It’s hard to argue that it doesn’t sound nice, but given the pedigree of everyone involved – given this is Motown we’re talking about here, and in the summer of 1965 to boot – well, I’m just looking for more than pleasant and meaningless wallpaper. (4)
It’s the sort of thing where you could imagine Mary Wells having an absolute field day, but Brenda treats it as nothing more than a vocal showcase and, I have to say, I don’t really like it all that much. (4)
I still wouldn’t go so far as to say I really liked it, but this is another definite improvement on the original, and if these Mary Wells covers were proving to be chart poison for Brenda, well, on this evidence she was at least getting rather better at doing them. (5)
If nobody will be confusing this for a masterpiece any time soon, nonetheless I much prefer this version to the original; finally the song makes sense. Not as a choice of single, mind you. (6)
I can appreciate how skilfully it’s been made, but I get no emotional connection from it, it doesn’t move me, and ultimately that’s what I want from a pop record, no matter how astonishing the lead vocals are. (5)
Plenty of respected judges, including commenters on this very site, have said they prefer Brenda’s version to Mary’s; I can’t help but wonder how I’d feel if I’d heard the two versions the “right” way round too, because – for me – this one just isn’t a patch on that one. (6)
A super record, dripping with bitter ferocity; considering the tender loveliness of the A-side, this is very much the other side of Brenda Holloway in every sense, but no worse for it. Vivid and unforgettable. (8)
I don’t know why the American public didn’t take to this. Everything that was good about Every Little Bit Hurts is here, but even better, and the change of emphasis makes it different enough to more than hold its own. (9)
While I wouldn’t swap Brenda’s later records for anything, it would still have been nice to hear more like this. (7)
If you’d have told anyone at Motown that this would end up being Brenda’s biggest commercial hit, and that the raggedy girl group she pulled up by the bootstraps would rack up twelve Number Ones, they’d probably have laughed in your face. (8)
