Come On And See Me: The Complete Solo Collection

Hip-O Select’s 2010 set Come on and See Me: The Complete Solo Collection rounds up everything Tammi Terrell recorded on her own at Motown: the first disc contains 14 songs she recorded under the name Tammy Montgomery plus the Irresistible LP and two non-LP singles, “Baby Don’tcha Worry” and “There Are Things,” while the second disc has 18 cuts of Rare Motown capped off by Live at the Roostertail. Terrell’s trajectory is not dissimilar to other Motown artists of the ‘60s — some of her earliest singles bear a bit of a heavy pop crossover bent, a trait amplified by the live supperclub showcase tacked on the end of this set, and she got looser and funkier as the decade rolled on, but even those early uptown shuffles are elevated by Terrell’s authoritative stamp. Surely, she was one of the few female soul singers who could take James Brown on and get a TKO, as she did on 1963’s “If You Don’t Think,” and some of the other early Montgomery sides are every bit as funky, but the centerpiece of this set is the Irresistible LP, where Terrell brought that spirit to snazzy, sophisticated pop-soul productions. Irresistible boasts some of the thickest productions Motown issued in 1967, but it’s underpinned by a heavy groove and graced with Terrell’s terrific singing. Apart from that perfectly fine, not necessarily compelling, live performance, the second disc has more unissued gems in this vein: it’s big, bright, lush, and powerful, the sound of Motown in full flight. On the basis of her duets with Marvin Gaye alone, Tammi Terrell’s reputation is quite high, but this dynamic set proves that she was equally good as a solo act. Truthfully, sometimes she was even better on her own. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine