Apr 232010
 

“We’ll Have It Made,” The Spinners

Greetings, fellow scavengers of incredibly cheap music! I come before you with yet another scratchy old single, found abandoned in a junk store in the nation’s capitol. This time, it’s a wonderful non-hit performed by The Spinners — a band that helped make Philly Soul famous. But! This track, entitled “We’ll Have It Made,” was recorded for Motown, a few years before the Spinners and Motown gave up on each other.

There are a bunch of great Spinners songs in the soul canon — but their biggest smash was probably “It’s a Shame.” Why was it so great? Why did it shoot to #14 Pop in the blink of an eye? Because Stevie Wonder co-wrote it, that’s why! So: you’re Berry Gordy, and this is the first time the Detroit Spinners have ever amounted to anything. What do you do next? Easy! Have Stevie Wonder write another song for them!

Which is exactly what Wonder and his long-time lyrical collaborator Syreeta Wright did, and the results of their efforts you can hear above. I really dig this song, and it coulda, shoulda, WOULDA been a hit, except… except… it wasn’t. Reportedly, Stevie was genuinely disappointed (this was only the second time Gordy had let Stevie out of his cage to lead the writing/production duties on a Motown track) — and more than a little confused by what hadn’t happened. The song peaked — somewhat incredibly, sez me, at #89 on the pop charts.

Anyhow, I think it’s a winner. And it prompts the following Thrifty Music question: What, in your humble estimation, is the song or album that most sticks in your craw as an indisputable example of the poor taste shown by America’s music listening public? I don’t want the song or album that you like that the rest of the world isn’t smart enough to agree with you about; I want the song or album that coulda, shoulda and WOULDA been a hit, a popular sensation, had it not been for… for… well, who knows? It just shoulda, that’s all!

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

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  5 Responses to “Thrifty Music, Vol. 20.8: What’s the Deal, America? You Hate Stevie Wonder Or Something?”

  1. jeangray

    Hello! Not to be anal or anything, but the Spinners biggest hit was “The Rubberband Man.” Remember dat one???

  2. BigSteve

    Any number of post-Good Vibrations Beach Boys singles could answer the question, but Marcella shoulda been a hit. I guess in 1972 no one really cared about the band anymore, and the track got buried on that Carl & the Passions album, which was packaged as a bonus album with a re-release of Pet Sounds.

  3. Mr. Moderator

    Weird, coming out of the break I can better hear Stevie’s hand in the songwriting, but I think the production and performance are lacking in this song. It’s happy and airy, like a musical sequence from the old kids’ show Zoom or something. I can understand why this wasn’t a hit. Thank god for the Spinners’ finally landing in Philly, where the group’s talents were best utilized. As a huge Motown fan, I’ll say that most of their Motown stuff sounds to me what probably all Motown sounds like to General Slocum’s Motown-averse ears.

    As for your question, hrrundi… You want me to show the discipline and objectivity required to avoid suggesting something particular to my tastes, like The dB’s’ Repercussions or The Undertones’ Posititive Touch, right?

    Mmm…. I honestly think the public missed the boat on XTC’s Black Sea and English Settlement relative to the popularity enjoyed by the likes of The Police, but I’m realistic enough to understand the hardships of a band that buries its lead vocals and is led by a dorky-looking guy with a fat ass, so I won’t suggest XTC’s high points.

    Here’s one: Graham Parker and the Rumour’s Squeezing Out Sparks should have catipulted that band to the level of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers following their release of Damn the Torpedoes. There’s nothing lacking, in my mind, from that album’s deserving to have been at the top of the charts. For some reason, not even some of the people I love with generally great taste in music, such as my wife and E. Pluribus Gergely, dig that album. I don’t get it, and I never will.

  4. Jeez, I don’t either! To me, it had “HIT” writ large across it, & even two memorable, entertaining promo vids (‘Don’t Bother with..’ & ‘Protection’, which I think is probably my fave G.P. track. Something about those slashy/choppy rhythm guitars….it just sends me, daddy-o!). I never got the dislike of that record by some, MOST of all, the buying public.

  5. misterioso

    Mod, wives are out of bounds, but if someone does not like Squeezing Out Sparks then it might be time for counseling.

    As for the Spinners, they had lotsa great hits, but for my money I will take “I’ll Be Around.” Enjoy seeing them lipsync it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfG47NsWVYA.

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