Tags
Gordy G 7040 (A), March 1965
b/w What Love Has Joined Together
(Written by Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore)
Tamla Motown TMG 504 (A), March 1965
b/w What Love Has Joined Together
(Released in the UK under license via EMI / Tamla Motown)
It’s hard not to get carried away, to fall into a routine of rhapsody greeting each and every new side, but goodness me, readers.
Motown’s embarrassment of riches was laid out for the world to see here in the early spring of 1965, the point where the singles catalogue starts to look like a box of chocolates, or an all-you-can-eat buffet of musical splendour. Both the label and the company were on the crest of a wave, a true Golden Age worthy of the nickname, and as Motown’s biggest acts kept on delivering great record after great record, it must have felt like the sun would never set. Here, to coin a phrase, the hits just keep on coming.
For the Temptations, coming off the back of the biggest, most ubiquitous hit record they’d ever have, they’d already crested that wave commercially, enjoyed success they’d never match again (though of course they weren’t to know it at the time). But of all the various ways Motown changed the landscape of black pop music, planted their flag in commercial territory previously dominated by white acts and white labels and what have you, perhaps the least noticed is also the most important: lasting impact. Compared to what had gone before, a never-ending raft of black one-hit wonders, stars who had flared up ultra-brightly before burning out and disappearing again after barely eighteen months in the spotlight, Motown, completely unexpectedly, turned out to have longevity. Nobody may have expected it at the time, but the Temptations had another ten years of big hits in them, and – albeit after a lot of line-up changes – they’re still a going concern today, a working band rather than an oldies act. And the reason for that is because, having waited so very long to climb to the top, they worked bloody hard to stay up there.
This blog, in the last couple of weeks, has turned into the Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore show, It’s Growing the fourth side out of the last five to be penned by Smokey and his Miracles bandmate. Of all of them, this feels the least effortless, the most forced; that’s not to say it’s the worst, but compared to My Girl – which was the last time we met the Tempts, and to which this was the custom-built sequel – this feels like it took real effort. It’s no surprise to discover that the record took Smokey eight separate recording sessions, endlessly mixing down tracks, dubbing in new instruments, new backing vocals, new everything, to get it to what we’re hearing now. And what we’re hearing now, bizarrely, is less of a direct continuation of the My Girl theme, and more of a nod in the direction of the Four Tops.
It’s a kind of lyrical cousin to the mega-hit, sure, Smokey having David Ruffin list various natural phenomena and then link them with his being in love by way of an anthemic chorus. That’s where the similarities end, though; if anything, this has more in common with the Temptations’ earlier breakthrough hit, The Way You Do The Things You Do, stuffed with half-jokes, all following the format: Like (INSERT UNEXPECTED PEN PICTURE OF SOMETHING THAT GROWS)… it’s growing!, a clever idea and a fun device, but also dangerous in that it automatically calls attention to its artificial nature. Smokey and David pitch it just right – not too po-faced, not too playful, aiming to emulate My Girl and match tone with meaning, attempting to convey the earnest giddiness of falling in love.
Ultimately, it’s an idea that only ever almost rises above its inherent clunkiness, and which therefore shouldn’t form the most promising backbone for a great pop song. Those eight recording sessions, and the amount of extra “stuff” Smokey manages to shoehorn in here, seem to indicate that Smokey knew it, that the magic – the feeling you get from truly great Motown, the sense that everything just clicked into place – wasn’t quite flowing on this one. Having committed to it as the new single (indeed, not just any single, but the follow-up to the big hit, no less), knowing the world would be listening, he and the group would have to do everything in their power to make this stick, to make this special. In short, they’d have to work very hard indeed.
Work hard they did, because this is excellent.
Lyrics aside, this record is half great craftsmanship, half flashy three-point trick plays. The craftsmanship almost speaks for itself; the twanging, crunchy guitars, the building tension throughout the song mirrored by the ever-rising chord progression (including a majestic key change two-thirds of the way in), the sense of anticipation heightened first by a long wait for a chorus and then by a series of pregnant pauses right on the brow of the hill, David and Smokey teasing us before finally giving us the push we need to race breathlessly down the other side. It’s a thrilling record to listen to.
