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Tamla T 54091 (B), January 1964
B-side of He’s A Good Guy (Yes He Is)
(Written by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier)
Stateside SS 273 (B), March 1964
B-side of He’s A Good Guy (Yes He Is)
(Released in the UK under license through EMI / Stateside Records)
A sure sign of a lack of direction, a paucity of new ideas: rather than commission a brand new Marvelettes track to serve as the B-side of their latest single, Motown instead return to a two-year-old LP that had already had six songs pulled from it for use on 45s. Sure, whatever. But at least this way I get to talk about Goddess Of Love for a bit.
One of Wanda Young’s two stellar lead vocal contributions to the Playboy album, this slow calypso-tinged affair is the closest thing in tone on that LP to the work Smokey Robinson was doing with Mary Wells at the time it was cut (e.g. You Beat Me To The Punch, Two Lovers and the like). An early writing and producing collaboration between Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, this was only two years old in early 1964 but so much water had gone under the bridge in that time that this feels like something approaching juvenilia.
It’s also dominated by the presence of Forever, Wanda’s other big contribution to Playboy, the first time her “true” voice had been heard on vinyl. Formerly the group’s shrill, squeaky-voiced falsetto backup lead, Wanda’s star turn on Forever had displayed a silken mastery of vocal strengths she’d never previously hinted at. Goddess Of Love isn’t as good as that, but it is another fine vocal from the woman who’d soon end up taking over the group for good.
It’s a lovely little song, this. If the calypso touches that dominate the midtempo number both date-stamp it to the spring of ’62 (and the heyday of the Smokey/Mary Wells partnership’s mastery of this kind of material, showing just where Holland and Dozier were looking for inspiration), it’s nonetheless very sweetly and seductively sung, and the tune is a good one. This is a supplication of sorts to the titular Goddess of Love by Wanda, who’s having such an amazing time tonight that she asks for a favour, requesting that this magical night lasts forever; it’s a joyful song of romantic ambition fulfilled, full of hope for the future.
It’s strange to be discussing this out of context, as I really know its natural habitat as the last stop of brilliance on the Playboy LP, sequenced right towards the end of the album; it feels strangely apt out on its own, even though I’d never really considered it as anything other than an album track. Really, though, apart from highlighting a lack of new ideas, its use on this B-side mainly serves as a stark illustraion of the differences between the Marvelettes back when this was cut – full of the confidence borne of a brilliant album and a career revived – and the Marvelettes of 1964, directionless, lacking a unique selling point, and losing ground to their labelmates every day.
None of which is Goddess of Love‘s fault, of course. Save for a bit of loose vocal control on Wanda’s part in a couple of places, it’s a really good little record, small in scale but beautifully formed, and I’m glad I god to praise it in isolation thanks to Motown’s idiosyncratic release schedules.
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 Marvelettes “He’s A Good Guy (Yes He Is)” |
Bobby Breen “How Can We Tell Him” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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Motown Junkies 
This beautiful night,
I never thought I’d see
But here you are in my arms
Kissing me tenderly
Thus Wanda, in the first four lines, and at her warmest and most welcoming beckons us in, and I hope I never have stone heart enough to hit the reject button. Nearly 50 years removed, and this young girl’s unspoiled approach to love can thoroughly disarm me.
On the “Playboy” album, Goddess immediately followed Forever, and naturally pales some in the comparison that invites, but standing alone and as b-side to Good Guy, it’s a fine song. Perhaps it was the pair of songs that captured Smokey’s imagination and eventual determination to make Wanda another of his female success stories. Brian Holland has already tapped into Wanda’s facility for devotion and vulnerability; Smokey will bring forward a seductress. The eventual results will make Wanda Young Rogers as immortal a Marvelettes –and Motown- lead singer as Gladys Horton already is.
A 7 is right on the bullseye. 🙂
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Really like this song. Much better than the a side.
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Always wondered what the Marvelettes would have sounded like if Smokey (or anyone else for that matter) decided to move the group beyond the standard girl group sound. I think Motown was hesitant to allow the group to grow up because they were such fan favorites and those fans were young teens. The Marvelettes were Motown’s genuine link to the youth market because they were very much of that generation. Not that the Supremes, Vandellas and Mary Wells weren’t, but there was something very accessible about the “Marvs”. They sounded young, they didn’t hit all those notes perfectly and so they sounded just like the kids listening to the radio.
“Goddess of Love”, like “Forever”, had the seeds of a more mature Marvelettes sound, but it just took way too long for anyone else to realize that.
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I’ve always like this song a lot, despite it being just a standard “Girls Group” sound. And yes, I was disappointed when Motown dropped their status down to a secondary or tertiary level of importance and marketing push later on, when their sound WAS maturing. And even worse, they stopped recording just when they were the best at singing that they had ever been.
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Actually, my post above was for “He’s A Good Guy, Yes He Is”, but most of it applies to this flip side song, as well.
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I definitely can see what you’re talking about when directing the comments to “He’s A Good Guy, Yes he Is.” I know this is hindsight, but it does seem after “Don’t Mess With Bill” Motown at least made sure the albums came out regularly- and they were among the best Motown ever put out. “The Pink Album” in particular seems to have had a LOT of thought and care that went into the song selection, giving both Gladys and Wanda equal share.
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