Come and Get These Memories: The Story of Holland-Dozier-Holland

Have had this book a day and a half and now it feels like one of my most favorite CD compilations on my shelf. I can open it anywhere and read an observant and honest reminiscence about one of the songs I have loved for a lifetime. Like flipping through a CD and coming up on a treasured song every random track you listen to. They are to be honored forever for inspiring the love of music in each and every one of us. I have also ordered Lamont Dozier’s separate book.

I grew up on Motown beginning in 1964 and believed HDH to be gods. I think their music at Motown reached a crescendo with the following songs: You Keep Me Hanging On, Bernadette, Love Is Here And Now You're Gone, Come Around Here (I'm The One You Need), Reflections and Standing In the Shadows Of Love...they were like mini operas...complex and super modern.
I'm also a big Diana Ross fan and it was touching the way Brian Holland spoke of her. He said she was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever met and the kindest. He said he was deeply in love with her though he had a wife and kids and that he wrote Baby Love for her because she was just a baby probably 18 or 19 yrs old. They were in love. So all the Supremes songs were written for Diana Ross and the Supremes which gives lie to these Rolling Stone type music critics who claim those songs were so good they could have been sung by any girl group and they would have been hits...boy they hate Diana. I think its because she makes them feel uncomfortable. They love Aretha, and Tina and Beyonce. Overweight and singing the blues, sexually available are the black women they feel comfortable with but the grand dame like Diana they dismiss though she has 18 # ones mostly written by HDH.
The story of the Holland brothers is very interesting. They reveal how they're developed their talents and their experience with the Motown inner circle and of Berry Gordy in particular. It's well written and kind of sweet.

Beginning to End Fascinating and Eventful! History and heartfelt memories all in 1 place. Great Read, Fantastic Unseen before photos! Good job Brian and Eddie Holland!

“We were just working“ exclaims Eddie Holland towards the end of this book. It’s one of his responses to the accolades received at another awards ceremony. I think he meant that they weren’t trying to win awards way back then. They were just making up songs, doing what they loved to do. It’s what they got paid for. Many of those songs went from a great tune in a little room in Detroit to internationally known anthems.

I had never heard of Holland-Dozier-Holland. The Motown book I read before this, “Where Did Our Love Go” by Nelson George, must have mentioned them. But their influence didn’t sink in for me until I was looking over the discography in the end. So many Motown hits were HDH songs. Who were these guys?

This book is their story. Well at least the two Holland brothers part. For the Dozier part I guess I’d have to read his new book. Turns out they love music. Also turns out they are very human and were pretty young when they joined the Motown “family.”

After this second Motown book for me, it seems obvious that this specific family of people had a lasting and historic impact on the music (and non-music) world. In a decade of cultural and political turmoil, Motown – with positive, expressive and high quality music, won over both white and black youth - who turned out to be the future of our country.

I did not realize all of the individual and group efforts needed to make a hit record. I also didn’t realize how the 60’s were all about hit records, and then the 70’s were all about albums, and um, bad music. And now I share the author’s low opinions of pop music of the subsequent decades, which were more about beat and rhythm than a song.

I think you can still find great songs about the melody and lyrics today. They just aren't on the pop charts anymore. I’m still discovering great Motown songs I never heard of. As the authors point out, they wrote so many songs that they’ve forgotten a bunch of them. That's a startling admission. But it also must be a great feeling to write a song that lives on and on in other peoples lives. It’s funny and true that in this county we don’t give much thought to who wrote a song we like. We think about the performer and that’s as far as our attention span goes. Thanks HDH. I think I’ll pay more attention now. Thanks for just working.

An extremely well-written book which explores, not only the trio's Motown years but their Invictus-Hot Wax era and subsequent forays in songwriting history. As much as I enjoyed Lamont Dozier's book, this is much more detailed and intriguing and explains who the mysterious Edith Wayne was, the closeness between Eddie Holland and Berry Gordy and Eddie's contributions as head of A&R after Mickey Stevenson left. In addition, it tells you which of the 3 contributed what to their classic hits and is a must for anyone who grew up on the Diana Ross & The Supremes, 4 Tops, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Elgins, Freda Payne, Chairman of the Board or Honey Cone classics we all know and love. (And, yes, you should get Lamont Dozier's book as well to get further insight into their story).

As the headline said one of the greatest music production teams in the history of music. As Mickey Stevenson has said in his book. Eddie Holland was money hungry and after reading Lamont Dozier book it kind of sealed the deal that Eddie Holland was the reason for the breakup of one of the greatest Music production teams in the History of Black music and the Motown Sound. A great book for up coming young song writers. A great book to read if you want to know the history of Motown.

I received the book as a gift, by my sister because she knew that I all things Motown. I was waaaaay excited, couldn't wait to chow down on another Motown insight. As another reviewer so keenly observed, the book is basically an Eddie Holland commercial. And not even an entertaining commercial. COLD, ARDUOUS, FLAT

I highly recommend this book because it is written from The Hollands point of view. It fills in some of the blanks missing from some of the other books.

I enjoyed reading this book but came away with the feeling that Eddie Holland allowed his ego to wreck a good thing for H-D-H and Motown.

Thought it would be better. There are so many books available about Motown. This one just did not do it for me.