They were never going to be the Supremes, but instead, here they take possession of something new, something more dangerous and exciting and grown-up: from here on in, this is the Vandellas’ home turf, and they occupy it with panache. And with a super-catchy chorus to boot. (8)
Strangely, considering this isn’t brilliant – and that it could easily have been recorded a year before by someone else without anyone batting an eyelid – Your Cheating Ways perhaps offered unwitting fans more of a clue to the Marvelettes’ future sound than first realised. (6)
I can’t necessarily imagine anyone picking it out as one of their all-time favourites (though no doubt there’ll be some in the comments section!), but there’s really very little wrong with it; for me it just doesn’t go quite far enough, doesn’t scrape the sky in the way it keeps threatening. Still, on a good day, there’s little to touch it. (7)
It’s the very definition of a Golden Age, when even the supposed second-string acts can turn in a record as amazing as this at any time, without warning. Motown must have wondered where all these guys were coming from. (9)
It feels effortless, like so many of the very best Motown records do; the Marvelettes were growing up alongside Motown itself, and it’s reassuring to find they were still able to mix it right at the forefront, to match whatever their peers were doing. (8)
A bitter, lonely stalk of a song, all the better for Levi Stubbs to climb right to the top. (7)
Not only a bewildering record, it’s momentarily bewitching too, and I’ve always got plenty of time for forays off the beaten track which bring unexpected results. (6)
The production is a surprise (are we sure this isn’t from 1975?), and Kim’s voice is capable of breaking bottles at fifty paces – but those are just some of the ingredients for a great record, and nobody’s brought the recipe. (5)
Having just scaled the highest heights, Martha and the Vandellas will hopefully forgive me if a good rhythm and two-fifths of a dirty joke doesn’t send me into raptures any more. (5)
If it wasn’t quite Kim’s ticket to Motown’s top table, it also made sure her claims to stardom could never be ignored again. (7)
It’s alright, but the organ is annoying, and it mainly serves as a reminder of Motown’s foolishness in not issuing one of the vocal versions instead. (5)
If I still don’t entirely trust that massive, sweeping chorus, it’s a record that’s nonetheless been creeping up and up and up in my estimation, to the point where I thought I’d better finish writing this before the song barged its way any further up the scale. (8)
I’ve given it many, many listens and I still don’t know what to make of it, or where it fits into the Contours’ story. Your mileage may vary. Mine certainly does. (5)
Even for fans who prefer Martha in this lower-key mode, the mix still wasn’t right; there wouldn’t be another midtempo Vandellas A-side for over a year, by which time they’d really mastered the art. For now, this pretty little scribble would have to do. (5)
A kind of half step in a new direction, while driving twenty miles down the same road as before. Sure, it’s inescapably very similar to (and rather less good than) Dancing In The Street. That can’t stop it being fun. (7)
Fine work, and if it’s too slow-paced and melodramatic for radio, it’s still probably the best thing Kim Weston had yet recorded for Motown. That she even had room to improve at all is a credit to her, rather than a mark against this record. (8)
None of the individual elements of this (the song, the vocals, the band) is completely awful, just mediocre, but somehow when they’re all put together they amount to less than the sum of their parts. I’m not often physically worn out by trying to listen to a record turned up loud, but this one managed it, and I don’t particularly want to hear it again. Sorry, lads. (2)
There are so many great moments here that it’s pointless even trying to list them all; it’s just a pity they’ve all been shoehorned into a somewhat ropey little song. And Bobbie Smith I could listen to all day long. For now, knowing there’s so much better to come from these guys around the corner, this will just about do. (5)
Even if it’s out of whack with the rest of his career, it’s a quirky, entertaining finish; meanwhile, there’s no doubt he could be proud of pretty much everything else he’d made. Here’s to you, Singin’ Sammy Ward. (6)
Brilliant (if not in the way that’s generally accepted), but it isn’t the record Martha and the Vandellas deserve to be remembered for. That doesn’t stop it from being a classic, of course. (8)
