'Toronto Soul' doesn't have a great ring to it (plus, it isn't accurate). 'London Soul' sounds contrived since a true pop R&B movement originating in the heart of the Old Empire would no doubt have had a more region-specific name like 'Putney Soul' or 'Notting Hill Soul' (plus, again, it ain't accurate since we're clearly talking about a different London; I gotta say though I like the sound of 'Putney Soul'). 'Ontario Soul' is too broad. 'Maple Soul' would've been a realistic name in the twenty-first century but not nearly sixty years ago. 'Golden Horseshoe Soul'? Okay, now you're just being silly. No wonder they ended up settling for 'Philadelphia Soul'.
Oh but I jest. Though a surprise Top 20 success on the Billboard Hot 100, it's not likely that Motherlode's lone American hit did much to move the needle from sixties' Stax and Motown over to smooth as cream cheese Philly. Yet, "When I Die" does sound like pretty much the first seventies' soul number. Just as The Beatles and Rolling Stones were getting audiences ready for seventies' stadium rock and Dylan was preparing the world for more grounded and personal seventies' folk, here was the multi-racial Motherlode with a soft launch into seventies' soul.
This presents one of the difficulties about trying to judge singles from afar. I have no doubt that "When I Die" would've seemed like something new when it first started playing on Canadian radio in the summer of '69.(If a ten year old Bryan Adams was indeed engaging in raunchy sex acts — which, to be sure, he wasn't and never did since "Summer of '69" isn't about anything — he was almost certainly doing so to silky Motherlode) Listening to it now, it just sounds like another great vocal R&B pop song from a couple years' later. I can't possibly hear it sounding like nothing that's ever come before since it now sounds like so much that came after.
Still, why punish the good people behind Motherlode — unless, of course, it's in order to take them to task for their terrible name which makes them seem like an especially hopeless heavy metal band - for being ahead of the game? Being influential is supposed to be a good thing. (I can't think of any other reason why anyone would wish to praise The Band and all their boring albums) That said, I already mentioned that their influence was likely negligible anyway. As a one-off of Canadiana R&B, it is a thing to behold. How didn't this influence an entire generation?
Being well ahead of the pack meant that there were no cliches for Motherlode to fall victim to. While predominantly soul, the middle 8 of "When I Die" ("it's not hard to understand why...") owes a lot to contemporary pop-rock. The musicianship also displays a good deal more muscle than what James and Bobby Purify or Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes had backing them, with some fine blues licks as adornment. (Speaking of which, why is it that so much modern R&B seems lacking in the 'B'?)
I don't wish to lay the praise on too thick. While a strong track, it fails to really grab the listener — this listener at any rate — for a prolonged period. The vocals are first rate but they don't lift you out of your seat the way great soul — great music for that matter — does so effortlessly. While a summer RPM number one and a sizable hit elsewhere, it would soon become overshadowed by a more memorable composition with almost the same name, which will be coming up soon enough. Liking this piece of stellar 'Hyde Park Soul' is easy enough but loving it? Yeah, I'm not quite there.
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