Universal Music 20th Century Masters (series)

The Best of The Contours

Product Description:

The Contours: Billy Gordon, Sylvester Potts, Joe Billingslea, Billy Hoggs, Hubert Johnson, Joe Stubbs, Dennis Edwards (vocals).

Producers include: Berry Gordy, William "Smokey" Robinson, Robert Rogers, Clarence Paul, Richard Street.

Compilation producer: Harry Weinger.

Recorded between 1961 & 1967.

Includes liner notes by Stu Hackel.

This is part of Universal Records "20th Century Masters The Millenium Collection" series.

Though "First I Look at the Purse" was later revived to great effect by the J. Geils Band, the song that cements the legend of Detroit's Contours is "Do You Love Me," a primal R&B howl that melds the spirit of the Isley Brothers, Jackie Wilson, and Barrett Strong into two minutes and 54 seconds of unbridled looseness, locomotion, and lust. Perfectly syncopated rhythms and raspy shouting get the unmistakable message across with a visceral quality seldom heard in that early-1960s era. As this excellent career summary shows, it wasn't just a one-shot either; see the aforementioned "Purse," or the equally raucous dance tune "Can You Jerk Like Me." Later on, through countless personnel changes, the Contours conformed more and more to the Motown monolith's signature sound, but even at their most genteel they were gutsier than most.