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Gordy G 7022 (A), July 1963
b/w A Love Like Yours (Don’t Come Knocking Every Day)
(Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland Jr.)
Stateside SS 228 (A) – October 1963
b/w A Love Like Yours (Don’t Come Knocking Every Day)
(Released in the UK under license through Stateside Records)
When I first bought The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 3 (which, for the uninitiated, comes with a working replica 7″ copy of Heat Wave strapped to the front), it arrived on my desk at work. Every person who came into my office that day and saw it there began spontaneously singing Heat Wave. Every single one.
If I had to sum this record up in one word, it would be “confidence”. The band are confident, trying out all manner of new things – layers of baritone sax, horn crotchet notes on the beat of a tambourine, a different rhythm pounded out on vibes and piano together – all of which would come to be ingredients in the so-called “Motown sound”. The producers and songwriters are confident, happy to leave all vocals off what should be the entire first verse and chorus of the song, introducing America to the record as an instrumental. Rosalind Ashford and Annette Beard are confident, providing some of the best backing vocals in Motown history with laser accurate precision. Martha Reeves is confident, sounding like a veteran with fifteen Top Ten smashes under her belt, rather than a 21-year-old relative newcomer who’s had one solitary Top 30 hit single to her name. And, most importantly, the tune is confident, barrelling along and charging up the scale: young, brash, energetic, optimistic, unstoppable.
That first, instrumental “verse” is remarkable enough; opening with a crash of drums leading to a barrage of guitars, handclaps and saxophone, the sheer momentum of it all demands attention. That probably explains the decision to keep the vocals under wraps for such a long time; it’s the sound of the Funk Brothers showing off everything they’d learned so far, and just how far they’d come. (Nelson George: “The melody and lyric ride over a rhythm track clarly derived from the interplay of the musicians among themselves. That record is imbued with the spirit of a lively, fun-loving musical ensemble. It is not a producer’s record; it’s a band record, though HDH gave it structure.”)
But then, after almost half a minute of instrumental fun, the band trading blows and licks, up steps Martha Reeves. No warm-up needed for her, she starts off at top volume. Sure, you were enjoying what the band were doing, but they’ve had their showcase. Pay attention to me now.
Whenever I’m with him
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Something inside
(Something inside)
Starts to burning
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
And I’m filled with desire
You’re singing it to yourself now, aren’t you? The way Martha delivers her lead fastball-style, it sounds like every line should have an exclamation mark at the end. It’s particularly appropriate with lyrics like these – the whole song is full of visceral, energetic imagery, a reinterpretation of falling head over heels in love by some people who’ve thought about what “falling head over heels in love” might actually look like, especially if it happens on a flight of steps. But the real hook hasn’t even been introduced yet.
Could it be / a devil in me / Or is this the way / Love’s supposed to be? / It’s like a HEAT WAVE!
I know what Nelson George means, and in many ways he’s right – this has the carefree exuberance of a freewheeling jam session mixed with the professional rigour of a rigid studio chart – but the Vandellas’ vocals don’t merely “ride over” the rhythm track, they bolster it, augment it, become part of it. Where the band have already introduced us to the rising scale of saxophone, piano and vibes, reaching a pounding plateau before the whole thing starts over again, producers Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier are clever enough to (a) allow the listener to hear what it sounds like without the Vandellas first, and (b) then have Roz and Annette go up the scale with the instruments, creating an unstoppable rise to the top for Martha to blast that line without stopping for breath, ready for all three Vandellas to get to the summit together and shout “HEAT WAVE!” in unison. Killer hooks don’t come any better than this – momentum, anticipation, reward. The first time it happens, the listener’s attention is grabbed, almost forcefully; the second time, the listener knows what’s coming well in advance, and feels not only entitled but encouraged to join in with it.
Picky critics have rounded on Heat Wave in the past for not employing more musical diversity – and they’re not wrong, as it’s really the same verse/chorus structure, rhythm and melody used throughout the entire song, masked by some neat tricks in the arrangement and by Martha and the girls’ clever vocal shifts. But they’re missing the point. Once the basic structure has been established by those first two verses and choruses (one instrumental, one vocal), the listener can use that knowledge to hold on to the song while HDH and the Vandellas throw everything at them. You never know exactly what’s coming up next, while never losing your grip on the relentless rhythm or the song’s basic structure; whatever happens, whether it’s a saxopone taking over for Martha for a verse, or the climactic weaving of shouted voices and harmonies, you know there’s going to be another “HEAT WAVE!” coming along soon. A clever trick, straight out of the Puccini playbook, and for that reason, it’s among the catchiest pop records I can think of – which explains why all those people sang it in my office that day, and why you’ve probably got it in your head right now.
