There are many great soul duets, but to my mind this is the best. It’s Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell with their classic rendition of “You’re all I need to get by,” (1968), a song written by Nickolas Ashford and Valeree Simpson, themselves a singing duo. It’s simply the most soulful of the Motown duets, and by that I mean there’s a lot of emotion in the voices.
Both Gaye and Terrell died young. Gaye was killed by his own father a day before he turned 45. Terrell (see below) was, when she recorded this song, already ill from the brain tumor that would kill her at age 24.
Wikipedia notes about this song:
. . . it became one of the few Motown recordings of the 1960s that was not recorded with the familiar “Motown sound“. Instead, “You’re All I Need to Get By” had a more soulful and gospel-oriented theme surrounding it, that was influenced by the writers, who also sing background vocals on the recording, sharing vocals in a church choir in New York. The lead vocals were recorded separately by the two singers and combined during the mixing process, reportedly to cut studio time, and give time for Terrell, who was using a wheelchair, to recover from surgery to repair the malignant brain tumor that would ultimately cause her death in 1970.
Gaye and Terrell did several nice songs together; my second favorite is “Ain’t nothing like the real thing” (1968), which you can hear here. It was also written by Ashford and Simpson.
As far as the pop-soul of Motown is concerned, this is a great song and a very good version. But personally, I’d rank Aretha’s version even higher.
+1
I’m not sure I agree with the Wikipedia entry that this is somehow a departure from the typical Motown sound. I hear the usual percussion, including tambourine, and prominent bass line – I assume provided by the demi-god of the electric bass, James Jamerson.
Another good choice, Jerry!
My favourite soul record is probably Ann Peebles’ “Straight From the Heart”, second place goes to Otis Redding’s live album “In Person at the Whisky A Go Go”.
Another great album of soul duets is “King and Queen,” by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. The two have real chemistry–Otis apparently fell in love with Carla around the time they cut the album. It spawned the hit “Tramp,” wherein Carla takes Otis to task for being a country bumpkin, and other highlights include intense covers of “Knock on Wood,” “Lovey Dovey,” “New Year’s Resolution,” and the original “Ooh Carla, Ooh Otis.”
However, if someone asked me to nominate my favorite soul duet of all time, it would have to be “Don’t Hurt Me,” by Jackie Wilson and LaVerne Baker–a soaring, exquisitely sensitive performance that deftly contrasts Wilson’s high tenor (and falsetto) with Baker’s passionate growl. It can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tP0DmvLhVs
That’s a beautiful duet. Of course, if you want to hear Wilson and Baker having some raunchy fun, you can always check out “Think Twice, version X”. It’s definitely NSFW, so I won’t link to it, but it’s easy to find on YouTube.
Jerry, if Al Green isn’t included in Soul Week, I will think less highly of your musical tastes. Soul comes out of the Gospel tradition. And there are two Al Greens: the secular and the religious. His secular love songs are unbeatable as soul music.
I offer a link to a good live version (I hope you’ll permit this, please): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPh-31TtEOI
This is “Love and Happiness”
Reblogged this on Oily Mud on a Piece of Cloth and commented:
I haven’t posted in a month. I have to rethink the scope of this blog, as it doesn’t mesh with what I’m doing in my course. Here’s a wonderful classic that Jerry Coyne shared on his blog yesterday, after all, music is art and art still needs to be the pivotal point of this blog, as directionless as it has become.