AMG Review of Motown Legends: Beechwood 4-5789 - Playboy

Andrew Hamilton
All Music Guide

A tight eight-song cassette propelled by two pop and R&B hits, "Playboy" and "Beachwood 45789." Smokey Robinson's romantic and direct "You're the One" didn't smoke the charts, but the lovely syncopated ballad should have. Cleveland native Ann Bogan rips into "Everybody Knows (But You)" like she did gospel tunes. Ann joined in the group's waning years and gave them a completely different sound when she was out front. Before the Marvelettes, she recorded solo for Tri-Phi and Anna Records and later with Love, Peace & Happiness on RCA. Three different Marvelettes sing leads: Gladys Horton, Wanda Rogers, and Ann Bogan cover different phases of the group's history, with tall, stately, beautiful Katherine Anderson-Schaffner and Wanda Young-Rogers being the two constants.