It’s just such a buzz, this record. You’d have to be made of stone not to crack a smile by the time we get to the middle verse and Martha exclaims:
I can’t explain it / Don’t understand it / I ain’t never felt like this before!
But then she ups the ante even further. “Now that funny feeling has me amazed / Don’t know what to do, my head’s in a haze, it’s like a heat wave… and Martha’s voice tails off quietly, for the first time on the record. She doesn’t fully engage with the shout of “HEAT WAVE!” this time, and you’re wondering what’s going on, until she instead reappears off the beat a split second later with a full-on shout of YEAH YEAH!, which signals the start of the busy, almost overloaded later phase of the record. A series of interlinked vocal lines all ducking and dovetailing in and out of one another, seamlessly picking up on the main line or the backing refrain, switching between patterns with no notice whatsoever given to the listener… I love it.
So did the American public, sending this right up the charts to blast a hole at the top; Motown’s eighth R&B Number One and a Top Five pop hit to boot, some of its success has traditionally been ascribed to the actual heat wave that struck the USA during the late summer of 1963 (and the record’s use on weather bulletins reporting on it), but I can confidently state that this sounds good whatever the weather (it’s absolutely pelting down outside my window here in Wales at the time of writing, and Heat Wave still has me dancing). Yet it’s still unmistakeably the sound of summer – turn this right up when the sun is shining on the grass on a beautiful July day, there’s simply nothing to beat it.
A remarkable record, and one of the best singles Motown ever released. There wasn’t any doubt as to what mark I was going to give it, was there?
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.
(Or maybe you’re only interested in Martha Reeves & The Vandellas? Click for more.)
The Marvelettes “Tie A String Around Your Finger” |
Martha & The Vandellas “A Love Like Yours (Don’t Come Knocking Everyday)” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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Dave L said:
I’ve already decided when I die, I want the best copy I own of this put in the coffin with me, despite the provocative suggestion I want to land someplace hot in The Next World. Either that, or I want to be reincarnated as a beautiful shiny copy that goes for at least four figures at auction.
I promise you, when this starts up on any radio, every member of my family thinks of me -especially my mother- because I drove it into their brains as unrelentingly as my own since 1963 when I was 9. At that age I had no idea of the deeper meaning of the record, the romantic and sexual abandon being described when one has been ensnared by Eros and Cupid’s arrow, but I’d get older… In those days, it was simply a bang-your-head-against-the-wall great record, and still is.
I must have at least 15 copies, in various forms, in the house: three copies of the Gordy 7022 single, the Gordy 907 album, three copies of the vinyl 1966 “Greatest Hits,” 16 Original Big Hits Vol.2, the 1974 Anthology and at least three CD forms. Yet if a store had another nice copy to offer, I’d start pulling twenties out of my wallet.
Nelson George, coming to this point in his Where Did Our Love Go:
” Though ‘Memories’ was a good start for both the performers and their producers, neither the Vandellas nor H-D-H would achieve national prominence until ‘Heat Wave’ that July. The driving baritone sax riffs and the clever subliminal use of Dave Hamilton’s vibes in tandem with the piano add vibrant highs to the track and foreshadow Motown’s future sound. The bass line isn’t as clearly defined as it could be, but the basic elements of the Motown sound (and of Berry’s early production idiosyncrasies) were being successfully mixed. As for Martha, her voice blasted through the production flourishes on ‘Heat Wave’ in a defiant, lustful performance that showed an emotional intensity ‘Memories’ had only hinted at.’
Defiant. Lustful. Emotional intensity. So many more Martha & the Vandellas records to come were all going to supply exactly that quality, and as soon as little Dave heard a new one on the radio, he was looking for his shoes, no matter the hour or the weather. This record may as well be in my DNA, because I know I’m going to love it till the hour I die.
