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Tamla T 54066 (B), July 1962
B-side of Fire
(Written by Andre Williams, Clarence Paul and Joe Hunter)
The flip side of Gino Parks’ final Motown release, this excellently slinky R&B excursion turns out to be one of the best things Gino ever recorded with the label.
Opening with Parks’ engaging acapella Whoa-ho-hey-heya-heya-hey-yeah, this is very much in the bluesy R&B vein of his previous single Same Thing, but with that song’s bristling raucousness replaced with a smooth, smouldering intensity. The chorus, with its short lines and jazz rhythms (For this I thank / You baby / For mending my bah-roken heart / For this I thank / You baby / For giving me a brand new start / You made my love / A-worth givin’ / And my life worth livin’ / What more can you do? / Hey hey hey, what more can you do?) is a particular highlight, and gets stuck in your head much more than any of Parks’ previous efforts.
The oddest thing about this song, though, is that like Eddie Holland’s You Deserve What You Got, it suffers a weird disconnect between lyrics and sound. Where Holland’s song was a beautiful ballad that turned out to be dripping with bitter spite, this song sounds like an embittered kiss-off to a scorned ex-girlfriend, Parks thanking her for opening his eyes; it’s only on further examination of the lyrics that it turns out to be a completely straight love song, Gino thanking his current partner for her loyalty and kindness. It’s good, but it doesn’t really fit; if Gino had sung something like Eddie’s lyrics to this song, it would have been a masterpiece.
Still, it’s good stuff all the same, and probably my favourite out of the handful of records Parks cut at Motown. Sad to report, there wouldn’t be any follow-ups; the company, with its eyes now firmly on the pop charts, was heading in a new direction, one that didn’t have room for a gospel-trained Alabama blues man.
VERDICT
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6 / 10
(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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| Gino Parks “Fire” |
Mike & The Modifiers “I Found Myself A Brand New Baby” |
Motown Junkies 
I like the arrangement on this song a lot, especially the percussion. It’s one of my favorite b-sides of Motown’s “flops.” My rating is more generous than yours: 8/10.
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Great site, thanks for all the work you’ve put into this.
Could someone tell me, this drummer isn’t the Funk Brothers’ drummer is he? Or was he just let loose on these two numbers? Dynamic!
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Just from listening to the track, I’d say it very likely is the great Benny Benjamin on the skins here – check out the Twistin’ Kings’ little-remembered Congo for some very similar (and even more dynamic!) playing.
Thanks for the compliment, it’s always nice to know people still enjoy reading this stuff.
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There were 3 Funk Brothers drummers: Benny Benjamin, Pistol Allen, and Uriel Jones. All great in their own right. Marvin Gaye, George McGregor and Melvin Davis also played some drums on Motown Detroit recordings, as did several others. It’s really tough to think of a good 1960s Detroit session player of any instrument, who didn’t record at least one session at Motown.
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7/10 for me, bought a copy as soon as heard it played out.
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Interesting that after Motown dropped Gino in early 1964, he didn’t get another recording contract until Miss Ray and her New York Jobete Music Office, and Shrine Records partner (and new Husband) Eddie Singleton, recorded him in 1968, for their new, Crazy Horse Records label. He sang a pretty similar fast Bluesy R&B style on that release (“Nerves of Steel”), as well.
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What about Golden World?
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Yes, surely the Golden World stuff was recorded in 1965/66 after Motown but before the others mentioned.
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Love this track. Only just discovered it. Which Williams and Paul wrote this does anyone know. I’d give this 10 out of 10
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