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Gordy G 7022 (B), July 1963
B-side of Heat Wave
(Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland Jr.)
Stateside SS 228 (B), October 1963
B-side of Heat Wave
(Released in the UK under license through Stateside Records)
However much Martha Reeves and the Vandellas might have enjoyed their breakthrough into the “big time” in 1963, with two magnificent singles in Come And Get These Memories and Heat Wave, they paid a price for that success early on. Motown, keen as ever to squeeze as much profit from a hit as possible, rushed the group through recording not one but two quick-fire follow-up albums. When Come And Get These Memories became an unexpected Top 30 pop hit, Berry Gordy wasted no time in corraling the group into the studio to augment their first two singles and their B-sides by rush-recording material to fill out what would become their début LP, imaginatively titled Come And Get These Memories. It failed to chart.
Almost before that album was even in the can, the girls had cut Heat Wave, its obvious quality meaning no third single was ever taken from Come And Get These Memories (the album). When that single became an even bigger hit than Motown had anticipated, the girls were again rushed into the studio to cut a slew of new tracks for their second LP, imaginatively titled… Heat Wave. It, too, failed to chart.
(In case you were wondering, the Heat Wave album, packed with rushed or disinterested covers of then-recent Hot 100 hits, is a nasty failure on almost every level – commercially and artistically – and no further tracks were taken from it by Motown for use on singles, hence it not being discussed in any depth on this blog.)
When this single came out, though, that second album didn’t exist yet – indeed, I’m guessing Motown probably hadn’t planned on cutting a second LP on the Vandellas until a more suitable interval had passed; the Heat Wave LP to me sounds rushed, panicky and opportunistic. (In the late Sixties or early Seventies, Motown would most likely just have shoved out a new version of the Come And Get These Memories LP with Heat Wave tacked on as an extra track, but at this stage the album market was still new territory for Gordy, learning as he went along). So, when it came to finding a flipside for Heat Wave, there being no other suitable new material from the Vandellas’ recent sessions with Holland and Dozier, Motown went back to that first album.
The Come And Get These Memories album (pictured left; the items featured on the cover are all taken from the lyrics of Come And Get These Memories itself, which – in a mindbending bit of extra-textual play – is also the single shown there, making it the “old favourite record” referred to in its own lyrics) is a variable but ultimately enjoyable mix of new Jobete material (some of it never found anywhere else), covers of older Jobete songs, and throwaway filler, in a variety of styles. (Check out HDH’s other contribution, This Is When I Need You Most, either a shoddy rewrite or early draft of the title track).
Other than the songs already featured on Motown singles, its outstanding moments are a doo-wop number written by Brian Holland and Robert “Bob Kayli” Gordy, To Think You Would Hurt Me, Smokey’s Give Him Up, which sounds like a rejected Mary Wells commission… and this.
A Love Like Yours is probably the most accomplished-sounding thing on that album, and it’s only fitting that it was chosen to have its own moment in the sun. A slow, pretty ballad, this song is built almost entirely around its repetitive chorus – A love like yours don’t come knock-knock-knock-knockin’ / Knock-knockin’ everyday; clunky, but it does work as a hook. The lyrics combine two staples of romantic pop records (the straightforward “thank you” to a much-appreciated lover, and the plea for forgiveness) by having Martha’s narrator acknowledge her boy’s exceptional patience. It sails along as a vocal showcase for Martha, Roz and Annette, augmented by some piano and chugging drums. There’s a lovely organ-and-vibes intro, and a spoken word interlude at 1:50 where Martha recites the lyrics of the first verse; otherwise, there’s not a lot to capture the ear of any passing tourists, but it’s still a really nice little song.
Indeed, in some alternate universe, this may well have ended up being picked as the hypothetical third single from Come And Get These Memories (Nelson George isn’t alone when he mistakenly lists it as having actually been an A-side). It’s a great showcase; to me, the charm of this is that it’s small-scale, almost domestic, making Martha’s delivery come across all the more vulnerable and sweet, fitting for a tale of heartfelt appreciation.