Holland Dozier Holland are now going to strike oil with wonderful consistently for the remaining half of this year. Heat Wave & Quicksand for the Vandellas, Mickey’s Monkey & Dance To Keep From Crying for the Miracles, You Lost The Sweetest Boy for Mary, Can I Get A Witness for Marvin, Leaving Here for Eddie himself, and the Supremes first appearance in the Top 40, When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes. (Though we wouldn’t get it till much later, the Marvelettes’ Knock On My Door inarguably belongs in this exalted group as well.)
Not every one of these songs would top charts, and while each belongs handily to the artist who rendered them, they all now had a welcome, familial similarity and Motown now had a ‘sound.’ Unlike many an American artist and record company who wouldn’t know what hit them, HDH’s output in this period would fortify Motown’s foundations in the winds of musical taste that were about to profoundly shift.
On the day after Christmas 1963, Capitol Records in the USA would release 45rpm catalog number 5112: “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles.
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John Plant said:
This song definitively shattered the wall of protective resistance I had built up against pop music; Mary Wells and Smokey (and the Isley Brothers, whose version of Twist and Shout is still the definitive one for me) had chipped away at the fortress, but with this song it came tumbling down. You’ve nailed it in your peerless description, and I only want to add a p.s. about the fade, which is for me the best part of the song. In most reincarnations the song fades too soon! The longest I have is 2.49, on the 2-LP Anthology set. The intertwining of vocal lines, interspersed with that magnificent moan, wants to go on into eternity, and so many incarnations have it fade just as the Vandellas are singing ‘Don’t pass up this chance/it sounds like a new romance…’ What follows is so utterly glorious that it seems like sheer vandalism to cut it.
I’ve been waiting for your take on this song for a long time, and you haven’t let me down. I LOVE that you bring Puccini into it. It’s strangely appropriate: he has the art of creating overpowering instrumental doublings over an endlessly subtle, pulsing, richly textured accompaniment. I just heard a rather newer piece which has some of the unharnessed libido (and the bold and unusual treatment of women,s voices) I sense in this song; it’s Thierry Pécou’s ‘Symphonie du Jaguar’ – heartily recommended to Heat Wave lovers who are not averse to new orchestral music.
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John Plant said:
Responding to my own post here – I had the brilliant idea (a brainwave rather than a heatwave, perhaps, and somewhat overdue) of going onto itunes, and found two versions clocking over three minutes. So I can continue ‘burning, burning’ to my heart’s content, with Martha’s inimitable searing trajectory of wails going at least a little further into the infinity to which they seem bound. One of the two was on a compilation called The Birth of Soul, offering 206 songs for $9.99 – and many of the songs are the hard-to-find treasures which the Nixon administration has so eloquently (and mouthwateringly) described for us…. By the way, I thoroughly enjoyed Dave’s beautiful post!
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The Nixon Administration said:
Thanks John – Marie, once of Catch That Train And Testify, put in a similar recommendation for “Birth of Soul” a couple of days ago when discussing the Marvelettes’ Tie A String Around Your Finger – this compilation is highly recommended for any Motown Junkies readers wondering what all the fuss has been about!
Apologies for the lack of updates over the last few days, by the way (both new entries and new images for older entries), everyone – I’ve been laid up with a bad cold. Normal service will be resumed shortly!
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Mary Plant said:
I well remember my brother John coming to his senses in the summer of 1963 – Heat Wave was on the car radio and he was struck – not dumb, ’cause that will NEVER happen – but finally came to the realization that not all pop music was to be treated with scorn. What a summer and what a song!
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144man said:
The longest version I’ve heard is the extended stereo mix in “The Motown Box”, which came out in 2005.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Leaving aside everything else you say (as it deservers to stand alone), a quick discographical note: the 2:49 version is the original US 7″ single version, as also featured on The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 3.
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144man said:
This was one of the very few times when I heard a record just once and instantaneously thought, “This is the best record ever made”. (The next time that happened to me was not until 1966 courtesy of HDH and the 4 Tops.)
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Nick in Pasadena said:
Yes, this disc is really where I mark the start of the classic Motown sound. This is the one that enticed the hard-earned 99 cents out my pocket to buy the 45, after hearing it on my incredibly tinny transistor radio and feeling both elated and dumbstruck at what I had just experienced. Even today, having heard this record maybe thousands of times through my life, I still get caught up in its power and artistry as if hearing it for the first time. Certainly it’s a somewhat calculated commercial pop record, but in the 60s that criticism wasn’t as derisive as it is today. Berry Gordy’s commercial drive spawned some marvelous music.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Helpfully, I’ve just discovered a lengthy missing sentence which went astray in the published version of this that’s been sitting up on the front page for five days while I’ve been in bed. Whoops, etc.
