line-up 1 (1960-92)

- Mary Wells (aka Mary Womack) (RIP 1992) -- vocals, 

  backing vocals

  backing musicians: (1968)

- Bobby Womack -- backing vocals

- Cecil Womack -- backing vocals

- Curtis Womack -- backing vocals

- Harry Womack -- backing vocals

- Friendly Womack, Jr. -- backing vocals

- Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Title:  Servin' Up Some Soul

Company: Jubilee

Catalog: JGS 8018

Year: 1968

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: --

Available: 1

Catalog ID: --

Price: $

For goodness sakes, she was the original "Queen of Motown".   How can anyone not love the late Mary Wells?  Between her 1961 debut and her 1964 departure from the label, she recorded four solo albums, a live collection and a collaboration with Marvin Gaye.  In many ways she was responsible for Berry Gordy and Motown surviving through their early years.

1968 found Wells continuing her post-Motown corporate wanderings.  Her third label since the breakup with Motown, she signed a recording contract with Herb Abramson and Jerry Blaine's Jubilee Records. Her label debut came in the form of a single:

- 1968's 'The Doctor' b/w 'Two Lovers History' (Jubilee catalog number JB 5621)  Billboard pop chart # 65' R&B chart  # 22

While it failed to match her earlier Motown sales, the 45 did well enough for Jubilee management to rush Wells into the studio to record a supporting album.  Recorded in New York's Select Sound Studios, "Servin' Up Some Soul" was co-produced by Well sand her then husband Cecil Womack.  The pair were also credited with penning six of the album's twelve compositions. I've always found it interesting to see so many fans going on and on about how Wells never managed to match her Motown output.  Judging by this album, that's hardly the case.  Based on the sound quality alone, this sounds better than much of her earlier Motown catalog.  Wells voice sounded better than many of those original recordings - still sexy and demur, but stronger and more self-assured; certainly characteristics she needed in the wake of her bitter break with Berry Gordy and the Motown family. The album's other big surprise came in the form of all of the original material, including a remake of 'Bye Bye Baby.'  With a handful of exceptions (Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder come to mind), Motown artists weren't exactly known for writing their own material.   But then I remembered a 17 year old Wells approached Gordy wanting to be a songwriter, not a performer.  The album certainly isn't perfect.  A couple of the popular hits covers sounded like little more than filler - Bobby Hebb's 'Sunny', Lloyd Price's 'Stag-O-Lee' and Peter, Paul & Mary's '500 Miles', but there were plenty of enjoyable highlights included the blazing 'Soul Train', the Motown-flavored single 'Don't Look Back' and her cover of Jay & the Techniques 'Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie.'  Definitely a nice rebound that sadly did not get the attention it deserved.

"Servin' Up Some Soul" track listing:

(side 1)
1.) Soul Train (Mary Womack - Cecil Womack) - 2:35  rating: **** stars

If you thought Mary Wells equated to soft ballads then you need to hear the rockin' 'Soul Train.'  With backing from The Valentinos, Wells just tore this original composition up.  Hard to understand why this blazing geographic name check wasn't released as a single.

2.) Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie (Maurice Irby, Jr.) - 2:30  rating: **** stars 

I've always loved the Jay & the Techniques original, but have to admit that Well's remake was energetic and certainly had a sexier edge than Jay Proctor's original vocals.

3.) Stag-O- Lee (Lloyd Price - Harold Logan) - 3:25 rating: ** stars

Lloyd Price's original remains the standard, so while Wells' slowed down arrangement wasn't bad, it just couldn't compete. Have to admit The Valentinos sounded awesome on backing vocals.

4.) Make Me Yours (Bettye Swann) - 1:50 rating: *** stars

With an amazing voice that blended self-assurance and sexy, it's hard to understand why Bettye Swann never became a superstar.  'Make Me Yours' is one of her sterling performances, so it's nice to hear Well's cover of this great tune.  Spotlighting Cecil Womack's guitar, Wells' remake is wonderful, but be sure to check out the Swann original.  And if you're going to do that, be sure to check out her recording of 'Little Things Mean a Lot' - you've probably heard it without knowing it since Volvo featured it in a 2023 television commercial for their EX30 all electric vehicle.