But part of that thrill is just the sheer amount of weird things happening here. Opening with a clumsy, ham-fisted keyboard riff (on a piano tacked so harshly that almost every source I’ve read states it was actually Earl Van Dyke bashing away on a child’s toy instrument) that acts as a kind of call to action, this is a very different kind of Temptations record to what we’ve become used to. For a start, the Andantes are here, the sound of female voices most unusual on a Tempts track to begin with, giving this an instant Four Tops feel; the girls’ echoey, operatic backing vocals have been bounced down so many times they take on a ghostly quality, and in such surroundings David Ruffin (again magnificent on lead) sounds very different to Levi Stubbs. Then, there’s the bizarre woodblock percussion effect in the middle of the chorus, someone beating out just one hit of the claves and then disappearing for several bars, the effect so many commentators have likened to the striking of an anvil. Why is it there? Smokey’s answer would be: why the hell not?
It’s too much of a glorious mess to have been a huge hit on original release – quite apart from some jarringly woozy production touches, a result of its tortured creation, it takes too long for a casual listener to properly appreciate it, and I’m not sure it could ever have been a radio staple. Certainly audiences in 1965 weren’t entirely convinced by its follow-up qualities, coming on the heels of one of the best records ever made. But it’s both insanely ambitious and impressively executed, and it adds up to yet another excellent side in this magnificent run.
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 Temptations? Click for more.)
The Miracles “All That’s Good” |
The Temptations “What Love Has Joined Together” |
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. |
Dave L said:
Oh God, blast it! We were so spoiled then; we had no idea that, no, they couldn’t keep coming this wonderful forever. But in that sublime 1965 cocoon we could live in such privileged presumption.
That failsafe, head-turning piano giving way to that crashing orchestral orgasm and leading to the star of “My Girl” upping his game like we couldn’t have dreamed. All that, and the Andantes too. Imagine the impact on a defenseless, newly-11 year old boy, so already and thoroughly a Motown disciple I had no patience for any indifferent, let alone dismissive attitudes toward these Heaven-sent –by way of Detroit- ear Indulgences. On any given listen, “It’s Growing” can be about love that’s here, love that’s been lost, or love that’s been won back again. Take your pick, but anyone who doesn’t feel enveloped by the unalloyed joy this record proffers (this one, and so many others), is someone I feel tragically sorry for.
My mother is 82 today, in a nursing home but robust and not intimidated by the Internet Age. I’ve been hooking each new Motown Junkies review to my Facebook page, so I know my mom sees them, probably reads, and via the YouTube link I add, maybe ventures further to a listen. And every one of them has to have recognition within four bars, because I tested her very sanity with them all when I was a kid. She probably knows my favorites more than any girlhood ones of her own. (Hi Mom.)
If only, if only David and the guys and Smokey could have gotten 100 more into the can while this era of euphoria lasted, but we’ll treasure what we got till our dying days. Your review isn’t up yet as I form my own thoughts, so my own grade is never less than a 9, but a 10 from you certainly won’t shock. So is the next Temptations’ topside a.k.a “My Girl Turned to Devastation.”
LikeLike
Damecia said:
I love when people of your mother’s generation take advantage of the wonderful world wide web and all its social media outlets = )
LikeLike
Mark V said:
Another magnificent record, and 8 is certainly a fair mark. You’re so right that this stretch of Motown history is full of treasure. Smokey didn’t get to properly follow up his last big hit, “My Guy.” (He claimed that he hadn’t thought about it when asked; and Mary Wells ensured that he wouldn’t really get the chance.) And here he shows how he usually crafts a followup, with flair and in a roundabout way. This has a different structure than “My Girl” and a different sound (all enveloping rather than the more straightforward template of the big hit). You feel like you could lose yourself in an almost violent arrangement.
When he follows the lead of Holland-Dozier-Holland (the acknowledged masters of the follow up), he turns in something more perfunctory, like “You’re the One” after “Don’t Mess with Bill” and “My Girl Has Gone” following “The Tracks of My Tears.”
Great essay.
LikeLike
Robb Klein said:
It’s not perfect, like “My Girl” or “Since I Lost My Baby”. But it’s pretty darn good. I’d give it a 9. The piano solo at the beginning drives me crazy. It’s perfect to start off that song. How did they think of that out of the blue?