I’ve put it back in now, obviously.
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Dave L said:
John Plant, thank you 🙂
Nixon, get well soon. We haven’t forgotten either that you’ve got a new baby in the house, and they take over everything for the first year at least.
Take your time, pace yourself, you can’t possibly lose us now.
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Landini said:
Here is my story. A buddy of mine who was a Linda Ronstant fan heard the Vandellas version and said he preferred Lindas version. Say what? Yeh I still like him but really. Linda over Martha ? Never !
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Dave L said:
In the autumn of 1975 I was working four to midnight shifts at a 7-11 store in New Jersey, and if too busy at the register, couldn’t get to our radio to change stations when the assaultive Rondstat version started up. Later, when she did the series of standards’ albums with Nelson Riddle I managed to partially forgive Linda, but I never need to hear her version of “Heat Wave” again.
But it’s always been too sweeping and unfair to suggest that whenever white artists take on Motown material the result is a sure crime.
I love all the tambourines on Rare Earth’s “Get Ready,” which substitutes the playfulness Eddie Kendricks gave the song, for a ballsy and aggressive sexual come-on.
And I’m more than okay with Kim Carnes’ raw-throated version of Smokey’s “More Love,” which climaxes with some kick-ass saxophone work that slays me every time. I’m convinced Rod Stewart’s love for “This Old Heart Of Mine” was real and he did alright by it, and Marvin himself endorsed James Taylor’s remake of “How Sweet It Is.” So it always depends on the song, the artist and the timing.
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The Nixon Administration said:
For some bizarre reason, even though you’ve been here for years and posted hundreds of comments, this one ended up caught in the blog’s spam filter and I only just saw it – apologies!
As a general principle, I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to (essentially) bar anyone from any musical endeavour on account of their race, or their MOR proclivities. If someone thinks they have something to add by covering a song (rather than just wanting to have a crossover hit with it) and sanding off the edges, I’m happy to give it a listen; sometimes, as with Johnny Cash’s late-life stripped-down LPs, or Robert Wyatt’s version of Chic’s At Last I Am Free, for instance, the artist can tease out nuances in the original that only they picked up on. On the other hand, you’ve got the Cadillac Car phenomenon of preppy white kids shamelessly appropriating a hooky tune with no other motivation than profit, and that almost (almost!) never ends well. All three of the Beatles’ recorded Motown covers leave something to be desired as far as I’m concerned, but at least I believe they meant it – there’s a show on Anthology 1 from Sweden in 1963 where Lennon extensively credits the then-unknown-in-Europe Miracles’ original before breaking into You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me; harder to imagine the Fourmost doing that, for instance, though they may well have done; and I have a sneaking, but unfounded, suspicion that the further one gets away from Invasion pop-rockers and towards Saturday evening light entertainment, the less the amount of reverence, respect and credit, and therefore the less the amount of credit those covers get from me. Anyway, it’s an interesting topic, to be sure.
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John Plant said:
I have a particular fondness for Dusty Springfield’s exuberant and feisty ‘Can I Get a Witness. And I think the Stones’ rather more primitive version on their first album at least shows their affection for the song, even though Mick at this stage is several billion lightyears away from Marvin Gaye. I also enjoy the Beatles Motown covers, in particular ‘Please Mr Postman’ – which, I think, provides an alternative reading worthy of the song, winningly naive and radiating positive, innocent energy (I dissent passionately however from the received wisdom that their version of ‘Twist and Shout’ improves on the unmatchable Isley Brothers version – in this case, raw energy is no subsitute for the deeply ingrained subtle and soulful energy of the Isleys… By the way, my wife has just read me this quote from a Vedantic sage, Sri Nasargadatta Maharaj, which seems to me relevant – not only in this context, but in the context of Motown in general: “Whatever is perceived blissfully is beautiful. Bliss is the essence of beauty.’ – Which leads me once again to thank you, Nixon, for unearthing so much bliss, and articulating it in such a way as to renew its accessibility for all of us!
