100 Greatest Songs of the 60’s #41 Martha Reeves and the Vandellas – Heat Wave

Released: 1963

In any organisation there is power, both hard and soft. It’s always concentrated in the hands of the very few and it’s always used to their advantage; that’s simply human nature. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas took the less traditional route to a contract with the still fledgling Motown label when the lead singer, having experienced a frustrating, hitless time in various girl group lineups became Mickey Stevenson’s secretary afer a scheduling mix up.

Opportunity still took time to knock, but when it did the then trio of Reeves, Roz Ashford and Annette Beard grasped it tight. Working with the prodigously talented songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland everything flowed, songs on which the label they had signed to were founded on like Jimmy Mack, Dancing in The Street and Nowhere to Run. Heat Wave was their first number one, a relentless, frothy mix of soul, doo-wop and jazz, Reeves round corners voice turning great into classic.

Then later came the exercising of power. There was a notion that Motown supremo Berry Gordy’s mind was always fixed much more on The Supremes; in the fevered atmosphere of the Hit Factory, Dancing In The Streets was their commercial peak in 1964. Three years later, with a different notion of American society emerging, Holland-Dozier-Holland turned their creative attentions elsewhere. History shows that the label’s golden era is now more fondly remembered, but the people in charge are never too fond of hearing things like that.