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Gordy G 7024 (A), October 1963
b/w Come On Home
(Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland Jr.)
First things first, before we get to talking about the elephant in the room that is Phil Spector: These aren’t the Marvelettes under a pseudonym. Not really, anyway. “The Darnells” were a made-up group, yes, featuring Gladys Horton of the Marvelettes on lead, backed up by Louvain Demps, Marlene Barrow and Jackie Hicks – the immortal Andantes. Now, on a lot of Motown records credited to a group (the Supremes being the best-known example), the Andantes would fill in on backing vocals in place of the actual group members. Be it for logistical reasons (the group themselves might be out touring, say), or as an artistic improvement, it was usually a rather effective strategy, if also somewhat morally ambiguous. So to that extent, this is as much a Marvelettes record as some of their official singles. But it’s not, strictly speaking, the Marvelettes; if anything, Motown was being surprisingly honest in noting this was a different group.
Why use the made-up name at all? That comes back to Phil Spector. Anything you ever read about this record has his name in it somewhere. This is a Phil Spector knock-off. It sounds like something Phil Spector would have made. It sounds like a lot of the records co-written and produced by Phil Spector. Phil Spector, Phil Spector, Phil Spector, Phil Spector. Blah blah blah blah blah.
Truth is, yes, this is a Spector pastiche. (A “Wall of Soundalike”, to use the excellent term coined by someone wittier than me.) The Crystals’ superb Then He Kissed Me was riding high in the charts, and Motown – still searching for its musical identity – latched on to a trend. Holland-Dozier-Holland, the company’s hotshot rising stars of songwriting, were given a stack of Philles singles by Berry Gordy together with a simple brief: write me some of those.
Or at least, I’m assuming that’s what happened. Either that, or HDH independently decided to go off on a Spector kick at the end of 1963; they were certainly somewhat obsessed, turning in a number of new songs very much in the Spector/Greenwich/Barry style, of which this is the most blatant but by no means the only example we’ll see. Either way, it’s fascinating.
The really interesting thing about this little phase is not that HDH were aping Spector’s style so closely – Gordy didn’t want to miss out on sales, end of conversation – or even that they did it well. (And they did: Gladys and the Andantes here sound more like the Ronettes than the Crystals, but it’s an extremely well-executed clone all the same.)
No, the remarkable thing is that they were so immediately good at it. Tasked, either by Motown or by themselves, with writing something in the Brill Building mode and producing it in the Wall of Sound style, they proved straight away they were up to the challenge. This is in the first rank of the droves of Spector pastiches that clogged the shelves in 1963, done with an obvious innate understanding of almost all of Spector’s bag of tricks and an inherent respect for a fellow genius producer.
It follows, then, that – having satisfied themselves, over the course of 3 or 4 records, that they could “do” Spector – HDH could now tick that off their to-do list, and move on to finding their own sound. (Ironically, this sound would become so immediately identifiable that Spector himself would have a snide and completely unnecessary dig at Motown’s expense, accusing them of releasing the same record every week with slightly different lyrics. Pot, meet kettle.) Early-Sixties Phil Spector should be a part of anyone’s musical education, not to mention their record collection, but HDH could rip him off pretty much effortlessly, and by the time this was released they would already be thinking about moving on.
Anyway. The record. It’s plenty good; if it’s nowhere near as strong a song as Then He Kissed Me, missing the heart-swelling string parts and replacing joy and anticipation with anguish and weary self-reflection, well, it’s actually quite a bit more dynamic than its obvious “inspiration”, HDH having the advantage of the Funk Brothers in their corner. The galloping rhythm and horns are as engaging as on the Crystals’ record, sounding crystal clear (no pun intended) rather than muddy and echo-drenched, while Gladys Horton – given the sort of uptempo workout she hadn’t had in at least a year – sounds fantastic to boot.
