Heatwave has it all-- a smouldering lyric penned by Holland-Dozier-Holland, a fervid call and response from Martha Reeves, Rosalind Ashford and Annette Sreling Beard, a pounding beat motored by baritone sax and hand claps-- and it earned the trio their first US Top 5 single, provided a blueprint for their follow up, Quicksand and helped establish the Motown sound. Not bad for a group who only got a break when Mary Wells failed to turn up for a Marvin Gaye session. Martha, the then Motown secretary, plus pals stood in; their raucous harmonies earning the group a recording deal of their own.
Availability: Come And Get These Memories/ Heatwave Motown CD
51. THE TORNADOS: Telstar/ Jungle Fever (1962)
The brainchild of troubled producer Joe Meek, the forever celestial Telstar was a homage to the US satellite then beaming the first global television pictures into the sitting rooms of 1962 Britain. Crucially, Meek swamped The Tornados in reverb(utilizing the acoustics of his Holloway flat-cum-studio's bath-room), leaving his self-written lead line to an amplified Calvioline-- a proto synthesizer with an aching, futuristic tone. Telstar still zings from the speakers, as readily evoking pre-Beatles Britain as it does timeless cosmic wonderment.
Availability: Telstar Castle CD