LikeLike
Landini said:
Hi Robb… I agree it is not a perfect song but I still love it. A 9 is very fair for this one. I think this song’s charm lies in its imperfection. Agree about the piano solo – I wonder if someone was just messing around in the studio & they decided to use it in the song. What do you think of the way they used the Andantes in this song? I really like it. It took me years to figure out that they were even on it.
LikeLike
John Plant said:
Aw, I really thought those WERE anvils – and for that inspiration alone, the song rates a 10 for me. (Well, it’s an inspiration with a CONTEXT.) I think it’s marvelous to follow the effortless ease of ‘My Girl’ with something this muscular and symphonic. And absolutely worthy of its classical counterparts – the Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s Il trovatore and the anvils in Wagner’s Das Rheingold – which accompany Wotan and Loge in their descent to Nibelheim, the kingdom of the dwarfs – I can’t resist referring everyone to both: the anvils start one minute into the track here:
Wagner – Anvils start just after 2 minutes but well worth the wait.
or (right at the beginning)
…and if they’re woodblocks rather than anvils, here’s my favourite classical use of them – start listening at 6’38” to give them a context – they chime in at 7’58” – as startling, in a very different way, as the Tempts. – Great review as always – but this one is certainly in my top 50.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Damecia said:
I like your assessment of the record John.
LikeLike
Randy Brown said:
I know I’m WAY late coming to this review…that woodblock shot in “It’s Growing” impressed the very hell out of me when I first heard it, and I was 5 or 6 at the time! It’s one of my all-time favorite Motown moments.
The comparison to Wagner’s anvils never dawned on me until I read these reviews, but man, does it fit. In “Rheingold” I think not of Niebelheim, but of Donner’s awesome hammer blow as he conjures the Rainbow Bridge. Specifically, the recording by Georg Solti, which used a real anvil, and which sounds a LOT like the woodblock shots.
LikeLike
tomovox said:
Your pulling in classical references to put a production element of “It’s Growing” into context is as brilliant as the song itself. That anvil effect startled me on first listen and is part of the reason why this is a huge favorite of mine; this one is an aural challenge. And it never gets stale no matter how many times I’ve heard it. Now I’m going to check out these classical references you’ve posted.
LikeLike
John Plant said:
I’ve just buckled down to do the exercise of choosing 50 ’10’s’ from the golden decade – and my hat is off to you. I had no idea how many excruciating sacrifices would be involved in the task – but my goodness, the list which remains takes the top of my head off. Many songs which I thought assuredly destined for ‘tendom’ have fallen by the wayside -oops, there goes my dearly-loved ‘Never leave your baby’s side….’ — ouch, there goes ‘What love has joined together…’ — ‘It’s growing’ is still on the list, but clinging for dear life! I’ll never reproach you again (this is the sort of promise which, as Catullus says, should be written on water)…. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles are on top, by the way, with the Temptations in second place. And I would never have dreamed that the Supremes would outperform Marvin Gaye, but they did…. Very interesting!!
LikeLike
The Nixon Administration said:
Ah, John, welcome to the club of the damned.
Even then, a good portion of my 10s are from the Seventies rather than the Sixties, so I’m limited yet further…
Will you be publishing your list? Or are you waiting for me to hand out my fiftieth full slate before we get to compare?
LikeLike
Mary Plant said:
I think the 8 is fair – this is a wonderful song. I take issue with some of the criticisms – for example, I completely love the opening piano, but like John says above, if you’re only awarding 50 tens, this isn’t going to be one of them – but I’d be inclined to leave in Never Leave Your Baby’s Side.
LikeLike
Dave L said:
Thank goodness it’s no prerequisite to be a Motown Junkies member to have to confine yourself to 50 ‘10’s across the entire Motown singles output. I understand why our host feels he should; to give a 10 everywhere emotion takes over is to see them lose all impact. But I don’t think I could do it confined to just three major acts, let alone every Motown single. Then too, there are too many album tracks I’d insist on including, that I thought should have been singles. And jewels like The Supremes’ “It’s All Your Fault,” The Marvelettes’ “Knock On My Door” and Walker’s “Break It Up,” that were only allowed daylight in the 1980s.
