Since this has been a sort of free-for-all week on The Roundtable this week, I thought I would toss a bit of soul into the mixture. The Marvelettes, though not coming to mind as easily as say, The Supremes or Martha And The Vandellas were nonetheless part of the backbone of the great Motown legacy and were just as much a contributor to the Soul movement as any of them, being the first of the Female Motown acts to score a hit.
Shifts in personnel may have contributed to a certain change in identity and recognition, still the distinctive voice of Gladys Horton (whose passing in January of this year was a sad occasion for the music world) was part of a huge number of hits for the group during their high point.
Tonight's track is from their 1968 album Distinctive Soul and My Baby Must Be A Magician was the last single of theirs to crack the top 40 in 1967. Sadly, Horton had left the group in the midst of recording and she's not heard on this track. Still, it's a rarely heard single from an underrated group and something of a gem, and that's what we like on The Roundtable.
I'm assuming you do too?
