Martha & the Vandellas: Heat Wave (1963) / Dance Party (1965)

Martha & the Vandellas began making their first noise on the pop and soul charts with their 1963 album Heat Wave. Martha Reeves had a phenomenally powerful voice, and the Holland-Dozier-Holland title track of the album was a well-deserved Top 10 hit: the instrumental backing is so funky that you hardly mind the long delay before the vocals start. Unfortunately, Motown's music factory wasn't in full gear at this point - H-D-H produced but couldn't be bothered to write any further original material. So the LP does not include any of the Motown standards that the company later recycled as a matter of habit. Instead there are some decent, solidly performed, remakes of vintage tunes ranging from Phil Spector ('Then He Kissed Me') to Wayne Newton ('Danke Schoen'). Two years after their second atempt, the girls issued what is considered to be one of the great party albums of the '60s. Dance Party was, oddly enough, the work of a Motown act that wasn't known for delivering great albums. Martha & the Vandellas had enjoyed some serious hits from 1964 onward, but hadn't quite measured up in the LP department until the release of Dance Party in the spring of 1965. Made up of material from singles that went back to the previous summer, the album benefited from the presence of the group's biggest single, 'Dancing in the Street,' its follow-up, the hypnotically pounding, driving, soaring 'Wild One,' and the classic 'Nowhere to Run,' surrounded by a trio of well-above-average B-sides and covers of such Motown dance standards as 'Mickey's Monkey' and 'Hitch Hike.' Even the rest was hardly filler, however, with Martha Reeves turning in a gloriously impassioned performance on the ballad 'There He Is (At My Door)' and the group acquitting itself beautifully on 'Motoring.' Each side was always good for at least two plays at any self-respecting teen party of the '60s, and it all still holds up today. This comp gathers both albums on one disc for your listening pleasure. Enjoy! http://www.warr.org/, http://www.allmusicguide.com/

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Martha & the Vandellas performing their signature song 'Heat Wave':

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Another great performance by the girls, introduced by Dusty Springfield on Ready Steady Go, 1965. They sing live 'Nowhere to Run':

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And ... last but not least, 'Dancing in the Street':