Phil Spector certainly clocked the song, cutting a typically over-the-top rendition in 1966 on Ike and Tina Turner, slowed down even further; it sounds good, but for me its big, showy bombast somehow misses the point. Motown themselves took a different approach when re-using the song that same year for Kim Weston (of which more later), speeding it up and adding power to the drums; Weston’s version works better than Ike and Tina’s, but this original Vandellas cut is still the best of the bunch.
It may not have been a big hit if it had been chosen as a single, but I’m glad I got to feature it anyway; it’s a neat little jewel in its way, oddly affecting and eminently likeable, a snapshot of a group who knew they were good but didn’t yet know they were famous.
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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| Martha & The Vandellas “Heat Wave” |
The Gospel Stars “Give God A Chance” |
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This side took me a little longer to learn an appreciation for back when I was 9 and no way able to relate to its perspective.
Martha apparently has herself a guy here who’s of exceptional integrity, one she neglected and even perhaps abused, but she makes clear he remained steadfast waiting for her eyes to open. They did, and in an apologetic and thankful tone, she states exactly that. Such a situation was a little too much adult complexity for the kid who jumped up and down when “Heat Wave” started up, but I came around with some passing years.
It was shrewd record-making on Motown’s part too, because Martha, on many a-sides summoned a lot of fury and power, not sounding like a woman who ever second-guessed herself, so the b-sides became a convenient opportunity to remind us she could ‘do’ vulnerable as well.
It’s not without reluctance that I must agree with you about the quality of the Heat Wave album. Martha herself, in her biography (“Dancing In The Street,” Hyperion, 1994), states that the entire album was recorded in a single night. It shows alright. I’ll make a single exception for Martha’s convincing version of the Barbara Lewis hit, “Hello Stranger,” but even this Vandellas fan can’t stretch to pretending rapture for her renditions of “Danke Schoen” and “More (Than The Greatest Love).” Beyond the title song and “Stranger” the single remaining indispensible piece of the album is the cover.
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“This Is When I Need You Most” is quite listenable. The track that is best described as “a shoddy rewrite or early draft of the title track” is the much-bootlegged “I’m Willing to Pay the Price”.
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If you do a back-to-back comparison with Mary Wells’ Can You Fix It (My Broken Heart) you might have a change of heart with regard to This Is When I Need You Most.
The opening bars, melody and instrumentation of each are virtually identical, but while Mary’s vocal is full-bodied, mixed up front, Martha’s vocal is buried, and the Vandellas are more prominent than she is.
Also, the alternate lyrics on Mary’s record are stronger than the barely heard words on Martha’s record.
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I’ve never thought of comparing them before. You make a good case.
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I am really shocked that this song didn’t make the “Live Wire Singles set” from a few years ago. What was up with that? They seemed to skimp on the Vandellas with regard to albums. I mean several of the songs on the first Greatest Hits collection had never been on an album before.
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Neither of the two discs to that set were filled to their 80 minute capacity, so there was certainly room for that one and more.
But “A Love Like Yours” had already been included on Come And Get These Memories, the 1966 Greatest Hits, the 1974 Anthology, the 1990 Compact Command Performances, then brought back again for the 1998 Ultimate Collection.
I got the impression with the otherwise great Live Wire: The Singles from 1993, that the emphasis with b-sides was to prioritize those that had never seen inclusion on a vinyl LP or CD to that point, such as “Darling I Hum Our Song,” “A Tear For The Girl,” and “Never Leave Your Baby’s Side.”
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This was also a favorite of Dusty Springfield, who recorded this twice herself… first for the scrapped 1974 album “Longing” (eventually turning up on the BEAUTIFUL SOUL cd compliation), then re-recorded for her 1978 album “It Begins Again”.
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Another early Motown favorite. Even if this were to be included on the “Heatwave” lp that shoddy mess could not have been saved. I wasted time buying that one–i should have just asked somebody.
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