5.) Two Lovers History (Mary Womack - Cecil Womack) - 3:05 rating: *** stars

With Wells sharing vocals with Cecil Womack, the ballad 'Two Lovers History' was a pretty tune that also appeared as the "B" side to her 'The Doctor' 45.

6.) Can't Get Away from Your Love (Mary Womack - Cecil Womack) - 2:40  rating: **** stars 

With it's spoken word segments and bouncy melody 'Can't Get Away' was the performance that came the closest to capturing her earlier Motown sound.  Always loved The Valentinos' backing vocals.

- 1968's 'Can't Get Away from You Love' b/w ''Woman In Love' (Jubilee catalog number 45-5629)

(side 2)
1.) The Doctor (Mary Womack - Cecil Womack) - 2:20  rating: **** stars

Previously released as her Jubilee debut, 'The Doctor' was one of Wel's best post-Motown efforts.  Co-written with husband Cecil Womack, the track perfectly captured Well's shy, sexy voice and should have been a massive hit for her.  Recorded for a 1968 Bitter End television episode, YouTube has a  clip of Wells singing live over a recording of the tune: MARY WELLS - THE DOCTOR (LIVE BITTER END SHOW 1968) (youtube.com)

2.) Don't Look Back (Mary Womack - Cecil Womack) - 3:07 rating: **** stars

The album's third and final single, the upbeat 'Don't Look Back' stands as a good argument Wells' best days were not over when she left Motown.  The melody was as strong as anything in her Motown catalog and her vocals were sterling.  Great tune with radio airplay written all over it.  How radio managed to ignore it is nothing short of a crime.

- 1968's 'Don't Look Back' b/w '500 Miles' (Jubilee catalog number JB 5639)

3.) Sunny (Bobby Hebb) - 2:20 rating: * star

Bobby Hebb's original is a classic effort and any cover would appear to be nothing short of suicidal.  Speeding the tune up and giving it a lounge act edge did nothing to improve the tune.  In fact, given the song's painful history (it was written as a tribute to Hebb's brother who was shot to death), the upbeat arrangement reflected a complete misreading of the tune.

4.) Woman in Love (Mary Womack - Cecil Womack) - 3:13 rating: *** stars

The ballad 'Woman in Love' was interesting for framing Wells against a slower, bluesy arrangement.  Surprising how good she sounded in those lower registers.

5.) 500 Miles (Hedy West - Bobby Bare - Curly Williams) - 3:30 rating: *** stars

Folk are going to recognize this as a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary.  I never liked that version, so Wells' bluesy cover actually strikes me as an improvement.  

6.) Bye Bye Baby '68" (Mary Wells) - 2:43 rating: *** stars

Penned by Wells, the original 'Bye Bye Baby' served as her 1960 debut for Motown.  The bouncy remake was nice, but not really an improvement over the original.  'Course remakes are seldom improvements over the originals.

©  Scott R. Blackerby September, 2024

Rating: ** (2 stars)

Title:  The Two Sides of Mary Wells

Company: ATCO

Catalog: 33-199

Year: 1966

Grade (cover/record): VG/VG

Comments: mono pressing; still in shrink wrap

Available: 1

GEMM catalog ID: 4197

Price: $

Cost: $1.00

G

"The Two Sides of Mary Wells" track listing:

(side 1)
1.) 

(side 2)
1.) 

Time and legions of other soul superstars have obscured the fact that for a brief moment, Mary Wells was Motown's biggest star. She came to the attention of Berry Gordy as a 17-year-old, hawking a song she'd written for Jackie Wilson; that song, "Bye Bye Baby," became her first Motown hit in 1961. The full-throated approach of that single was quickly toned down in favor of a pop-soul sound. Few other soul singers managed to be as shy and sexy at the same time as Wells (Barbara Lewis is the only other that springs to mind), and the soft-voiced singer found a perfect match with the emerging Motown production team, especially Smokey Robinson. Robinson wrote and produced her biggest Motown hits; "Two Lovers," "You Beat Me to the Punch," and "The One Who Really Loves You" all made the Top Ten in the early '60s, and "My Guy" hit the number one spot in mid-1964, at the very height of Beatlemania.

