Syreeta - The Rita Wright Years: Rare Motown 1967-1970 (2016)
R&B, Soul/Funk, Pop-Soul, Motown | EAC Rip | FLAC, Img+CUE+LOG+Scans (JPEG) | 01:09:17 | 320,14 Mb
Label: Kent Soul (UK) | Cat.# CDTOP 455 | Released: 2016-09-30 (1967-1970)
Syreeta Wright had been doing receptionist, secretarial, and demo vocalist work for Motown when she made her recorded debut, as Rita Wright, on her employer's Gordy subsidiary. "I Can't Give Back the Love I Gave You," an aching number written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson with Brian Holland, unfortunately went nowhere - in a commercial sense - upon its January 1968 release. It did reach Dusty Springfield, whose version was out in the U.K. by the end of November. Within a couple years, Wright co-wrote the Spinners' "It's a Shame" and gained more attention when she and fellow composer Stevie Wonder wed a few weeks after that smash began its chart ascent. As an artist, Wright remained in the shadows until 1972, when she released her Stevie-produced debut album. From 1967 through 1970, however, she recorded a high stack of shelved, frequently decent, occasionally excellent Motown material compiled here by the Kent label.