You might be thinking, "Ah, finally, something other than rock!" And while we here at Drowned In Sound tend to highlight rock 'n roll more than other genres, we don't want to stay in a vacuum and ignore the world of music as it is. So, to "branch out" a little bit, we're going to take it back to the 1960's era of swing, blues, jazz, and yes, rock 'n roll.
Recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, the R&B/soul song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" came straight out of Motown from Tamla records. Instantly becoming a classic, this song was re-recorded by the Supremes and Diana Ross in 1970 which became Ross' first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award. But, for the sake of succinctness, we'll focus on the Marvin Gaye version.
Before the duo recorded this iconic song about hope, love and conquering fear, British soul singer Dusty Springfield wanted to record the song, but Gaye and Terrell beat Springfield to it. "We played that song for her (Springfield) but wouldn't give it to her, because we wanted to hold that back. We felt like that could be our entry to Motown." And sure enough it did exactly that. "Ain't No Mountain" peaked at number nineteen on the Billboard pop charts, and went to number three on the R&B charts.
Vocalized by Gaye and Terrell, and performed instrumentally by The Funk Brothers and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the original version of "Ain't No Mountain" was a care-fee, danceable, and romantic love song that became the signature duet between Gaye and Terrell. Its success led to a string of more Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson -- the original writers of the song -- to create more famous duet pieces such as "You're All I Need to Get By", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and "Your Precious Love". If you don't hear this song and start tapping your foot or snapping your fingers, you might not have a soul at all.
Comentarios