This could easily have been used to kickstart a Marvelettes revival, the group’s career having recently stalled after a string of underwhelming singles, and with hindsight it would have made a fun addition to their catalogue. But Berry Gordy was rightly cautious. Perhaps not wishing to yoke his one time golden geese to what turned out to be a passing fad, a very different kind of sound to what Marvelettes fans had come to expect, or perhaps just wanting to disassociate the Marvelettes’ recent relative flops from a fresh new Brill Building girl group record, he kept this away from the Marvelettes’ legacy, releasing it on Gordy Records rather than Tamla (the home of the Marvelettes since 1961), even though the change of name probably precluded any live promotional appearances taking place. (I’d be interested to know if the Marvelettes ever performed this song live, actually.)
Right in the middle of their annus mirabilis in 1965, the Supremes turned in their own capable cover of the song, although it wasn’t used for anything – presumably Motown felt its time had passed.
Plenty of fun, both a fascinating little diversion from the course of the Motown story and a fleeting glimpse into an alternate universe, but its greatest value is that it allowed HDH to both match themselves against the best, and get it out of their systems. This proved they could have had comfortable careers in the Brill Building; now they were free to get on with altogether more ambitious business.
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 The Darnells? Click for more.)
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The Darnells “Come On Home” |
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144man said:
Another similarity with Philles releases is having an instrumental b-side.
My only criticism is that once you notice the percussion [tambourine?], which stays the same through the whole record, it becomes irritating. In view of the melodic similarity to “Then He Kissed Me”, 7/10 is a fair mark.
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Marie said:
Excellent! I don’t know how I managed to miss Gladys Horton, but thank you for that alone.
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Robb Klein said:
The scuttlebutt that was going around at the time was that Berry Gordy was tired of hearing that Phil Spector was a “genius”, so he assigned Holland-Dozier-Holland to show The World that “Motown could beat Spector at his own game, if they had wanted to”.
I sincerely doubt that The Marvelettes ever sang “Too Hurt To Cry” in a public appearance (at least while they were with Motown). Maybe they (or Gladys) sang it in England as a request, in 1977 or later.
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The Nixon Administration said:
“To show The World that Motown could beat Spector at his own game, if they had wanted to…” Interesting to know – that’s pretty much the feeling I get from this and associated HDH records too.
Phil Spector was a genius, at one time anyway, a description that I don’t find at all incompatible with him also being the most overrated individual in pop history. To elaborate: I firmly believe anyone’s record collection ought to have a healthy sampling of his glorious early-Sixties peak – and not out of some sort of horrible reverence, but just because so many of those Crystals, Ronettes, Bob B Soxx/Darlene Love, Ike & Tina, Righteous Brothers etc etc records are amazing – but goodness me, he seems like a thoroughly unpleasant individual, the vast majority of his “post-comeback” work is just awful, the constant mythologising gets tired very quickly, and honestly I don’t think the course of pop history would have been changed one iota if he’d fallen down a hole in 1966 and never been heard from again. There was an interview with George Martin in the Times a couple of days ago, Martin describing Spector – purely with reference to his musical career, rather than as a convicted murderer – as “an idiot”, and I find it hard to disagree.
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Louvain Demps said:
This song was given to the Andantes. The name was given in the studio by Berry himself…there was to be another lead singer but it did not happen, later (years ) when we heard the song ,Gladys is the lead singer.. When i asked about it, i was told because they gave the credit to the Marveletts, we could not take credit for the song.
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John Lester said:
Would there not be a legal contract between Motown and the Andantes which dealt with the situation when the name “The Andantes” could be reproduced on a record label…………or was it all verbal?
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Dave L said:
Yes, your record collection cannot claim to cover the early 60s without a fair sampling of Spector.
While not as exhaustively as I’ve tried to hoard Motown, I’ve got the holy grail “Christmas Gift for You” LP on a blue Philles label, Be My Baby, He’s a Rebel, Wait Till My Bobby Gets Home, Da Doo Ron Ron, Baby I Love You, Zip A Dee Doo Dah, He’s Sure The Boy I Love, To Know Him Is To Love Him, Pretty Little Angel Eyes, I Love How You Love Me, A Fine Fine Boy, Then He Kissed Me, and the Righteous Brothers high points. Not everything, but most of the immortals.
