Read below for a round-up of other July releases.

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The Supremes – The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland (Expanded Edition)

First released in 1967, The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland combined Motown’s most successful group with its most successful songwriting team. Of course, this has been done before on many occasions – with HDH having written most if not all of The Supremes’ previous original releases, including smash hits such as ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ and ‘Stop! In The Name of Love’. Anyone familiar with Motown’s historic catalogue will know that Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland wrote a wealth of Motown hits for a range of artists. Their relationship with Motown founder Berry Gordy, however, was fractious and litigious.

The Supremes Sing HDH spawned hits such as ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ and ‘Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone’. Enough has been said about how iconic and at times cutting-edge these tunes are. This expanded edition is perhaps more intriguing for historical purposes. The edition’s second CD features The Supremes’ live set at The Copacabana nightclub in New York in 1967 – one of their final performances as the original trio of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard. As Stuart Cosgrove has meticulously examined in his book, Detroit 1967: The Year That Changed Soul, relations between the trio had become poisoned by the pressures of showbiz and Gordy’s stratospheric expectations for Diana Ross. The relationship between Ross and Ballard was particularly fraught – and would eventually become the focus of the 1980s Broadway hit Dreamgirls. The live recording of ‘You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You’ features a preamble where Ross pokes fun at Ballard’s weight. ‘Thin is in,’ Ross remarks, to which Ballard retorts, ‘fat is where it’s at’. Though a rehearsed interaction, Cosgrove contends that Ballard’s contemptible delivery of this line at a later show in Las Vegas prompted Gordy to ‘[charge] backstage and unceremoniously [sack] Ballard on the spot’.

Meli’sa Morgan – Love Demands

Meli’sa Morgan’s career kicked up in the mid-1980s with R&B hits such as ‘Do Me, Baby’ (a cover of the Prince song) and ‘Love Changes’. Her recent release, Love Demands, is split between soul/R&B classics and new material. The covers are hit and miss. Her attempted modernisation of Tom Jones’ ‘It’s Not Unusual’ sounds like a 1980s remix with awful, tinny production. Likewise to lesser extent with The Supremes’ ‘Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone’. Recordings of ‘How Do You Mend A Broken Heart’ (originally by the Bee Gees yet popularised in soul by Al Green) and Aretha Franklin’s ‘I Never Loved A Man’ are improvements but sound like B-sides straight from the 1960s. That is to say: solid, enjoyable, but not particularly remarkable. However, she does shine on a cover of Sam Cooke’s endearing ‘Nothing Can Change This Love’. In tone, she is bright and clear yet with a misty tinge. However, the unfortunate outcome of filling half of the album with classic, recognisable melodies is that it shows up the banality of Morgan’s original material.

Tony Momrelle – ‘This Isn’t Love’

Tony Momrelle was the male lead of the acid-jazz band Incognito for over 16 years. He has also delivered backing vocals for the likes of Sade, Earth, Wind And Fire, and Whitney Houston. The House That Soul Built recently saw him supporting Angie Stone at the Roundhouse during the brilliant Innervisions Festival a few weeks ago. He cites Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway as musical influences and one can tell from the mesmeric texture of his voice. Momrelle channels his inner-Luther on new single ‘This Isn’t Love’ – an uptempo pop/R&B number with a tight groove where Momrelle implores himself to ‘let it go’ and escape from the clutches of a dysfunctional relationship. A very listenable release although his voice is not quite unlocked to its full potential.

(Image copyright: Motown Records, Goldenlane Records, Real People Music)