & Stereo: "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) - Kim Weston" 45/Mono Mix, Stereo Mix and Alternate Vocal
Very interesting example of how things worked at Motown (and probably every other record company). Here is the timeline for this song according to the site Don't Forget The Motor City:
1.] Eddie Holland records the Funk Brothers band track in September of '64 and the track is assigned to "The Vandellas" but no vocals are recorded at this time.
2.] Brian Holland produces the session where Eddie records his lead vocal; interestingly, the notes include this: "[odb on the Vandellas]". Did Martha Reeves record a lead, or did The Vandellas only record backgrounds?
3.] The next year, on July 18 of '65, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, AND William Stevenson pack the producers booth while Kim records her lead vocal, and once again, the session notes include " [odb on the Vandellas]".
The backing vocals on Eddie's version and Kim's version are done by The Andantes, but they are not the same performance on each. The Andantes' performance on Kim's version is a little smoother, less "churchy" and a lot less shrill. But there are additional voices on Kim's version; you can't really hear it on the mono version, but with the stereo mix, it is VERY evident because The Andantes are panned to the left channel and a mystery group is panned to the right channel.
I'd love to know who this mystery group is doing backgrounds. It sounds like a mixed group- male and female singers. But they also sound to be singing a little off-key, at least during their first go-round singing the "ooooo" parts during the second verse 3:52; but while they sound a little rough around the edges, I love their energy and charm!
Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) (Brian Holland-Lamont Dozier-Edward Holland Jr) published Jobete 01-Sep-65alt titles: 1 Baby Don't Hurry 2 Relight The Flame
Kim Weston; recorded Hitsville, completed 18-Jul-65 ; produced by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, William Stevenson ; [odb on the Vandellas]
02-Sep-65; 45 (M): Gordy G 7046 A
Aug-66; LP (M): Motown M651 A Collection Of 16 Original Big Hits Vol. 5
Aug-66; LP (S): Motown S651 A Collection Of 16 Original Big Hits Vol. 5
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