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Motown Junkies

~ because it's what's in the grooves that counts

Motown Junkies

Category Archives: Writing credit: Michael Valvano

497. Stevie Wonder: “Pretty Little Angel”

June 30, 2012

It might sound like damning with faint praise to call this probably Stevie’s best single since his big breakthrough with Fingertips. (6)

Continue reading »

392. The Hornets: “She’s My Baby”

July 17, 2011

Ultimately the song just isn’t good enough, and all the British Invasion trappings in the world can’t save a record if there’s not a decent tune at its heart. (3)

Continue reading »

391. The Hornets: “Give Me A Kiss”

July 15, 2011

So bad it’s almost physically painful; scarcely funny even on the level of parody, and perhaps fittingly even the laughs to be had at its expense are cheap and short-lived. (1)

Continue reading »

MOTOWN JUNKIES

This is Motown Junkies: in-depth analysis and discussion of both sides of every Motown single ever released between 1959 and 1988. Enjoy!

 

Index of all reviews to date

Lucky Dip (a random review)


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Recent Posts

  • 616. Martha & the Vandellas: “You’ve Been In Love Too Long”
  • 615. Brenda Holloway: “Who’s Lovin’ You”
  • 614. Brenda Holloway: “You’ve Changed Me”
  • 613. The Marvelettes: “Your Cheating Ways”
  • 612. The Marvelettes: “Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead”

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Most Popular Right Now

  • Master Index
  • 616. Martha & the Vandellas: "You've Been In Love Too Long"
  • 615. Brenda Holloway: "Who's Lovin' You"
  • 614. Brenda Holloway: "You've Changed Me"
  • About Motown Junkies
  • 167. The Miracles: "You Never Miss A Good Thing"
  • 474. The Velvelettes: "Needle In A Haystack"
  • 613. The Marvelettes: "Your Cheating Ways"
  • 405. Mary Wells: "Oh Little Boy (What Did You Do To Me)"
  • 452. Tommy Good: "Leaving Here"

Links

  • Don't Forget the Motor City Keith Hughes’ indispensable guide to Motown recording and songwriting information
  • My radio show Listen to last week’s show
  • Seabear Studios LG Nilsson’s Motown discography and collection of label scans
  • Soul Source Forum Great discussion forum.
  • Soulful Detroit Motown Forum Motown discussion forum

Motown Artists Featured So Far

Click an artist to see all their reviews so far. (The number in brackets shows how many sides have been reviewed!)
  • Lee Alan (1)
  • The Andantes (2)
  • LaBrenda Ben (4)
  • Cornell Blakely (2)
  • George Bohanon Quartet (2)
  • Bobby Breen (4)
  • The Burnadettes (2)
  • Dorsey Burnette (8)
  • Choker Campbell (3)
  • Bruce Channel (4)
  • The Charters (2)
  • The Chuck-a-Lucks (2)
  • The Contours (18)
  • Carolyn Crawford (6)
  • The Creations (2)
  • Howard Crockett (10)
  • The Darnells (2)
  • Danny Day (2)
  • Debbie Dean (6)
  • Hank & Carol Diamond (2)
  • The Downbeats (4)
  • Lamont Dozier (3)
  • Billy Eckstine (2)
  • The Elgins (5)
  • The Equadors (2)
  • The Four Tops (9)
  • The Funk Brothers (10)
  • Marvin Gaye (34)
  • The Golden Harmoneers (2)
  • Tommy Good (2)
  • Freddie Gorman (2)
  • The Gospel Stars (4)
  • Paula Greer (4)
  • Herman Griffin (4)
  • Johnny Griffith Trio (2)
  • Linda Griner (2)
  • Dave Hamilton (2)
  • Haney and Armstrong (3)
  • Pete Hartfield (2)
  • The Headliners (2)
  • Oma Heard (2)
  • Gene Henslee (2)
  • The Hillsiders (1)
  • The Hit Pack (2)
  • Eddie Holland (20)
  • Holland-Dozier (2)
  • Brenda Holloway (9)
  • Patrice Holloway (2)
  • The Hornets (2)
  • Joanne and the Triangles (2)
  • Mable John (8)
  • Marv Johnson (4)
  • Wade Jones (2)
  • Bob Kayli (4)
  • Liz Lands (6)
  • Lee and the Leopards (2)
  • Chico Leverett (2)
  • The Lewis Sisters (2)
  • Little Iva & Her Band (2)
  • Little Otis (2)
  • Hattie Littles (6)
  • Shorty Long (4)
  • Henry Lumpkin (8)
  • The Majestics (2)
  • Saundra Mallett (Edwards) (2)
  • Rev. Columbus Mann (2)
  • Martha (Reeves) & the Vandellas (23)
  • Tony Martin (2)
  • The Marvelettes (26)
  • Mickey McCullers (3)
  • Don McKenzie (2)
  • The Merced Blue Notes (2)
  • Billy Merritt (2)
  • Mike and the Modifiers (2)
  • Amos Milburn (3)
  • (Smokey Robinson &) The Miracles (42)
  • The Monitors (2)
  • The Morrocco Muzik Makers (2)
  • Dee Mullins (2)
  • Nick and the Jaguars (2)
  • Ray Oddis (2)
  • Gino Parks (6)
  • Bunny Paul (2)
  • The Pirates (2)
  • Eugene Remus (3)
  • Ron and Bill (2)
  • Jimmy Ruffin (4)
  • The Satintones (11)
  • Joel Sebastian (2)
  • The Serenaders (2)
  • The Spinners (4)
  • Barrett Strong (12)
  • The Stylers (2)
  • The Supremes (31)
  • The Swinging Tigers (2)
  • R. Dean Taylor (2)
  • Sherri Taylor (2)
  • The Temptations (26)
  • Sammy Turner (2)
  • The Twistin' Kings (4)
  • The Valadiers (6)
  • Mike Valvano (4)
  • Connie Van Dyke (2)
  • Earl Van Dyke (4)
  • The Vells (2)
  • The Velvelettes (8)
  • The Vows (2)
  • Junior Walker and the All Stars (8)
  • (Singin’) Sammy Ward (13)
  • Earl Washington All-Stars (2)
  • Mary Wells (26)
  • Kim Weston (12)
  • Andre Williams (2)
  • Stevie Wonder (20)
  • Mickey Woods (4)
  • The Wright Specials (4)
  • Richard “Popcorn” Wylie (4)