Most of my favorites are coming up green – 7’s, 8’s, 9’s and 10’s- so I’m content. And best of all, Nixon has talked my opinion upward on items like “I Want A Guy” and “Dream Come True,” where I’d long been following the conventional wisdom that these were insignificant false starts.
LikeLike
John Plant said:
Yes – and many of my ‘almost 10s’ are discoveries (like Mary Wells’ Strange Love) or previously underestimated rediscoveries (like ‘Strange I Know’ and yes, ‘I Want a Guy) – so for this list I tried to be scrupulously honest – and also completely personal – I’m sure I’d make a different list three weeks from now. I confess to one change I’ve just made, because it looked wrong to me.. the very last song on the list was ‘When I’m Gone’ (Brenda) .. but Kim has been on my mind, so she replaces him. No Jr. Walker! But practically all his early singles are 9s for me! And yes, Mary, it really wrenched me not to include ‘Never leave your baby’s side!’ – So, well, here they are, organized by performer and NOT by order of preference… Ooo Baby Baby is still #1, closely followed by ‘Heat Wave’ ‘Reach Out I’ll be There’ and … coming up soon .. ‘Since I Lost My Baby…’ – But I think in this Himalayan atmosphere questions of precedence are out of place… we’re at the incomparable summit…
SMOKEY ROBINSON and the MIRACLES
1. Shop Around
2. You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me
3. Ooo Baby Baby
4. The tracks of my tears
5. A fork in the road
6. My girl has gone
7. The love I saw in you was just a mirage
8. When the words from your heart get caught up in your throat
9. I second that emotion
TEMPTATIONS
10. My girl
11 It’s growing
12. You’ll lose a precious love
13. Since I lost my baby
14. Get ready
15. Beauty’s only skin deep
16. I’m losin’ you
FOUR TOPS
17. Reach out I’ll be there
18. Bernadette
SUPREMES
19. Where did our love go
20. Baby love
21. Come see about me
22. Stop in the name of love
23. Love is like an itchin in my heart
24 You can’t hurry love’
MARVELETTES
25 Please Mr postman
26. Too many fish in the sea
27. Don’t mess with Bill
28. The hunter gets captured by the game
STEVIE WONDER
29. Uptight
30. I was made to love her
31. Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day
MARY WELLS
32. The One Who Really Loves you
33. What’s easy for two is so hard for one
34. My Guy
MARTHA and the VANDELLAS
35. Heat Wave
36. Dancing in the Streets
37. Nowhere to run
38. Love makes me do foolish things
ISLEY BROTHERS
39. Take some time out for love
MARVIN GAYE
40. Can I get a witness
41. Ain’t that peculiar
42. One more heartache.
MARVIN GAYE & MARY WELLS
43. What’s the matter with you baby
GLADYS KNIGHT
44. I heard it through the grapevine
CONTOURS
45. Do you love me
SHORTY LONG
46. Devil with the blue dress
VELVELETTES
47. Needle in a haystack
48. He was really saying something
ORIGINALS
49. Baby I’m for real
KIM WESTON
50. Take me in your arms (Rock me for a little while)
LikeLike
The Nixon Administration said:
Amazing stuff. I’m always fascinated by the way others see the same records. You must have been sorely disappointed by some of my own personal picks to date, not to mention the way I’ve treated some of your tens.
Some people may be wondering, so without naming names… Fifteen out of fifty.
LikeLike
John Plant said:
I should specify that the list only goes through 1971… otherwise Stevie would have a far greater presence..What rejoices my soul is the deep passion for Motown which runs through everything you write, and even when you’re manhandling a song I love, you’re invariably delivering new insights….and I’ve LOVED discovering your tens.. they’ve always given immense pleasure and made me listen with new ears. This list probably suffers from ‘ageism’ in reverse.. in that I’ve never recovered from the impact of first hearing these songs when they came out. The only ‘new’ 10 is ‘Baby I’m For Real’- which I’ve just discovered. The original list (the spontaneous list of essential tens) contained 69 songs…
LikeLike
Mark V said:
John, thanks for posting. I’ve been putting this task off, though I’ve set it for myself. And I won’t have any recentism problems either. I think I’ll be going into the 1970s, too, but I won’t know until I sit down and do it.