At a very young age -at least 6- I was already fascinated with popular music. Before Motown, my favorites were Rick Nelson, Gary U.S. Bonds, Freddie Cannon, Danny & the Juniors, and the entire Cameo-Parkway roster: Dee Dee Sharp, The Dovells, The Orlons, Chubby Checker. By the time Motown had its shoes on, it never took an easier prisoner than me. 🙂
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Mark said:
Liked the essay and responses.
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144man said:
I don’t know why, but for a while Radio Luxembourg used to play three Motown records in a row after midnight, and sometimes, as in this case, they were not released in the UK.
The first time I heard “Too Hurt To Cry” was listening through my transistor radio earphone in the dark underneath the bedclothes so my parents did not discover I was still awake.
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The Nixon Administration said:
🙂 A rite of passage all music fans of a certain age will recall fondly – now probably gone forever with the successive advents of the Game Boy, iPod and now smartphones…
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Robb Klein said:
I can’t recall ANY of those 3 things fondly, because I never had, or even saw “Game Boy”, never had an iPod, and never had a Smartphone (I only first got a mobile phone last year – and it’s the very simple original model, with only telephone and texting, (although I can make it local to 3 countries (Netherlands, Denmark and Germany-with different cards). I DID have a transistor radio, and also a “Ghetto Blaster” (when I lived in The Ghetto) (South Side of Chicago). And, I did listen to Radio Luxembourg for some years (not from Chicago).
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BillyGTexas said:
I first heard the track a few years ago on a ACE Records compilation, Not a bad song, just not exceptional. It seems weighed down due to H-D-H sticking with the ’63 Motown “sound” (lots of tambourine) and it really needed a break.
It would have been interesting had H-D-H attempt to blatantly copy the Spector sound with a faster tempo, strings and lots of reverb ala “Then He Kiss Me”. (see The Castanets – “I Love Him”).
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Mojo Detroit said:
Holland and Dozier did record a cover of “Then He Kissed Me”, in Aug 1963. It was sung by the Vandellas and included on their Heat Wave album. I like it better than the original. Its too bad Mr Gordy never released the song as a single. It could have been a hit.
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Mickey The Twistin' Playboy said:
I could swear I hear Georgeanna on this track singling the low “kissing her.” Anyone else think it’s her?
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MotownFan1962 said:
I agree! I think all the Marvelettes are on this record with the Andantes; Gladys Horton provides the lead vocals, Katherine Anderson and Georgeanna Tlllman provide the lower backing vocals “kissing her…/hurt me so…”, and Wanda Young, along with the Andantes, provide the harmonious soprano backing vocals.
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MotownFan1962 said:
Slight correction: I think Wanda is singing the “co-lead” harmony vocals with Gladys (to give them that Spector-esque feel). The Andantes are all alone on the high end.
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144man said:
When I wrote to Dave Godin at the time asking who the Darnells were, he just replied that the group was made up of various unnamed Marvelettes and Vandellas.
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motownfan1962 said:
Vandellas? The plot thickens! I mean, in all honesty, I don’t really hear it, but it’s still possible. My hearing isn’t exactly this best.
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Robb Klein said:
What happened to that link to the article about those 3 “Caucasian” Canadian girls that were called “The Darnells”, with the story of how they came to record for Motown? Did I dream all that?
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The Nixon Administration said:
You didn’t, but it was an e-mail I was sent, not a public link 🙂 Investigations are ongoing as to what the heck that was all about, and I’ll amend the article accordingly once I feel more confident as to exactly what went down.
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MotownFan1962 said:
If there was a real group called “The Darnells”, why not put THEM on the b-side? That way, no one gets suspicious.
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MotownFan1962 said:
If I may reiterate (for the sake of discussion): I think all the Marvelettes are on this record with the Andantes; Gladys Horton provides the lead vocals, Wanda Young sings the “co-lead harmony” vocals, Katherine Anderson and Georgeanna Tlllman provide the lower backing vocals “kissing her…/hurt me so…”, and The Andantes, provide the harmonious soprano backing vocals.
