Tags
Tamla T 54093 (A), February 1964
b/w When I’m Alone I Cry
(Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland Jr.)
Stateside SS 284 (A), April 1964
b/w When I’m Alone I Cry
(Released in the UK under license through Stateside Records)
Marvin Gaye had made a breakthrough into Top Ten territory with his last single, the rollicking Can I Get A Witness, and so – as was becoming standard Motown operating procedure – that song’s creators, the hotshot Holland-Dozier-Holland writing and producing unit, were tasked with crafting a soundalike follow-up.
They carry out their task with diligence alright, though it helps that they’re armed with the Funk Brothers, who were getting better and better by the day; a twanging guitar riff replaces the stabbing piano licks from the earlier hit, but otherwise we get the same barrelling pseudo-gospel attack, the same turbocharged, passionate delivery. That applies to both band and vocals, of course. But Marvin could knock these out in his sleep and make them sound good; when he really dedicates himself to his work, as he does here, it’s never less than riveting.
(Never mind the source of his inspiration to stick to an assigned job – in this instance, the prospect of a grisly MOR standards LP looming on the horizon – just enjoy the results.)
In many ways, this is to Can I Get A Witness as Martha and the Vandellas’ Live Wire (not Quicksand) is to Heat Wave: similar in sound to its more famous wellspring (though noticeably more aggressive, more driving) but markedly different in tone. Here, despite the belting backing track, the subject matter’s lighter, more straightforward than the restless, desperate pleading of Can I Get A Witness. The earnest search for approval is replaced by the simpler notion of a song of praise, reflecting the (increasingly distant) gospel roots of the backing – sure, it’s praise for a beloved companion rather than the Almighty, but it’s a song of deeply felt devotion nonetheless.
And it is deeply felt, too – “You’re really more than I deserve / From my heart, I speak these words”, he pledges, and we’re left in no doubt that he means it. When Marvin’s on this form, he could sell you London Bridge, so a bit of heartfelt loving seems to come almost as second nature. In his quasi-autobiography Divided Soul, Gaye confided he had his then-wife Anna in mind when he gave this delivery, one of his best from this early period; regardless of what we know happened later in that turbulent relationship, somehow knowing Marvin was thinking of someone in particular rather than a generic songwriter’s cipher to be his “wonderful one” makes everything that much more resonant.
Much, much more than the derivative sum of its musical parts, pretty much entirely thanks to the band and to Marvin himself, now every bit the superstar. Very nearly a classic in its own right, this remains excellent fun, immensely playable and endlessly listenable stuff from Motown’s best male vocalist.
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 Marvin Gaye? Click for more.)
 |
 |
| The Hornets “She’s My Baby” |
Marvin Gaye “When I’m Alone I Cry” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
|---|
Like the blog? Listen to our radio show! |
| Motown Junkies presents the finest Motown cuts, big hits and hard to find classics. Listen to all past episodes here. |
Motown Junkies 
Just a personal preference, but I’ve always liked this better than “Can I Get A Witness”, so I’d reverse the marks.
LikeLike
Perfectly valid, and I suspect you’re not the only one who would – indeed, depending on what day it is, I might even agree with you – but they’re both excellent records to my mind.
LikeLike
Oooh, love this one. I too prefer it over Can I Get A Witness, BUT its a close call.Paulo SDF Member xxx
LikeLike
Great review, spot-on rating. What does the “Administration” think about the job the Supremes did in the background?
LikeLike
I like the backing vocals a lot, but I’m told it’s the Andantes this time, not the Supremes. (Although the liner notes for TCMS 4 note that rumour has it there is apparently one Supreme in there somewhere, and invite us to guess which one.)
LikeLike
“The Andantes
…Augmented by Diana Ross of the Supremes they backed Marvin Gaye on his hit recording of WONDERFULL ONE, amongst many others.”
[from “An ABC of R&B”, Hitsviille USA No. 8, The Tamla Motown Appreciation Society, August 1965]
LikeLike
I hear Florence singing in the background, too.
LikeLike
Quite possible. In those days whoever happened to be there would join in.
LikeLike
This is the record that turned me into a permanent Gaye fan, released just about six weeks before I turned 10 (Mar. 31). For the next decade and beyond I’d have an ear out for whatever Marvin was doing.
His 60s “Production Line” hits tend to be de-emphaized in any discussion of his What’s Going On-Get It On-I Want You-Here My Dear genius, and that’s not fair. Make mine these ‘springtime’ hits of Gaye’s career, more prolific and more steady in arrival without a lot downtime in between.
đŸ™‚
LikeLike
Whenever I feel like playing a few Marvin Gaye records, I usually choose the 60s in preference to the 70s. (The same applies to Stevie Wonder.)
LikeLike
Interesting! I think it breaks down into two, and very neatly: Sixties Marvin and Stevie for singles, Seventies Marvin and Stevie for albums, with the end of 1970 serving as pretty much the exact watershed. But that’s a theory for another day.
LikeLike
A great leap forward after The Hornets. This song is a pure delight with Marvin in great shape. I like the way he opens his vowels at the beginning of the song, still slightly reminiscent of Nat king Cole but the energy he displays is fully him. Hard to believe You’re a wonderful one went only to number 15 in the pop charts. Definitely a 10 for me !
Don Bryant gave a nice rendition of it a few years later.
LikeLike
Rather than being just a “Can I Get A Witness” rewrite, it’s a “Can I Get A Witness” rewrite that’s simultaneously a “Pride And Joy” rewrite. Two great tastes that taste great together! The first time I heard it, I laughed out loud at the shamelessness of Gaye’s self-plagiarism (let me make it clear that this is in no way a criticism).
LikeLike
May 13, 1989
I can’t believe we’ve gotten this far at Motown Junkies without my sharing with you guys what was inarguably my single luckiest day where Motown material is concerned.