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Governor Milton P. Shapp said:
When I was a wee lad I was invited to swim in the neighbor’s pool, and since I was too well bred to pee in same, I went into the house to use the bathroom. A radio in the kitchen, (tuned to WIBG for Philly radio fans), was playing this tune. It was the first time I ever heard it, and I stood there transfixed. The lady of the house apparently thought something was wrong with me- she called my name a few times and got no response until the song was over. My mother came to take me home shortly thereafter. This is one reason why my parents took me to the school psychologist.
All these years later I still feel the same way. House on fire? Tornado coming? Atomic attack? Never mind, it will have to wait until Heat Wave is done playing. If there is such a thing as THE best single ever made, this one is it.
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The Nixon Administration said:
I’ve been enjoying all your various comments throughout the site, Gov. Shapp, but this is definitely my favourite so far.
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Governor Milton P. Shapp said:
Thanks. This is the coolest blog! Congratulations.
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Whimpy Burger said:
Heatwave was definitive Motown. Imagine what a lucky person I was growing up black in “da hood” when this song was first released. Imagine paying like 50 cents for it, taking it home and playing it on your Webcore phonograph. Imagine all the kids on the block coming over to your house to hear it and to try to dance to it. Thank you Motown for that experience. 10/10.
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bogart4017 said:
It was when this song was released (or maybe the year before) that we started to realize there were big doings coming out of Detroit. My friend Eddie had a huge crush on Martha so he was always dragging me off to see her if she played anyplace close. As much as i Loved “Heatwave” i was stone gone for the flip side so that got more play at my house, ballad freak that i am.
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Gordon Reynolds said:
Oh yeah, this is a 10 alright. Always thought it was “ok”, having only heard it on (stereo) compilations. Finally got hold of a UK Stateside 45 and it sounds awesome. Why this didn’t sell by the truckload over here can only be down to lack of radio exposure or something, I don’t know for certain because I was only 4 when this was released!
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144man said:
“From high in the U.S. chart comes this superb bluesy beat number from the group. There’s a long, long instrumental intro and then Martha joins in on the frantic bluesy number with an insistent backing and some great singing from all concerned. Not the sort of thing for the British but all we hope is that these kind of discs just keep coming.
“Flip comes from her L.P. “Come And Get These Memories”. It’s a Mary Wells type number with a typical slow bluesy beat and some good lyrics. We liked it.
4/5″
[Contemporary U.K. music paper review, probably Record Mirror]
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Steve Alford said:
Hey Motown junkies. Can anyone disclose the ‘back-up’ lyrics in the 2nd verse of Heat Wave? I’ve tried slowing down the speed and pitch and have yet to interpret wexactly what the Vandellas are singing her. Thanks! Steve
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kevintimba said:
Since I discovered this site 4 years ago – and in part *because* I discovered this site 4 years ago – I’ve spent 3 years writing and finally finishing a long book on the Beatles, Brian Wilson, HDH, and the creative process in popular music. Along the way, I’ve learned a lott. Not only about songwriting, but about writing, and I can say with some experience that this particular page contains some of the best writing about music that I’ve encountered. 10/10 for the song, 10/10 for the review. I still viscerally recall being 8 years old and hearing Heat Wave for the first time on the AM radio of my mother’s gold, 3-speed-manual-shift Ford Falcon (it created a huge sensation by getting 20 mpg, and selling new for less than $2K – my parents bought two of them). This was about six months before the Beatles played Ed Sullivan–and I distinctly remember demanding, on pain of running away from home, that she take me straight-away to the record store so I could use my allowance to buy this strangely purple-looking 45 — blissfully unaware of … well … almost everything except Heat Wave. It was the game-changer for me, and, apparently, for a whole generation. I’ve returned to it here again after beginning my second book, based on the Beatles’ “jukeboxes” – the 40 songs to which they were binge-listening in 1966. This song was on Paul McCartney’s list.
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kevintimba said:
Sadly, I see you still haven’t implement “edit post” …
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The Nixon Administration said:
That’s really kind of you to say. Thank you, and good luck with the book!
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Bill Hales said:
Yep, this one is pretty easy to report on. It’s the best single out of Motown, period.
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Stefanie Magura said:
I have been a long time lurker of this website, but I’m going to break that to say that I love the visual of people walking by your work desk, seeing that 45, and every one of those people singing that song. I’m not sure if this is my favorite HDH song, but it’s certainly one of them.
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