Track Listing

1. Every Little Bit Hurts - Brenda Holloway, Hal Davis, Marc Gordon
2. Who's Lovin' You - Brenda Holloway
3. When I'm Gone - Brenda Holloway, Smokey Robinson
4. Just Look What You've Done - Brenda Holloway, Frank Wilson
5. You've Made Me So Very Happy - Berry Gordy Jr., Brenda Holloway
6. Hurt A Little Everyday - Brenda Holloway, William Mickey Stevenson, Henry Cosby
7. Starting The Hurt All Over Again - Brenda Holloway
8. How Many Times Did You Mean It - Brenda Holloway
9. Operator - Brenda Holloway, Smokey Robinson
10. I'll Always Love You - Brenda Holloway, Hal Davis, Marc Gordon
11. Unchained Melody - Brenda Holloway
12. I'll Be Available - Brenda Holloway
13. I've Been Good To You - Brenda Holloway, Hal Davis, Marc Gordon
14. Where Were You - Brenda Holloway
15. You Can Cry On My Shoulder - Berry Gordy Jr., Brenda Holloway
16. A Favor For A Girl (With A Love Sick Heart) - Brenda Holloway
17. I've Got To Find It - Brenda Holloway
18. Together 'Til The End Of Time - Brenda Holloway, Hal Davis, Marc Gordon

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6609 in Music
• Released on: 1998-08-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 50 minutes

Customer Reviews

Classic Motown from a classy lady
Brenda Holloway made some truly superb recordings with Motown - most of them are represented here on this album which is a bargain in anyone's books. There are so many classic tracks it's hard to know where to begin.

My favourite Brenda Holloway track is I'll Always Love You (not the same song as the release from The Detroit Spinners also on Motown) - an excellent deep soul side which was issued as a single in the USA and made one various artists EP in the UK as well as Brenda's only UK Tamla Motown album - The Artistry of Brenda Holloway. It also featured on a classic album Motown Memories Volume 2 (TML11077) back in the 60s.

Co-incidentally, Together Til The End of Time was on the first Motown Memories album (TML11064) and was actually released as a UK single. Fantastic song and performance.

Every Little Bit Hurts is probably Brenda's best known work and this song was recorded by many different artists in the 60s including The Small Faces.

When I'm Gone - another song released on several albums and covered by many other artists. Rightly so. Brenda improves on Mary Wells' original version I think. Worth the price of the album on it's own.

Some excellent dancers also feature, witness Just Look What You've Done andStarting the Hurt All Over Again. Both tracks featured on the Motown Disco Classics series of albums in the 70s.

Brenda co-wrote You've Made Me So Very Happy - personally I've always preferred her version to the more famous one by Blood, Sweat and Tears. Smokey Robinson had a hand in many of Brenda's tracks - Who's Lovin You, When I'm Gone, I'll Be Available for example. Berry Gordy himself wrote You Can Cry On My Shoulder.

In addition to the above, I can recommend Hurt A Little Everyday (in the same genre as Every Little Bit Hurts and I'll Always Love You), Where Were You (written by the Lewis Sisters), How Many Times Did You Mean It, Operator and I've Got To Find It.

The only one from this album which is a dud (in my opinion) is Unchained Melody. There are many much better versions of this song out there.

So what's missing ?

There was loads of material in the can by Brenda, some of this is now seeing the light of day and being released on Motown compilation CDs. Try Reconsider from the This is Northern Soul series or other unreleased tracks from Ms Holloway on A Cellarful of Motown. In fact there could be enough stuff around for a second Brenda Holloway Greatest Hits and rare Classics CD.

Finally, could Motown please, please, release the original Brenda Holloway album on CD, including original artwork, which was issued on the Tamla label in the USA back in the sixties.

One of Motown's greatest singers
One of Motown's very greatest singers (although as she was based in Los Angeles and refused to play the record company game, somewhat undervalued), and a classically-trained violinist, Brenda Holloway made some of the most memorable singles on a label famous for its memorable singles.

All of the 9 singles released during her Motown lifetime turn up here (with 6 of their B-sides), including her two best known songs, Every Little Bit Hurts, on which she also plays viola, and You've Made Me So Very Happy, which she co-wrote with her younger singer sister Patrice, along with Berry Gordy and Frank Wilson. Both of these are of course sublime and essential to any Motown collection.

The other 3 tracks are made up from Brenda Holloway's only proper album Every Little Bit Hurts, from 1964 (Tamla Motown UK later put together a compilation called The Artistry Of Brenda Holloway), and include her soulful version of Unchained Melody. Who knows, perhaps it was hearing this that inspired Phil Spector to revive the song the following year?

Although this collections omit some excellent material, it does score over The Very Best Of Brenda Holloway by using stereo mixes for 6 of the tracks, though sadly this does not include Every Little Bit Hurts. Some of the mastering is slightly muddy on other tracks. Hurt A Little Every Day is by far the most disgraceful, sounding as if it was mastered from a well-worn stereo acetate, and without any explanation or disclaimer in the notes. 

Some of the tracks were produced in Detroit by Smokey Robinson and include versions of the Miracles' Who's Lovin' You and I've Been Good To You. There was an attempt to mould her as the new Mary Wells, so versions of her 1962 B-side Operator and When I'm Gone (which Mary Wells had recorded but which Motown did not release until 1966) were made at this time. She does a great job on them but was unhappy with the direction she was being obliged to take and returned to Los Angeles before the sessions were complete.

The need for a 2CD retrospective using new mixes from best quality stereo masters and including unreleased material was still badly needed at the time of this release, but until such time this needed to be on your Motown shelf. However, the release in 2005 of the Brenda Holloway 2CD Motown Anthology answers much of this deficiency, and gives consumers the choice as to the extent of Brenda Holloway's work they want in their collection, though this remains a useful introduction

Motown's greatest unsung hero.
When you hear "Every Little Bit Hurts" you will understand why when the Beatles heard it they insisted that she be a part of their 1965 North American Tour. She did the tour and was the only female artist ever to do so.

Described as the most beautiful woman ever signed to the Motown label Brenda was a phenomenal talent. If she had only been based in Detroit and not in LA then she would have undoubtedly become one of Motown's biggest stars rather than their greatest unsung hero.

All of the tracks are from 1964-67 and writing credits include Berry Gordy, Ashford & Simpson, a certain W Robinson and Brenda herself. I won't discuss specific tracks as there are far too many superb tracks to detail here. Before buying this CD I had heard little of Brenda and bought it on the strength of a recommendation and I hope you can do the same. Whether you are a Motown aficionado or a casual listener don't miss this album.

-- zoq@iname.com