Great Motown Songwriters

  • Berry Gordy Jr. (115)
  • Smokey Robinson (110)
  • Mickey Stevenson (94)
  • Holland-Dozier-Holland (60)
  • Brian Holland (non-HDH) (45)
  • Clarence Paul (43)
  • Janie Bradford (24)
  • Norman Whitfield (23)
  • Robert Bateman (20)
  • Edward Holland Jr. (non-HDH) (20)
  • Ivy Jo Hunter (19)
  • Lamont Dozier (non-HDH) (16)
  • Freddie Gorman (16)
  • Andre Williams (16)
  • Pete Moore (10)
  • Richard “Popcorn” Wylie (10)
  • Gwen Gordy Fuqua (9)
  • Marvin Gaye (9)
  • Ronnie White (9)
  • Bobby Rogers (8)
  • Henry (Hank) Cosby (7)
  • Robert Gordy (6)
  • Anna Gordy Gaye (5)
  • Autry DeWalt Jr. (5)
  • George Gordy (5)
  • Marv Johnson (5)
  • Eddie Kendricks (5)
  • Marv Tarplin (5)
  • Frank Wilson (5)
  • Hal Davis (4)
  • Shorty Long (4)
  • Richard Street (4)
  • Harvey Fuqua (3)
  • Ron Miller (3)
  • Michael Valvano (3)
  • Stevie Wonder (3)
  • Morris (Luvel) Broadnax (2)
  • Marc Gordon (2)
  • Sylvia Moy (2)
  • Robert Staunton (2)
  • Barrett Strong (2)
  • R. Dean Taylor (2)
  • Robert Walker (2)
  • Jimmy Webb (2)
  • Cornelius Grant (1)
  • William Weatherspoon (1)

Made in Wales

* * *

I co-host the Soulful Saturday Breakfast on Radio Cardiff (98.7 FM) - listen to last week's show here.

Motown Junkies

This is Motown Junkies, an unofficial guide to every Motown single ever released, or planned for release, on every US Motown label (or via Tamla Motown in the UK), featuring reviews of each A-side and B-side in chronological order. New reviews appear every couple of days.

Think of it as an unauthorised track-by-track companion to the magnificent The Complete Motown Singles CD box sets, and beyond, with marks out of ten.

I'm NOT Paul Nixon.

FURTHER INFORMATION

More info about the blog (and me) can be found here. If you want to leave a comment on any review, please feel free to do so - all feedback, corrections, disagreements and encouragements gratefully received. If you've something you'd rather not say in public, I can be contacted at fosse8 at gmail dot com.

(Oh, and if you arrived here looking for the Motown Junkies music group, they're nothing to do with me, I'm afraid - but they are very nice people, and they can be found at www.motownjunkies.com instead.)

HOW TO USE THIS BLOG

You can jump straight to the full list of reviews so far in the Master Index, or browse by label instead.

If you're looking for something a bit more specific, you can click an artist or songwriter's name in the lists over on the right to see all the reviews for that category that have been done so far; the number in brackets after their name indicates how many reviews they've had to date. (Only people whose records I've already discussed appear there at the moment - more names will be added to the lists all the time as I work my way through Motown's history, so do keep checking back!)

Alternatively, the front page displays excerpts from the most recent reviews, and on the right hand side of the screen you'll see a list of the most recent entries and also a sampling of the most popular entries from the last 48 hours.

Dive in, explore and have fun!

LEGAL STUFF

This is an unofficial site, and is not affiliated in any way with Universal Motown, Hip-O Select or any of the artists referred to in the blog.

Where indicated, label scan images appear by kind permission of Lars "LG" Nilsson (as originally prepared for the Complete Motown Singles series).

Digital images courtesy of Gordon Frewin are supplied for use at motownjunkies.co.uk by arrangement. All applicable rights reserved. No unauthorised republication is permitted.

Many label images were kindly provided by Robb Klein, together with invaluable historical research.

All text © Motown Junkies, 2009-13. All rights reserved.

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