CoronaVinyl Day 216 (C): Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance) by The Contours

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "C," and we're listening to one of Motown's earliest successes, The Contours, and their 1962 debut album Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance), which was the first LP issued by Motown's Gordy label.

Of course, the title track to the album is likely the only Contours song you know.  It was one of Motown's earliest big hits, penned by Berry Gordy himself.  As the story goes, Gordy wrote it with The Temptations in mind (though they hadn't had a big hit yet), but they weren't at the Motown studio when he was looking for them.  The Contours were, and Gordy wanted to get the song recorded and put out as soon as possible, so they got to record it.  The song ended up being their biggest hit by far, going to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.

Frankly, I'm not sure I could imagine the song as a Temptations song.  I love The Temptations, but their sounds was more polished than "Do You Love Me."  Billy Gordon's throat-scratching vocals are awesome, as he asks his ex-girlfriend if she now loves him, since he can now dance.  The song was featured in the 1987 hit film Dirty Dancing, which gave it new life.  Even though it wasn't on the official soundtrack, it was so prominent in the film that it actually recharted in 1988, reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and staying in the Top 40 for eight weeks, which is crazy.  I guess that makes The Contours a two-time one-hit wonder.

The version of the album I have is a 1981 reissue that does not have the same track listing as the original.  What I have is more of a greatest hits album.  The album is just classic early '60s soul.  Their earlier songs were more pure soul, and their later songs trended more towards "The Motown Sound."  It showcases Berry Gordy's songwriting talents, as well as other Motown songwriters, like Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Bobby Rogers, Ivy Jo Hunter, Mickey Stevenson, and Clarence Paul.  

Neither version of the album is available on Spotify, so I'm just embedding a greatest hits album that has all but one song from my version of the album, as well as several other songs.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Do You Love Me"

As discussed above, the title track is an all-time classic.  In addition to Gordon's fantastic vocals, I've always liked the false ending.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "First I Look at the Purse"
If you listen to this song, it has Smokey Robinson written all over it, and that's because he co-wrote and produced it.  It's kind of a tongue-in-cheek song about some gender role reversal gold digging.  Released in 1965, it went to #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #12 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.  It was also the last Contours song to feature Billy Gordon on lead vocals.