The Contours
are one of the greatest second-tier Motown acts: a dynamic, versatile soul group characterized as a one- or two-shot wonder, best known for "Do You Love Me" and, in some quarters, the rampaging "First I Look at the Purse."
Ace Records
has done its fair share of restoring and adding luster to the group's reputation, releasing
Dance with the Contours
, a 2011 collection of unreleased tracks recorded between 1963 and 1964 that was so successful it spawned this 2014 sequel. Rounding up rare and unissued tracks recorded between 1965-1968 -- including no less than 11 solo sides by
Dennis Edwards
--
Just a Little Misunderstanding
trumps its predecessor largely due to its diversity. Where the cuts on
followed the early-'60s Motown playbook pretty precisely, there's a greater variety of sounds here: hard-driving dance in the vein of "First I Look at the Purse," plenty of richly orchestrated uptown soul, and songs that sound pitched halfway between
the Temptations
and
the Four Tops
. Some of these different sounds are due to the group's ever-shifting lineup. The group's first lead singer,
Billy Gordon
, left in 1965,
Jerry Green
took the lead on occasion, and toward the end of their run, Motown put in
-- a signee who had specialized in supper club soul -- at the front of the group.
Edwards
continued to cut solo sides in 1967, after he added overdubs to "Baby Hit and Run," which became a U.K. hit posthumously in 1974, and those are collected here; they're all enjoyable, particularly the songs that aren't covers. While it's generally true that the music here simply couldn't compete with what was released -- and, apart from four cuts, every one of the 26 tracks was dug out of the vaults in the new millennium, with most of them debuting here -- they're nevertheless all potent and joyous, proof that among the second-tier Motown groups,
the Contours
were one of the best, no matter who was singing with them. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine