Together – MARVIN GAYE & MARY WELLS***

Once Upon A Time/Deed I Do/Until I Met You/Together/(I Love You)For Sentimental Reasons/The Late Late Show/After The Lights Go Down Low/Just Squeeze Me/What’s The Matter With You Baby/You Come A Long Way From St Louis

Together was the sole collaboration between Motown artists Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells. Includes two US top twenty singles What's The Matter With You Baby and Once Upon A Time. At the time of release Mary Wells was much the bigger star but this would change considerably by the end of the decade. (US:42)

"A great start to the Marvin Gaye duet mode of the 60s - an early pairing with Mary Wells, done back when she was one of the leading female singers at Motown. The style here is a bit more old school than some of the later Gaye duo albums, but there's plenty of charm in the tunes, as the set makes for a real coming together of two vocal styles."

"Motown mogul Berry Gordon decided to increase his chances for sales by recording his male and female stars together, and the public went for it too. A two-sided hit, and the only single released, Once Upon A Time and What's The Matter With You Baby, helped the cause by charting in the upper echelons of the R & B and pop charts. The former is a slow, floating ballad, while the latter is an accusing, jump-beat number. For the most part, the material is different from what Mary or Marvin normally cut; Marvin probably felt more comfortable with these songs than Mary, since they were closer to the MOR tunes that he preferred doing at the time."

"No doubt inspired by the success of other successful duetting vocalists, Motown Records paired its top female singer with its top male vocalist. The result was Together a rare treat for fans of both singers. The cover sported the two young vocalists gazing romantically into each others' eyes. Wells' Cleopatra styled hairdo contrasted nicely with Gaye's All-American, boy-next-door image. The musical sounds they made were just as complementary."

"Together is an unremarkable, if by no means bad album, the pair seldom reaching the heights that either had achieved individually. Apart from the two songs on the single, all the material was fairly standard re-interpretations of songs well known at the time. Needless to say, the singing is smooth and faultless but perhaps missing that certain spark to lift the enterprise."