Simply because it had achieved for a few years by then, the sound of Motown was reverberating round America and the world within the final weeks of the Sixties. Billboard’s Greatest Promoting Soul Singles chart of November 8, 1969, as soon as once more confirmed the corporate with a stranglehold on the R&B market, with your entire high three and several other sizzling new singles, together with a fantastic arrival by Gladys Knight and the Pips.
The Originals climbed to the highest of that countdown with “Baby I’m For Real,” ending the five-week reign of the Temptations’ “I Can’t Get Next To You” and starting an analogous run of their very own. Marvin Gaye, in the meantime, stood in third place with “That’s The Way Love Is.”
Different Motown gems in that roll of honor included Stevie Marvel, whose “Yester-Me Yester-You Yesterday” was climbing quick at No.22, and Jr. Walker and the All Stars, new at No.33 with “These Eyes.” Gladys and her Pips, for his or her half, have been coming off a No.2 R&B hit with “Nitty Gritty” as they debuted at a daring No.24 with the stirring, psychedelic funk-soul-gospel winner “Friendship Train.”
The track, from the assured energy base of producer Norman Whitfield and his frequent collaborator (and former Motown artist) Barrett Sturdy, matched a sometimes socially conscious lyric to a busy, funky, brass-fuelled beat and an association by Jerry Lengthy. With the group on high type, Knight exuded her customary vocal luminosity. A Motown commercial on the entrance web page of Billboard mentioned: “This driving new single spells top sales and chart action for this group.”
It was an correct prediction. “Friendship Train” turned one other No.2 for Knight and the Pips on that R&B survey, and went to No.17 pop, whereas turning into a key a part of the group’s stay present. Because the Pips’ William Visitor remembered in The Full Motown Singles Vol. 9: “It was a good song to put into our act, because it brought a lot of action.”
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