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Martha & the Vandellas' 1966 album "Watchout!" captures the final farewell of Holland-Dozier-Holland and Martha and the Vandellas working relationship. Back in 63', the new writing threesome of HDH first hit big with Martha and her girls on hits such as "Heatwave" and "Quicksand," but with the emergence of other songwriters producing hits like "Dancing In the Streets" for Martha, and the mandated pairing of HDH with other Motown groups like The Four Tops, and most notably The Supremes, the two units simply went separate ways.
This "Watchout!" LP features material that some deem as work that should have been performed by the Supremes like the first single "I'm Ready for Love," which was rumored to be a Supreme throwaway (However, I disagree because the sound of this record sounds way too progressive for anything the Supremes released even "I Hear a Symphony"). And furthermore, The non-hitless Supremes are just a product of the Martha & the Vandellas blueprint that was just toned down, and in fact, originally envisioned for the revitalization of the Marvettes. As i digress, Yes, Martha & the Vandellas are identified as strictly R&B, and Yes the album has pop, middle of the road material (definitely a switch from The Vandellas previous album "Dance Party," where hits such as "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run" were straight-forward R&B dance anthems where Martha's voice soars), but on this album The Vandellas merge both avenues. This can be seen with Martha's vocals. Her voice is tender and sweet, i.e. ("No More Tearstained Make-Up" and "Tell Me I'll Never Be Alone"), But then her gospel background still transcends in the areas that count, especially on "Go Ahead and Laugh" and "What Am I Going To Do Without Your Love."
More interestingly, I feel like this album, primarily produced by HDH of course, represents the prototype for later Supremes records like "Reflections" and the ever more pop-like song "Love Is Here And Now You're Gone." It's really messed up how pressure from Berry Gordy to make The Supremes number one on the Motown roster really hurt some of the acts, especially Martha & the Vandellas because they also seemed like America's second favorite girl group, and no one pays attention to the runner-up.
Nonetheless, the album is on point, and definitely shows potential for 1966, when albums were merely just a set of songs thrown together to exploit artists considering single sales served as the focal point of the industry at the time. But, it can be noted that the release of cohesive albums such as "Watchout!" and the Vandellas previous hit album "Dance Party" led to a shift in the industry's regard for releasing and promoting solid studio albums.
