Well, unless you’ve been living in a cave with terrible radio and television reception you would no doubt know all about Human Nature and their very profitable foray in the sounds of Motown. After banging out over 350,000 copies of the first Motown record back in 2005, the follow ups have been similarly successful affairs.

The third and most recent of the tambourine slappin’ trilogy is “Get Ready”. Wanting a new angle to avoid the proverbial beating of the dead donkey the band and their people have made a very cunning move… not only are the lads singing some of Motown’s greatest hits, they have brought in some hired guns… big guns…

Singing the classic lines of some of Motown’s greatest vocalists is one thing, but in a very clever move the HN kids have invited some of their idols in to revisit the classics with them. We’re talking Smokey “I sang most of the songs you’ve ever heard” Robinson, Mary Wilson of the Supremes and a little group called The Temptations.

Is this new collaboration enough to get this third Motown record over the line? Yes I suppose it is but as with all these Human Nature releases it’s a bit of a no-brainer as the music kicks so much arse. Smokey’s crooning abilities are still a powerful tool on tracks like Get Ready and Tears of a Clown, The temptations ethereal backing lines are as rich as ever and while Mary Wilson’s abilty to soar has lost a little of it’s once powerful vertical leap, the tambour is still golden.

As always the Human Nature kids themselves offer reasonably sterile, well executed performances, which makes Get Ready a good choice for someone wanting to reminisce without having to upload too much new information. The production is strong, the vocal performances adequate, and the songs are just brilliant.