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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This compilation features 16 tracks from Motown's short-lived L.A. subsidiary Mowest. Set up in 1971, Mowest was Berry Gordy's attempt to widen Motown's horizons and prepare the ground for the label's move West. After two years, that saw the release of over 40 singles and close on a dozen albums but very limited commercial success, the label was shut down.
Re-mastered from the original master tapes, the music presented here is a fantastic blend of sweet soul, funk and pop that ends with two Northern Soul cuts. Much of it has a more organic and less polished sound compared with Motown's mainstream releases from the same period - it's almost Motown meets the West Coast counter-culture at times and, in many cases, it's all the better for it. Highlights included the three tracks from established veterans Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, particularly the Northern Soul stomper 'The Night' (which was a Top 10 UK hit in 1972). Syreeta's 'Black Maybe' is five minutes of mesmerising semi-acoustic soul and 'I Love Every Little Thing About You' has a cool and slightly off-kilter backing tune. 'Give Me Your Love' by Sisters Love showcases some excellent vocals and Odessey's 'Our Lives Are Shaped by What We Love' has a breezy West coast vibe. There are a couple of weaker tracks but overall this is a quality compilation.
Given that around 40 singles were released on Mowest, perhaps Light in the Attic Records should have gone the whole distance and released a 2 CD set but, nonetheless, this is a welcome release. Housed in a digipak and featuring exhaustive liner notes and archive photos, it clocks in just short of 58 minutes. Recommended.
Re-mastered from the original master tapes, the music presented here is a fantastic blend of sweet soul, funk and pop that ends with two Northern Soul cuts. Much of it has a more organic and less polished sound compared with Motown's mainstream releases from the same period - it's almost Motown meets the West Coast counter-culture at times and, in many cases, it's all the better for it. Highlights included the three tracks from established veterans Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, particularly the Northern Soul stomper 'The Night' (which was a Top 10 UK hit in 1972). Syreeta's 'Black Maybe' is five minutes of mesmerising semi-acoustic soul and 'I Love Every Little Thing About You' has a cool and slightly off-kilter backing tune. 'Give Me Your Love' by Sisters Love showcases some excellent vocals and Odessey's 'Our Lives Are Shaped by What We Love' has a breezy West coast vibe. There are a couple of weaker tracks but overall this is a quality compilation.
Given that around 40 singles were released on Mowest, perhaps Light in the Attic Records should have gone the whole distance and released a 2 CD set but, nonetheless, this is a welcome release. Housed in a digipak and featuring exhaustive liner notes and archive photos, it clocks in just short of 58 minutes. Recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I bought this almost as much for the sleeve notes as the music, some of the best tracks I have already but overall this is a great collection. Great tracks that I already knew from Syreeta, Franki Valli & The Four Seasons, Thelma Houston and Sisters Love and unfamiliar material from Odyssey, Lodi, Suzee Ikeda and others don't disappoint. This short lived label produced some interesting music and the story of how it cam about, and how it failed through lack of promotion is fascinating. I agree with the other reviewer that a 2 CD set would have been a better idea, I'm sure we are missing out of plenty of great tracks. Favourite tracks include The Night from Franky Valli & The Four Seasons, Black Maybe from Syreeta, I Ain't Going Nowhere from Thelma Houston but nice surprises of Suzee Ikeda's Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You and Lodi's I Hope I See It In My Lifetime as well as the title track by Odyssey. I would recommend this to anyone interested in Motown history or anyone curious about this more experimental side of early 70s Motown. Buy it now before it becomes a collectors item and you can't afford it!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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2 reviews
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Should have been more tracks on this cd.
30 Jun 2011
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Nice packaging, booklet, information, remastering and such but only 16 tracks. There could easily have been at least 10 more tracks on this cd.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Could Have Been So Much Stronger!
3 Sep 2011
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
When I first heard about this project I was quite excited. I always felt Motown slept on the MoWest label and gave it minimal, if any support. I was deeply disappointed with the finished product. There were several MoWest artists who were not represented here who dropped some pretty good material. Where was The Devastating Affair, Bobby Taylor, Michelle Aller, Blinky, The Blackberries,The Crusaders, Lesley Gore, and Celebration? What could have been a great opportunity to expose some initially poorly promoted and distributed music fell to the wayside.
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