Mary turned 21 years old as "My Guy" was rising to the top of the charts, and left Motown almost immediately afterward for a reported advance of several hundred thousand dollars from 20th Century Fox. The circumstances remain cloudy years later, but Wells and her husband-manager felt Motown wasn't coming through with enough money for their new superstar; she was also lured by the prospect of movie roles through 20th Century Fox (which never materialized). It's been rumored that Wells was being groomed for the sort of plans that were subsequently lavished upon Diana Ross; more nefariously, it's also been rumored that Motown quietly discouraged radio stations from playing Wells' subsequent releases. What is certain is that Wells never remotely approached the success of her Motown years, entering the pop Top 40 only once (although she had some R&B hits). Motown, for their part, took care throughout the rest of the '60s not to lose their big stars to larger labels.

Wells' departure from Motown was so dramatic and unsuccessful that it has tended to overshadow the quality of her later work, which has almost always been dismissed as trivial by critics. True, it didn't match the quality of her Motown recordings — Smokey Robinson could not be replaced. But her '60s singles for 20th Century Fox (whom she ended up leaving after only a year), Atco, and Jubilee were solid pop-soul on which her vocal talents remained undiminished. She wrote and produced a lot of her late-'60s and early-'70s sessions with her second husband, guitarist Cecil Womack (brother of Bobby), and these found her exploring a somewhat earthier groove than her more widely known pop efforts. She had trouble landing recording deals in the '70s and '80s, and succumbed to throat cancer in 1992

Wells got her big break by auditioning her own "Bye Bye Baby" to Motown founder Berry Gordy; Gordy promptly signed her and released the song as a single, which did fairly well with R & B audiences. But after that point she was firmly in the hands of Gordy and his team of writers and producers, falling into a dependent pattern that was followed by all major Motown singers until the end of the decade. Between that and quitting the company so early, it's not really clear how far her career might have eventually gotten: successors like Diana Ross went on to much greater things. (According to one source, Gordy strongarmed disk jockeys into not playing her records, bribing them with exclusive airing rights to Supremes singles.)

Wells had at least one live record, which we don't know the title of. There's also a Motown greatest hits double CD that includes a bunch of bonus tracks.

I haven't been able to find a full-blown Mary Wells page, but if you hunt around on the Web you'll find a couple of brief biographical notices.

The Two Sides Of Mary Wells (1966)
Atco picked up Wells on the rebound and after releasing a couple of Motown-sounding singles, quickly put together this album: one side R&B covers ("In The Midnight Hour") and one side whitebread pop hits ("On A Clear Day You Can See Forever"). The disc quickly vanished into obscurity; side one was resurrected on the CD compilation Dear Lover. (DBW)

Considered, for good reason, one of the top black female vocalists of the early to mid-Sixties, the late Mary Wells' initial recordings for Motown Records have always been regarded as among the finest work she did during her twenty-plus years as a recording artist. Thanks to modern technology, much of that work has been made available again by Motown Records, most especially in a double CD ("Looking Back 1961-1964")released in 1993. In addition, Mary's post-Motown recordings for 20th Century, Jubilee and Epic were packaged in a comprehensive 15-track CD by Varese Vintage in late 1994.

For the first time since its original issue (and as a result of many requests from Mary's dedicated fans), this Ichiban/Soul Classics' collection documents a significant gap in Mary's career, namely the material she recorded during her brief one year-plus tenure with Atco Records from late 1965 to early 1967. Included in "The Atco Sessions" are all but six of Mary's recordings for the label as well as two exciting, previously unreleased tunes unearthed while this collection was being assembled.

Her early beginnings have been well documented in other Wells' reissues but for the record, Mary's singing career began in Detroit with her first public appearance at age of ten. However, it was her burgeoning writing skills that led to her to take a song she'd written expressly for the then-super hot Jackie Wilson to up-and-coming Motor City entrepreneur Berry Gordy Jr.

Gordy had been having his own share of success as a writer for Wilson (on tunes like "To Be Loved" and "Lonely Teardrops") and by the time he met a 17-year old Wells in 1960, he'd just started his own Motown label. At a sock hop, he asked Mary to sing the song she had for Wilson: recognizing something special in her soft'n'sweet vocal style, Gordy used his famous 'ears' to determine that Mary would be a valuable addition to his fledgling roster.

