Brenda Holloway - The Artistry Of Brenda Holloway 1968

 Assembled for the British market in 1968, just a matter of months after Brenda Holloway left Motown, The Artistry of Brenda Holloway contained all of the A-sides she released on Motown/Tamla, five of her B-sides for the label, plus two cuts from Every Little Bit Hurts, the LP released in the U.S. in 1964. Effectively, it was a greatest-hits set and Ace's 2013 expansion adds eight unreleased tracks recorded between 1965 and 1967. There are several unreleased sessions left in the vaults, some having already appeared on various anthologies, including the double-disc 2005 set, but one of the reasons Holloway left so much in the vaults is that she had a rather contentious relationship with Motown, who never treated her as one of their A-list recording artists; indeed, once she discovered the song she was working on during a 1968 recording session was now slated for Gladys Knight, she left the studio and never returned. The Artistry of Brenda Holloway reveals what a shame this situation was. Holloway was closest to Mary Wells in the Motown roster -- a bright, sweet singer who sounded best whenever she was given a luxurious pop setting. She was given terrific material -- the best-known was "You've Made Me So Very Happy," later popularized by Blood, Sweat & Tears, but her biggest hits were "Every Little Bit Hurts" and "When I'm Gone," both of which were as good as Motown got (the latter is one of Smokey Robinson's finest songs) -- and the unreleased material here, while not quite up to the level of the singles on the Artistry LP, are nevertheless a joy to hear; Holloway's discography is so limited, it's a blessing to have it increased. The same can be said of this reissue of The Artistry of Brenda Holloway as a whole: the additions are simply more of a good thing and it's a pleasure to have this album in circulation again.