Mary Wells – Something New: Motown Lost & Found (2012) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

This revealing double album from Motown’s first crossover star, Mary Wells, contains 47 tracks, 23 of them never before heard. Something New: Motown Lost & Found is an overview of Wells working with nearly every producer at the label, from Smokey Robinson to Holland-Dozier-Holland to Berry Gordy. Among the unreleased songs are newly discovered duets with Marvin Gaye and the young Supremes, as well as sessions for an unfinished standards album with the Four Tops. The collection also includes 24 songs issued after Wells left Motown and three more rare duets with Gaye, all in stereo mixes for the first time.

As one of the first signees to the Motown label, a young Mary Wells helped define the early sound of the label that would change the tides of American music forever. Though she left the label at the peak of her popularity in late 1964, Wells wrote and recorded feverishly in her four short years at Hitsville U.S.A., leaving behind a vault of unreleased recordings along with her well-known chart-toppers. Enter Something New: Motown Lost & Found. This collection gathers together 47 tracks, about half of which are completely unreleased archival material and the other half are previously unreleased stereo mixes of songs that found release in various places over the years. The weighty collection shows that Mary’s creative trajectory walked a remarkably similar path as that of the Motown label as a whole. The set begins with smooth and soulful post-doo wop numbers from 1961 recording sessions. The girl group soul of “Why Do You Want to Let Me Go” fades into a series of collaborations with Smokey Robinson like the happy-go-lucky calypso tinge of “To Lose You” and the smoky heartbreak of “My Heart Is Like a Clock.” As the months burned on and Motown began to explode into worldwide popularity, Wells grew into the Motown sound. Tracks like “Have a Little Patience (And Wait)” feature backing vocals by the Supremes and capture the mixture of caffeinated soul and youthful rock & roll that Motown owned the trademark to. The same 1963 sessions yielded coulda-been-hits like “Free from Your Spell” and the spirited “Your Loss, My Gain,” which later became a hit for Wells as “You Lost the Sweetest Boy.” The set is rounded out by seven duets with Marvin Gaye and a host of standard tunes from the era when Berry Gordy was pushing his artists toward more adult material. Gordy’s attempt to win over the fanfare (and larger expendable incomes) of the sophisticated supper club set resulted in some of the more questionable Motown material, and Wells’ loungy standards are lacking when compared to the teenage kicks of the other material here. Even four tunes backed by the Four Tops can’t completely save the dip in energy and vibe for the second half of Something New. That said, this collection will be a must for Motown completists, and soul fans will appreciate the spirit of fun and camaraderie captured in the earlier soul tracks.

Tracklist:

CD1 #01 – (You Can) Depend On Me (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #02 – Why Do You Want To Let Me Go (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #03 – Money (That’s What I Want) (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #04 – Is It Me Or Is It You (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #05 – I’ve Got A Story (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #06 – Guarantee (For A Lifetime) (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #07 – To Lose You (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #08 – Cinderella (It’s Twelve O’Clock) (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #09 – When Your Lover Comes Back (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #10 – I Want You ‘Round (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #11 – My Heart Is Like A Clock (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #12 – Goodbye And Good Luck (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #13 – Forgive And Forget (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #14 – I’ll Be Available (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #15 – Can You Fix It (My Broken Heart) (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #16 – Have A Little Patience (And Wait) (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #17 – Free From Your Spell (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #18 – My World Of Dreams (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #19 – Your Loss, My Gain (You Lost The Sweetest Boy)
CD1 #20 – Strange Love (Greystone Version)
CD1 #21 – Prove It (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #22 – One Block From Heaven (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #23 – That’s Why I Love You (Like I Do) (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #24 – Drop In The Bucket (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #25 – Everybody Needs Love (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #26 – Honey Boy (2012 Stereo Version)
CD1 #27 – When I’m Gone (2012 Stereo Version)

CD2 #01 – Back In My Arms (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #02 – All I Got (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #03 – You Can Dance (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #04 – I’m Yours, You’re Mine (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #05 – Oh Lover (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #06 – Let’s Talk It Over (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #07 – In Case You Need Love
CD2 #08 – The Second Time Around (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #09 – This Is Something New (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #10 – I’ve Grown Accustomed To His Face (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #11 – Again (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #12 – Can’t Get Out Of This Mood (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #13 – The Party’s Over (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #14 – I Wanna Be Around (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #15 – I Remember You (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #16 – Teach Me Tonight (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #17 – Secret Love (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #18 – All I Do Is Dream Of You (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #19 – Always (2012 Stereo Version)
CD2 #20 – A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening (2012 Stereo Version)