Review: Vinyl Reissues of The Supremes' 'We Remember Sam Cooke' and The Temptations' 'I Wish It Would Rain'

Motown has long had a reputation for putting out fab singles in the sixties but not putting much effort into its long players until Berry Gordy finally gave artists such as Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder the freedom to mature in the seventies. That assumption is mostly unfair, and was probably started by people who never really gave many of the label's sixties albums a chance. So Elemental's decision to mount a Motown LP-reissue campaign is more than mere property exploitation. Reissues of some truly fantastic albums are on the way, and the first of which is The Temptations' I Wish It Would Rain. The final album the Temps made before transitioning to the funkier psychedelic soul that would define their early seventies work is remarkably consistent and remarkably good, with album tracks such as "Cindy", "Why Did you Leave Me Darling", and "I've Passed This Way Before" being every bit as good as the hits "I Wish It Would Rain" and "(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need", which are two of their best. 

Joining I Wish It Would Rain in the first leg of Elemental's current campaign is The Supremes' We Remember Sam Cooke, a much less essential album, but still a better one than most of Motown's "theme" type albums the label would intercut with the essentials to keep up its steady flow of product. Unlike, say, The Supremes' British Invasion tribute  A Bit of Liverpool, or even the covers-heavy Supremes A' Go-Go, the group actually sounds invested in the material, because they were clearly huge fans of the artist to which they were paying tribute. Sure The Supremes' recordings can't stand toe-to-toe with Cooke's sensitive originals, but they're mostly quite well done, aside from a version of "Chain Gang" on which the trio sound like they're being repeatedly punched in the belly. If nothing else, We Remember Sam Cooke highlights what a profound influence Sam Cooke had on Diana Ross. 

The sound is quite good too, with some very full and present bass, although there is a strange hum lurking in the background of a few tracks on Sam Cooke. I Wish It Would Rain has no such issues and sounds excellent all the way through with decent bass and a deep soundstage. Both pieces of vinyl are flat, well-centered, and noise-free.