Between February 1961 when "Bye Bye Baby" was released and May 1964 when "What's The Matter With You Baby," a duet with Marvin Gaye climbed into the Top 20, Mary Wells had twelve chart hits including classics like "You Beat Me To The Punch," "Two Lovers" "What's So Easy For Two Is So Hard For One" and the global smash, "My Guy."

Depending on whose account you read, either because of strong encouragement by her husband-turned-manager Herman Griffin or because of her own feeling that she wasn't earning what she considered the appropriate amount for her Motown hits, Mary Wells became the first artist to leave Motown in the summer of 1964.

Lured by a reported advance of $200,000 (a true fortune in the mid-Sixties, especially for any black recording artist) and the possibility of movie situations, she signed with 20th Century Fox in the late fall of 1964 and scored her first hit for the label with "Ain't That The Truth" in October that year. There were a couple more hits and an album amidst rumors that Motown had quietly 'discouraged' radio stations from playing Mary's new records (by suggesting they might not supply those stations with their own new, super-hot product). For whatever reason, Mary's stint with 20th was short-lived and by the fall of '65, she had signed with Atlantic Records' subsidiary Atco.

This was Atlantic prior to the arrival of Aretha Franklin, a company whose reputation had been built on selling no-doubt-about-it rhythm-and-blues. There had obviously been pop hits and some of the early '60's female artists had helped provide them, most notably Carla Thomas with "Gee Whiz" (one of the first bona fide hits for Memphis-based Stax Records); Michigan-based Barbara Lewis (whose 'light' vocal style might bear some comparisons with Mary's) with "Hello Stranger"; and Doris Troy, whose '63 classic "Just One Look" was a pop and R&B winner.

There were only a few other women at Atlantic in '65 including Esther Phillips, Patti LaBelle with her Bluebelles, and Leslie Uggams, but the label was hardly top-heavy with female stars and Wells was coming to Atco with a clear track record, even if her then-most recent work with 20th had paled in comparison with her earlier Motown hits.

The decision was made to continue a creative association that had begun during the end of her year with 20th: Mary returned to Chicago to work with producer Carl Davis, who had been scoring hits for artists like Gene Chandler. The very first Atco session (on November 26, '65) comprised five songs, one of which ("Dial L For Loneliness") remains unreleased (and likely lost forever due to an Atlantic warehouse fire in the early Seventies that resulted in the destruction of a huge amount of unreleased material by all of Atlantic's artists).

From that session, arranged by Sonny Sanders, come the first four songs included in this collection: the 'up,' Motown-inspired Dear Lover which became Mary's sole Atco chart hit and her first Top 10 R&B record since "My Guy" (complete with a few bars 'borrowed' from "Hello Young Lovers" from the musical "The King And I"!); its uptempo, dance-flavored flip "Can't You See (You're Losing Me)", which saw some pop chart action, was co-written by another ex-Motowner Barrett Strong, and for many years a rare and popular side in the Philly area; the infectious, 'pop'-slanted "Me And My Baby", issued as Mary's third single for Atco and another attempt at recreating the mood of some of Mary's Motown hits; and "Fancy Free", an enjoyable if less than startling side.

Back again in the Windy City in May of 1966, Mary laid down two sides which comprised her second single for the label: another Barrett Strong composition "Such A Sweet Thing"; and the intriguing "Keep Me In Suspense", definitely one of the gems in this collection. Both sides had a definite 'Chicago'-like sound and Mary's vocals seemed well-suited for the tunes, even though radio paid little attention in spite of a full page taken out by Atco to promote the single in "Billboard" and other trade papers.

Having released two singles without success, Atco decided to try a strategy they'd already used with other female artists at the label including Barbara Lewis, Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles, and Esther Phillips. In each case, albums had been released that consisted of 'standards': for Lewis, it was "It's Magic," Phillips had "And I Love Him!" and "Esther"; and LaBelle and co. did "Over The Rainbow." There were some original tunes on the LaBelle and Lewis albums (both released in '66) but the bulk of songs were tried-and-true tunes that obviously appealed to the supper club crowd. Of course, Atlantic wasn't alone in employing this 'new' strategy: Motown had recorded The Supremes at New York's famed Copacabana in '65, following a pathway earlier paved by the late Sam Cooke.