So, it’s the middle of the week, and my mate is reading in the paper there’s going to be an auction in town (20 miles west of us) this weekend, they might have records, “do you think you’d like to go…?” It’s worth a shudder to this day what I’d have lost if I’d said “nah,” and made it another unexceptional weekend of sleeping late. When I worked things out later at home on the adding machine, it was about 75 cents an album I paid.
I’ll say they had records. It was a strong sunny spring day and we got there midmorning. I found one lot that had four large boxes of albums in them ( what proved later to be a total 403). It was tough trying to remain poker-faced as I fingered past one and then another. It was if someone transported me to one of my favorite Philadelphia record shops in the first half of the 70s.
I don’t want to go too long here, but let me give you an idea:
Meet The Supremes, Where Did Our Love Go, Symphony, Sing HDH, Reflections, Love Child, London’s Talk of the Town, Cream Of The Crop, Greatest Hits 3, Right On, New Ways But Love Stays, Touch, Floy Joy …
Meet The Temptations, Sing Smokey, Temptin’, Gettin’ Ready, Greatest Hits, Live, With a Lot O Soul, Mellow Mood, Wish It Would Rain, At The Copa, Cloud Nine, Temptations Show, Puzzle People, Psychedelic Shack, Sky’s The Limit…
Greatest Hits, Moods of Marvin Gaye, Greatest Hits II, United, You’re All I Need, Easy, That’s the Way Love Is, What’s Going On, Let’s Get It On….
And I assure you the Marvelettes, Miracles, Four Tops, Stevie, Walker, and Vandellas were as robustly represented too. Seasoning things nicely were the odd stuff: Tammi’s lone solo Motown LP, a Barbara McNair, two Jonah Jones LPs, several of Edwin Starr’s including the duet with Blinky Williams, San Remo Golden Strings, Best of the Fantastic Four, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, The Prime of Shorty Long…
Even the non-Motown stuff would pop your eyes: Aretha’s Never Loved A Man, Lady Soul, Soul ’69, Gold, This Girls In Love With You, Young Gifted and Black. About 12 James Brown albums spanning and including from 1962’s Live At the Apollo up to 1974’s 2-disc Payback. Virtually EVERY Otis Redding album from 1963’s Pain In My Heart to the second or third posthumous ones. There was a healthy clutch also of Philadelphia International artists: Bluenotes, Three Degrees, MFSB, Billy Paul & the O’Jays. The Spinners’ Motown Original V.I.P. Second Time Around and Atlantic Mighty Love, New & Improved, and Pick of the Litter.
The few white items would nevertheless please a soul lover, I think: about three Dylan albums from the 70s, Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, Bowie’s Young Americans, and a few other things.
I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. When I got them home and could really examine them, the news got even better. Album after album looked like someone had bought them, removed the shrink wrap and then never touched them again. No scratches, no fingerprints, no warps, no dirt, no handwriting on the labels, inner sleeves or covers. (A couple of the losing bidders asked me where “my store” was – Ha!) Still have them all. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
đŸ™‚
LikeLike
*speechless*
This sort of thing is why I pine for the age of vinyl, despite having had CDs in the house since I was four and listening to everything on FLAC or MP3 nowadays. This stuff just can’t happen with MP3s. Amazing find!
LikeLike
That feeling is familiar too. I swam against the tide, clinging to my vinyl-love into the 1990s, but it was finally Motown again, in late ’92, that forced me to capitulate to the CD age. That autumn is when they released the first “Hitsville USA” 4-disc set with 104 sixties gems in their “original mono single mixes.”
So that Christmas, guess who got his first CD player. Later, I got a DJ’s model with all-important pitch control that lets me slow things down for a more ‘old juke-box’ sound.
LikeLike
I’m surprised that you could manage to carry them out of the auction room! Just that second Jonah Jones LP with the absolutely divine rendition of “Don’t Mess With Bill” would have satisfied me. I found it to be one of the hardest albums ever to find but worth it.
I’m so old I probably knew the person those records belonged to beforehand! HA HA
LikeLike
It was an outdoor auction, so once you were the buyer, you could pull your car up to whatever section, and load your winnings right into the trunk. Yes, the second Jonah Jones was among them, and I like that version of “Bill” very much too. There was also about 90 45’s, nice obscure soul stuff: Rudy Andrews, Alfreda Brockington, Fantastic Johnny C, Brenda & the Tabulations, Betty Swann …remember the Lovelites’ “How Can I Tell My Mom and Dad?”
In retrospect, I think the albums must have come from some library or radio station, because while they no longer had the tight, clear shrink wrap they would have been sold in, each was now in a looser, but heavier plastic covering.
What I considered the crown jewel among them was The Marvelettes “Pink Album,” Tamla 274. Stereo, but the original record & globe label design. My previous, last copy I had left at a girlfriend’s house, and had been longing for another for over a decade.
LikeLike
The previously unreleased track “You’re Sweeter As the Days Go By” from the excellent Kent CD “It Moves Me: The Complete Recordings 1958-1964” by Eddie Holland is a precursor to “You’re A Wonderful One”.
LikeLike
Of course the label is Ace, not Kent.
LikeLike
This one made more sense lyrically than “Can I Get A Witness”. It is very direct and much more focused than his previous release, although “Witness” maybe a touch more danceable
LikeLike
Finally able to add the beautiful (French?) picture sleeve as provided by 144man. Great interior design đŸ™‚
LikeLike
Yes, it’s a French EP cover. Tracks were: You’re A Wonderful One/ Stubborn Kind of Fellow [Live]/ I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby/ Pride And Joy [Live].
LikeLike
I like Can a get a witness a lot better than this one. This song is definitely a step in the right direction tho.
LikeLike