I've always felt that the Foundations' 1968 hit "Build Me Up Buttercup" is one of the most beautifully constructed pop songs - and the fact that David Johansen, who has impeccable taste, covered it on his 1982 Live It Up concert album kind of clinches it for me. It could be argued that the writers were trying to emulate the Motown sound, but my response to that would be "Great!" (I'm a huge Motown fan). The song contains all kinds of interesting harmonic ideas - including secondary dominant chords and chords taken from the family of subdominant minor - that give it forward motion, and perhaps the most sought-after of compositional qualities: inevitability. The group, formed in London in 1967, was integrated not only racially but also in terms of age: the range went from 18 to 38. They had an interesting career, with a lot of good records (including another smash, "Baby, Now That I've Found You" from 1967), but for me, this one's alone at the top. It's one of my very favourite records. Here's the best-sounding link I could find (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bhrVXStJIM), but the person who put it up used a picture of the Temptations by accident - so here's a shot of the real group: http://www.amazon.com/Very-Best-Foundations/dp/B000R02JSO