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Motown M 1026 (B), April 1962
B-side of You Deserve What You Got
(Written by Brian Holland, Mickey Stevenson and Edward Holland Jr.)
Motown M 1058 (B), April 1964
B-side of Just Ain’t Enough Love
(Reissued as B-side of later single)
Soaring, super-slow doo-wop balladry graces the flip of Eddie Holland’s third Motown single, the second song featuring Eddie as a writer.
This isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be; it’s very pretty but quite meandering, effectively consisting of three great bits linked with a lot of unmemorable fluff.
Firstly, there’s an excellent intro, starting with a cold open – Eddie belting out the words “La-ast night” acapella, stretched over six or seven syllables – and then some slow, subtle brushed drums, a great guitar part (plucking out a short, isolated riff in the style of the Miracles’ Marv Tarplin) and some swelling, inspirational strings. But it doesn’t go anywhere; having built itself up to a rather special place over the first four bars or so, the rest of the verses (and the chorus, come to that) don’t really do anything else, they just sound like filler. That pretty guitar figure is only used once per verse, the strings are content to just hold their pattern for a while, Eddie croons melismatically over the top to little effect; the overall impression turns from stirring and romantic to bland and bombastic, and quite quickly.
The second good bit comes at the end of each chorus, as the music builds to a mini-crescendo and then briefly stops altogether just in time for Eddie to deliver a hook line – “Like it happened last night” – which is the song’s only truly memorable feature.
The third and final good bit is a lush instrumental bridge at 2:06, where the strings and drums kick up and swirl the listener in a surprisingly beautiful melody; sadly, it’s not long enough, lasting just under ten seconds before the song settles back into its groove for the “big finish” (which is exactly the same as the rest of the record). There is an intriguing little string part buried under the fade at the very end, but it’s too quiet (and over too quickly) to latch on to.
There are lots of good ideas here, lots of little sketches and bits of songs that show the touch of Brian Holland in particular (more unusual, perfect chord changes, more unexpected harmonies between band and backing vocals), but they’re all thrown away too quickly in the service of a disappointingly forgettable song. Pretty, but entirely unsubstantial.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
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| Eddie Holland “You Deserve What You Got” |
The Miracles “I’ll Try Something New” |
Motown Junkies 
4 is definitely too harsh, coming back to this on reflection. I still agree with what I wrote in the body of the review, and I never change the marks as a matter of policy (they’re not meant to be that important compared to the text), but this would be a five or maybe even a six if I did it again now.
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Mood, on any given day, has a lot to do with how any music impacts us.
This morning it’s overcast and gloomy in northern neck Virginia USA, so I’m ripe for Smokey’s contemplative material like “Fork In The Road,” “Since I Lost My Baby,” “Don’t Look Back,” “That Day When She Needed Me,” “The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage,” “Save Me,” Would I Love You” …that kind of stuff.
If Mr. Sun muscles through these clouds later today, I’ll be ready for some raucous HDH stuff.
Over the years, I’ve found the best way to enjoy blogs and message boards, is to bring an absolute minimum of fixed opinions on any topic. Allowing room for someone or something to change your mind isn’t defeat but actually growth. Many times already on MotownJunkies you’ve changed my mind -always in a positive direction- about songs I didn’t think were particularly notable, and I’m very grateful for that.
As you have with all the Motown stars, you’ve been fair to Eddie. đŸ™‚
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Mm, I should probably clarify – the “no changing marks” policy thing isn’t me being pigheaded, I just didn’t want to open a potentially never-ending process of reviewing and revising the marks. It’s hard enough trying to keep up a reasonable posting schedule without thinking “ooh, this should have been a six, not a five” every time I listen to any of the 420-odd tracks we’ve already covered so far. I do find myself sometimes disagreeing with myself when I see some of the marks I gave things a year or two ago…
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I’ve been on a bit of an Eddie Holland jag over the last month. Been listening a lot the recent It Moves Me compilation. And I find I’ve been enjoying it more and more. Before, as a performer, I always viewed him as an OK Jackie Wilson type singer. Not particularly riveting. But the more I listen, little things seem to break through.
Last night it was this song and I played it several times in a row. I love where he sings that phrase “last night” going on for several measures before releasing it. It’s a truly stunning moment and is one of his high points on record as a singer. And the song isn’t boring to me at all. It has an almost Flamingos-like trance quality for me. I’d easily give it a 6, perhaps a 7.
Nixon, glad you had second thoughts about it.
Funny, IIRC in the liner notes to It Moves Me, Eddie doesn’t remember recording this song at all.
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It’s better than a 4. But, it has a lot of flaws. I’d give it a 5.
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