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Gordy G 7005 (B), June 1962
B-side of Do You Love Me
(Written by Berry Gordy and Rebecca Nichols)
Oriole CBA 1763 (B), September 1962
B-side of Do You Love Me
(Released in the UK under license through Oriole Records)
The Contours’ biggest hit, the rollicking Do You Love Me, by far their best-known song, is actually a little unrepresentative of both the group and the developing Motown Sound; the underside of the record gives a better picture of where the Contours were really “at” in the summer of 1962.
A slight, shambolic R&B workout, clocking in at a little over two minutes, this is musically reminiscent of Lamont Dozier’s 1960 solo single Popeye The Sailor Man (in terms of tune, at any rate), but it’s over before it’s had a chance to really dig its hooks in, and it’s a bit of a mess. If anything, it shows how far out of step the Contours really were with the rest of Motown’s output of the time.
Billy Gordon does a good job with his vocal, channeling his engagingly rough performance from the Contours’ début single Whole Lotta Woman (he even incorporates a snatch of that song during the fade at the end of this one), and the record features a few neat touches – most notably an intriguing Beach Boys backing harmony break that crops up twice in the song – but it proceeds to go absolutely nowhere.
The backing vocals are undisciplined and rowdy, the intro (yet another apparent take-off of the Marcels’ scat opening to their doo-wop cover of Blue Moon) sits poorly with the rest of the song; the whole thing just feels rushed and unfinished.
Not awful, by any means, but the image of the Contours conjured for new listeners by Do You Love Me is slightly dispelled here; carefree, acrobatic rockers they may have been, but without the sheen of musical competence and joyous exuberance found on the A-side, they’d somehow have seemed a bit more ordinary after listening to this.
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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| The Contours “Do You Love Me” |
Hattie Littles “Back In My Arms” |
Motown Junkies 
Full disclosure here for the other guests; yes, that’s my scan of my copy of the record.
And you can see on the bottom ring of writing it’s a later, 1966 pressing. But another telltale sign that you’ve got a 1966 (or later) pressing -even if it’s the script Gordy- is the encircled ‘ R ‘ after the ‘y’ in Gordy. This started showing up on Motown, Tamla and Gordy in mid-1966, (a few have an encircled ‘TM’ instead), respectively, over the ‘n’ in Motown, to the right of the globe and record on Tamla, or after the ‘y’ in Gordy.
(For instance, it is not on first runs of the Supremes’ “Love is Like An Itching In My Heart” in April 1966, but it is there by “You Can’t Hurry Love” at the end of that July.)
I suspect, but I don’t know for sure, that Motown sub-contracted some of these reissue runs out to record plants that weren’t the most strict at quality control. I’ve got a couple with sloppily applied labels that drift out into the trail-out areas, or, you can come upon some that appear perfectly okay to the eye, only to get them home and play them and find appalling surface noise even though they look shiny-new.
Then as now, it’s buyer beware.
(Future visitors: Since the above comment was left, I’ve replaced Dave’s scan with one kindly provided by another visitor, the label having been stuck on rather more competently (!) – but it’s still a later pressing, and Dave’s comments all still apply. – Ed)
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I used to have the same problem in the 1970’s. I particularly had to be careful buying Temptations singles and lps. “Shakey Ground” i had to return twice for being off-center and the label overlap into the runout grooves.
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As a rule if I can find an RCA pressing of a Motown 45, that’s the one to go for..thin vinyl plus their 4 digit-letter code matrix.
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Sorry you didn’t like Move Mr. Man. What sounds like chaos to the reviewer sounds like innovative and very effective arrangement to me. This cut chugs along with minimal instrumental arrangement – drums are done with brushes. It may be true that it was out of step with the taste of the time. For me, it’s one of the most daring and original tunes ever. The use of syncopation in the B part is unbelievably funky, and the beat is one of the most compelling ever made. This cut KILLS! Just goes to show how subjective musical taste is.
Eric Jung, Bear Valley CA
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I just love this record! it exemplifys the contours in all their wackiness! Great dance record!
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