…well I always thought so. I mean, you don’t expect Motown mimicry when you think of Stiff, do you? And very good it is too. I don’t know much about The Sapphires (a name like that is not google friendly) but I have good memories of this record. I used to hear it on my car radio driving to work on my first proper job after four years working for the Ministry of Defence (if I told you what I was doing I’d have to kill you ;) ). There were actually two versions of this song at the time. The other was a man whose name escapes me who sang “Baby I Must Be A Magician” in a jazzier way. I think it’s obvious which one I preferred. Any Motown fan will know this as a Smokey Robinson composition which was a US hit for The Marvelettes in 1968. This version is more in the style of The Supremes. As a treat I’ve included the Sapphires and Marvelettes versions for you to compare.
mp3: The Sapphires – My Baby Must Be A Magician (1983)
mp3: The Marvelettes - My Baby Must Be A Magician (1968)
That’s Melvin Franklin of The Temptations on the intro.
Buy The Sapphires version here.
Buy The Marvelettes version here.
3 comments:
Oh yes, very nice version by THe Sapphires, there - thanks! I'd never have guessed that was from 1983 if you hadn't told us.
Great Motown tune. I want Santa to bring me some of those Motown singles box sets that are just out!
Cheers
Rich
Kippers,
It's pretty authentic sounding, isn't it?
Rich,
I have been dropping SO many hints to Mrs Mick about those Motown box sets.
For the uninitiated out there only familiar with the usual Motown collections - buy anything with Brenda Holloway on it. You won't be disappointed
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