| Just We Two | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Blinky and Edwin Starr | ||||
| Released | September 16, 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 1969 | |||
| Genre | Soul music | |||
| Length | 31:13 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Gordy | |||
| Producer | Frank Wilson | |||
| Blinky chronology | ||||
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| Edwin Starr chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Just We Two | ||||
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Just We Two is a 1969 album pairing soul music singers Blinky and Edwin Star,released on Gordy Records.
Edwin Star had achieved a modest success with "Twenty-Five Miles" earlier in 1969 and Motown rushed to pair him with Blinky,a vocalist who had only released the 1968 single "(I Wouldn't Change) The Man He Is", [1] which had received positive critical success,but limited sales. [2] The label sought to replicate the success of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's duets,as well as compete with Stax Records' singles, [3] but once this album was released,"Oh How Happy"/"Ooo Baby Baby" did not live up to the hype it received in Billboard , [4] entering the Hot 100 at 99 [5] and peaking at 96 the next week [6] before disappearing from the charts. The album received little support from Motown and its commercial failure led to three further Blinky albums being canceled. [2] Starr returned to being a solo act,scoring his biggest hit with "War" the following year. Blinky became a backing vocalist and would not receive another album until the 2019 compilation Heart Full of Soul:The Motown Anthology.
The album was re-released by Hip-O Select in 2004 on compact disc. [7]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
Lindsay Planer of AllMusic gave this album a 3.5 out of five stars rating. Planer noted "After establishing himself with the Top Ten soul and pop hit "25 Miles," Edwin Starr teamed up with another burgeoning talent named Blinky (aka Sandra Williams) for a one-off album of duets. The lucrative pairing of vocalists had become something of a hallmark for musicians under the Motown umbrella. While the results may not be on par with that of Marvin Gaye's consistently remarkable work with the likes of Mary Wells,Kim Weston,and Tammi Terrell,a sufficient number of excellent cuts can be heard on 1969's Just We Two." [7]
Additional personnel
Hip-O re-release
Charles Edwin Hatcher,known by his stage name Edwin Starr,was an American singer and songwriter. He is best remembered for his Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles of the 1970s,most notably the number-one hit "War".
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Bobby Taylor &the Vancouvers were a Canadian soul band from Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada. The group recorded for the Gordy Records division of Motown Records in 1968,where they had a top 30 hit single,"Does Your Mama Know About Me". As a producer and solo artist,Bobby Taylor contributed to several other soul recordings,both inside and outside of Motown. Taylor is most notable for discovering and mentoring The Jackson 5. Tommy Chong was a member of Bobby Taylor &the Vancouvers before he became famous as a comedian.
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"Ooo Baby Baby" is a song written by Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore. It was a 1965 hit single by the Miracles for the Tamla (Motown) label.
In the Groove is the eighth studio album by American soul musician Marvin Gaye,released on August 26,1968,on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. It was the first solo studio album Gaye released in two years,in which during that interim,the singer had emerged as a successful duet partner with female R&B singers such as Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. In the Groove was reissued and retitled as I Heard It Through the Grapevine after the unexpected success of Gaye's recording of the same name,which had been released as a single from the original album.
"Baby,I'm for Real" is a soul ballad written by Marvin Gaye and Anna Gordy Gaye,produced by Marvin and recorded and released by American Motown vocal group The Originals for the Soul label issued in 1969.
"California Soul" is a funk-soul tune written by Ashford &Simpson,issued originally as the B-side of the Messengers' single "Window Shopping" in 1967 under the Motown group of labels.
Sondra "Blinky" Williams is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter,probably best known for singing the female lead on the theme for the 1970s TV series,Good Times.
"You've Made Me So Very Happy" is a song written by Brenda Holloway,Patrice Holloway,Frank Wilson and Berry Gordy,and was released first as a single in 1967 by Brenda Holloway on the Tamla label. The song was later a huge hit for jazz-rock band Blood,Sweat &Tears in 1969,and became a Gold record.
The Four Tops are an American vocal group formed in Detroit,Michigan in 1953 as the Four Aims. They were one of the most commercially successful American pop music groups of the 1960s and helped propel Motown Records to international fame. The group's repertoire has incorporated elements of soul,R&B,disco,adult contemporary,doo-wop,jazz,and show tunes. Lead singer Levi Stubbs,along with backing vocalists Abdul "Duke" Fakir,Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton remained together in the group for over four decades,performing until 1997 without a change in personnel. Along with fellow Motown groups the Miracles,the Marvelettes,Martha and the Vandellas,the Temptations,and the Supremes,the Four Tops helped to establish the "Motown sound";pop-friendly soul and R&B with a clean,polished production quality. They were notable for having Stubbs,a baritone,as their lead singer,whereas most other male and mixed vocal groups of the time were fronted by tenors.
Motown Chartbusters is a series of compilation albums first released by EMI under licence on the Tamla Motown label in Britain. In total,12 editions were released in the UK between 1967 and 1982. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally called British Motown Chartbusters;after this the title Motown Chartbusters was used.
Oh How Happy is a song written by Edwin Starr. It was a hit for the group The Shades of Blue. In the early 1980s,it was a minor hit for New Zealand based New York City soul singer Herb McQuay. Many artists have covered the song.
The Best of the Spinners is a 1973 greatest hits album from American Philly soul vocal group The Spinners,released on Motown.
Back Where I Belong is a studio album by American soul music vocal group Four Tops,released on October 6,1983,by Motown.
Here Comes the Judge is the 1968 debut studio album by American rhythm and blues singer Shorty Long,released on Motown subsidiaries Soul Records and Tamla Motown. After recording several singles for Motown,Long had an unexpected hit with the title track to this release and the label rushed out a full album,compiling several songs already released as singles as well as new recordings. That year,Long toured with a stable of Motown acts including The Contours,The Marvelettes,and The Spinners to promote the album,which was the only one released in Long's lifetime.
