WELL: So after almost a whole week of dithering, I've landed on my musical theme for the summer: Motown. Okay, sure, Motown is the soundtrack for every summer (or every decent summer), so I'm casting the net a little wider: Motown/Brill Building/Tin Pan Alley/Phil Spector/Atlantic R&B/Stax/Volt/Northern Soul*. Relative obscurity, as always, is important, but not really a be-all end-all (you can be plenty hip and still like Pet Sounds). I'll suggest various good things as the summer goes along, and I have a feeling OGIW will have a thing or two to mention, as she's been chatting my ear off about Wilson Pickett and Jackie Wilson for a few months now. Provisional goodness:
"Needle in a Haystack" -The Velvelettes
"Too Many Fish in the Sea" -The Marvelettes
"Nothing But Blue Skies" -Jackie Wilson
"Tainted Love" -Gloria Jones (so much better than the cover)
*There are some grey areas that have yet to be worked out. I might be tempted to include something like "Pleasant Valley Sunday," as it was written by Carol King, but was 'performed' by The Monkees, and would on that basis be disqualified.
"Thou shalt not extinguish thine anger, but shall master it,
that thy conscience may not be blunted by adjustment
to wrong causes."
-The Dutch Ten Commandments to Foil the Nazis
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