Kevin “Sipreano” Howes helped compile and write the liners for the brand spanking new compilation on Light In the Attic: Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love: Motown’s Mowest Story 1971-1973. The comp anthologizes 16 songs from the short-lived Motown subsidiary label, Mowest, which boasted an eclectic roster including everyone from ’60s pop star Frankie Valli to an early iteration of the Commodores to Stevie Wonder’s one-time wife, Syreeta Wright, amongst other, one-off discoveries like Odyssey, Lodi and Suzee Ikeda.
Howes talked to us about discovering Mowest, a background of the label (and its challenges) and some history to a sample of songs off the new comp. We also have a giveaway for the anthology (just answer a trivia question asked in the podcast. Send answers to soulsides@gmail.com, subject line: “Mowest giveaway”)
Sidebar #6: Kevin Howes on the new Mowest anthology
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Songs played (all featured on Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love except the very last one):
- Odyssey: Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love
- Odyssey: Battened Ships
- Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons: You’re a Song (I Can’t Sing)
- Sisters Love: Give Me Your Love
- Suzee Ikeda: I Can’t GIve Back the Love I Feel For You
- Syreeta: Black Maybe
- Lodi: I Hope I See It In My Lifetime
- The Devastating Affair: I Want To Be Humble (7″, Mowest, 1972)
Other links:
- Kevin Howes’s blog, Voluntary In Nature.
- The Mowest 45 discography.
- The Mowest LP discography.
Coming later this week, The Sidebar #7 with Tom Brenneck of the Menahan Street Band/Dap-Kings.