At any rate, Mary's approach was to divide her one album for Atco into two distinct parts, leading to the obvious title, "The Two Sides Of Mary Wells". Repeated on this compilation in its original form, Side One featured popular hits of the day, with "Dear Lover" tagged on at the end for good measure.

Mary tackled The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction"; "Love Makes The World Go Round", a January '66 pop/R&B smash for Detroit singer/songwriter Deon Jackson; Wilson Pickett's by-then R&B standard "In The Midnight Hour" (a hit in mid-'65 and a tune that many every self-respecting black artists included in their 'live' show as a warm up tune); a nod to her Motown friends via Holland-Dozier-Holland's "My World Is Empty Without You", which had finished its chart run by The Supremes only months before Mary cut her version; and The Young Rascals' "Good Lovin'", a hit for the blue-eyed soul men on Atlantic that same year.

Although no session date is available, the entire album was likely recorded on or around the same date. We do know that Carl Davis was still at the production helm, although the arranging chores were divided between Sonny Sanders (who had worked on all of Mary's Atco sessions up until that point) and Joe Mazzu, who did the arrangements for Side Two (not included on this compilation because of track limitations). The second side (described by original liner notes' writer Bob Rolontz as "the warm side of Mary") consisted of songs that obviously fit the 'standards'/'show tunes' mode including "Where Am I Going," "Shangri-La," "On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)," "The Shadow Of Your Smile," "The Boy From Ipanema," and "Sunrise Sunset."

In sync with the notion of having female stars do such tunes, Esther Phillips had previously tackled "Shangri-La" and "The Boy From Ipanema" while both she and Barbara Lewis had turned in their versions of "The Shadow Of Your Smile." One can imagine the Atlantic execs sitting around with a pile of such tunes deciding how many versions they should record on their lady singers!

The decision to do such an album with Mary made little difference. No singles were taken from the collection and it failed to make any chart impression although two songs tagged on to the end of the second session were actually more in keeping with the previous work Mary had been doing with Carl Davis on her single sides.

Unearthed while Atlantic personnel were trying (with much fervor but without success) to find the original master tapes for "Such A Sweet Thing" and "Keep Me In Suspense" was a reel that contained the superlative "Love Letters" and the nifty "Hands Off My Baby", two excellent sides that might have made great singles and were in obvious contrast to the other tunes cut for Mary's album.

Mary did one more session in 1966, an October date that yielded just one unreleased side ("Bet You Never Thought") before completing her association with Atco in early 1967. Switching to New York for her last sessions for the label, but none of the three songs ("Sixteen Tone," "Mr. So And So," and "Claim Me") were released. She did attempt new versions of the latter two tunes on February 1 but they remain unreleased; the final single to emerge from the last session coupled the upbeat "(Hey You) Set My Soul On Fire" with "Coming Home". Both songs were written by Mary with Cecil Womack, brother of singer/guitarist Bobby, who also became Mary's second husband.

Cecil produced "Hey You" with Bob Gallo and the second side by himself and although the single saw no action when released in 1967, it was notably Mary's re-entry into writing her own material, something she had done at the earliest part of her Motown career and something that she was to continue throughout the two years with Jubilee Records that followed her Atco tenure.

Within a year of leaving Atco and joining Jubilee, Mary found herself back on the charts with "The Doctor," the biggest hit of three charted singles she had with the label. Subsequently, she recorded for Reprise and Epic and later Allegiance and Britain's Motor City label. Indeed, U.K. audiences were always particularly appreciative of Mary who maintained a strong following there and in other parts of Europe where she was popular performer. On July 26, 1992, Mary passed away after a two-year fight with throat cancer and subsequently her memory has been kept alive with the reissue of her greatest work.

Former Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler (who signed her to Atco Records) admits in "The Rhythm & The Blues," his autobiography, "We couldn't do nothing with her. The fault wasn't Mary's nor was it ours; she was an artist who required the idiosyncratic Motown production. There was something unique about that little Detroit studio - the attitude, the vibes, the energy - that couldn't be duplicated elsewhere. More importantly, we didn't have Smokey Robinson to help her." While Wexler is clearly referring to the lack of success that Atco experienced with Mary Wells, that assessment has little bearing on the music itself as this collection so clearly shows. It may not have been Mary's most successful recording period but it had more than its share of great moments. Enjoy!