Gordy G 7049 (B), February 1966

B-side of Get Ready

(Written by Smokey Robinson, Bobby Rogers and Pete Moore)

Tamla Motown TMG 557 (B), April 1966

B-side of Get Ready

(Released in the UK under license through EMI/Tamla Motown)

The A-side here, the incomparable kinetic thump and clatter of Get Ready, had been (in many ways) a most out-of-character outing for the Temptations’ outgoing primary writer-producer, Smokey Robinson, to give to the group. Here on the flip side, it’s a whole different story. Underneath the last Tempts 45 Smokey would ever helm, on one of the last times we’ll meet the combination of group and guru here on Motown Junkies, we find perhaps the most in-character Smokey number the Temptations ever recorded. I close my eyes, I think of this song, and invariably it turns into Smokey himself singing it instead; ironic that Fading Away comes bundled with the Temptations single that ended their working relationship with Smokey forever, because right at the end of that partnership, more than any other Smokey/Temptations joint, is a song that sounds more like the Miracles than the Miracles themselves.

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