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Robb Klein said:
If that is so, Motown had planned for the Caucasian Canadian young women to record the song, together with the Caucasian Detroiter they teamed with them, and they recorded vocals on them, as well as preparing the instrumental tracks. Then, apparently, Quality Control didn’t like the vocals, and decided to record Gladys Horton with or without the other Marvelettes on it. They released the second version, but gave the Canadian girls copies of the record to promote, and never told them they were taken off the record. What I don’t understand is, that anyone can clearly hear that Gladys is singing lead on the recording, and The Andantes are also in the background. So why were The Canadian girls so proud, and why didn’t the Toronto newspaper article state that, at least, The Darnells’ lead was erased, and a different one was put there. So, at the VERY BEST, the Canadian girls were sharing the backgrounds with the stronger-singing Andantes. While, more likely, they weren’t on the released recoding, AT ALL! This is all assuming that the news article about the Ontario girls group is not a fabrication or gross misconception of the true events.
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MotownFan1962 said:
Don’t forget Katherine, Georgeanna, and Wanda (who probably drown out the real Darnells as well…if they are on this record). Regardless, it’s a good record, and I admire your great knowledge of Motown history.
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bogart4017 said:
I didnt hear it until several years after it was released and i was not impressed. I think my expectations were so high because so much ink had been spilled about the session. Next time if i’m hungry and have a dollar i’ll buy the sandwich.
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Kevin Moore said:
Anyone care to give me a list of the Top Ten Phil Spector tracks of All Time with which to complete my sorely deficient wall of sound education? The two I can think of offhand are Be My Baby and River Deep Mountain High.
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Robb Klein said:
It’s a lot of work because I wouldn’t be doing Spector justice to list just 10 songs. So, I’m listing 30 (and still leaving off some of his well-known songs. Most people would be shocked at several songs I have near the top of the list: (1) He’s a Quiet Guy – Darlene Love, (2) He’s Sure The Boy I Love – Crystals (really Darlene Love & Blossoms), (3) Puddin’ N’ Tain – Alley Cats, (4) Wait ‘Til My Bobby Gets Home – Darlene Love, (5) Today I Met The Boy I’m Gonna Marry – Bob B. Soxx & Bluejeans (Darlene Love), (6) I Wonder – Crystals, (7) Do I Love You – Ronettes, (8) Breakin’ Up – Ronettes, (9) Christmas (or Johnny) Baby, Please Come Home – Darlene Love, (10) Walking In The Rain – Ronettes, (11) Why Do Lovers Break Eachother’s Hearts – Bob B. Soxx & Bluejeans (Darlene Love), (12) I Can Hear Music – Ronettes, (13) Pretty Little Angel Eyes – Curtis Lee & Halos, (14) Why Can’t They Let Us Fall In Love – Veronica (Ronettes), (15) Be My Baby – Ronettes, (16) Baby I Love You – Ronettes, (17) You Baby – Ronettes, (18) Strange Kind of Love – Darlene Love, (19) He’s A Rebel – Crystals (Darlene Love & Blossoms), (20) Home of The Brave – Bonnie & Treasures, (21) Not Too Young To Get Married – Bob B. Soxx & Bluejeans (Darlene Love), (22) Sleigh Ride – Ronettes, (23) Then He Kissed Me – Crystals, (24) The Bells of St. Mary’s – Bob B. Soxx & Bluejeans (Bobby Sheen), (25) Uptown – Crystals, (26) Is This What I get For Loving You – Ronettes, (27) Chapel of Love – Ronettes, (28) Stumble and Fall – Darlene Love, (29) Da Doo Ron Ron – Crystals, (30) It’s a Marshmallow World – Darlene Love
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144man said:
Another one I particularly like is Darlene Love’s “Run Run Runaway”.
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Robb Klein said:
Yes. “Run, Run, Runaway” is great, too.
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