It’s great to read others’ choices!
LikeLike
Mark V said:
Does that mean you’ve covered 15 of your “tens” to date? I counted 16, but I could be wrong!
LikeLike
Mark V said:
Sorry, I posted in the wrong place… I’ve counted 16 “tens” so far–is that what you meant?
LikeLike
The Nixon Administration said:
No, I mean fifteen of John’s picks are also on my list, though I won’t spoil the surprise by naming the ones we haven’t had yet…
LikeLike
Mark V said:
Ah, gotcha!
LikeLike
Rupert Kinnard said:
“When the words from your heart get caught up in your throat”? That was THE shocker on that, dude! Interesting…
LikeLike
Mary Plant said:
That was a completely new one on me – absolutely didn’t even know it existed, and just heard it for the first time ever on youtube. I liked it, but it probably won’t go on my tens list.
LikeLike
Ron Leonard said:
Yes, the B side of “If You Can Want”..Hmmmm!
LikeLike
Damecia said:
Great list!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kevin Moore said:
Thanks for this list – I’ve filed it away to go through when I inevitably reach essay 688 and run out of new material here.
LikeLike
treborij said:
This has always been a personal favorite but no one seems to remember it today. You never hear it on oldies radio. Maybe it’s too assaultive for aging boomer ears. No, it’s not quite at the perfection level of My Girl but, in a weird way I think I may enjoy listening to it more. Love the piano intro. Love when the orchestra comes in (weird time signature there?), love David R’s vocal (especially that swoop just before the modulation), love when the cymbals start crashing and the anvils (or whatever) start banging and the brass is blaring and the Tempts/Andantes are wailing. It’s almost Smokey being Wagnerian. It’s all so big yet it isn’t grandiose.
And I recall when it came out after My Girl I wasn’t disappointed. I thought it was a strange record. But after a few hearings, I was really in love with it. I think an 8 is right and even though I’d give My Girl a 10, I think I’d rather listen to this.
LikeLike
Landini said:
Oops! I just noticed that you mentioned the Andantes being on this song. Good job!
LikeLike
Damecia said:
Because they never play it on the radio I have a question: Was this song a hit???
LikeLike
Landini said:
Apparently it got to #18 on the Billboard Pop Chart so that is pretty good.
LikeLike
Damecia said:
Wow so this is essentially an underrated Top 20 hit.
LikeLike
The Nixon Administration said:
That’s one way of looking at it, for sure – but it wasn’t 1960 any more, and Top 20 hits were becoming expected. As a follow-up to a ubiquitous, million-selling Number One international smash, grazing number 18 probably wasn’t exactly what Motown had in mind.
LikeLike
Damecia said:
Ah, so if it wasn’t Top 10 or for this matter Top 5 it didn’t really matter?
LikeLike
The Nixon Administration said:
Oh, *I* don’t think that’s the case, quite the opposite really, but in this particular set of circumstances it probably wouldn’t be called a commercial success. It’s relative, I suppose.
LikeLike
treborij said:
Demecia – I’d say it’s underrated because if you go up to the average person in the street and ask them if they knew “It’s Growing” you’d probably get a blank stare. But if you mentioned Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, The Way You Do, Get Ready or Since I Lost My Baby. (all of which also “only” hit the top 20) I bet they’d be able to sing you a couple of lines.
LikeLike
Damecia said:
I was that person until yesterday lol
LikeLike
Ed Pauli said:
I never really cared for this song–it seems a bit out of place–now SILMB – the follow-up to this would have sounded better as the follow -up to My Girl because structurally, it sounds more like MY GIRL than this one.
LikeLike
Landini said:
Hi Everybody! I love this song! It has a strange beauty to it. Love the piano introduction. Also I like the use of the vibes as well. I may have missed it but has anyone mentioned that the Andantes show up on this song? This is one of the few Temptations songs that the Andantes are on. You can hear them on the last verse going “It’s Growing” after the line about the “need in a guy…”. I’m almost positive that is them. Can anyone verify that? Also, James Taylor recently did a remake of this one. It is actually not as bad as it sounds. I think JT’s heart was in the right place.
LikeLike
MichaelS said:
Landini, the Andantes are definitely on the recording and, imo, they add to its quality.
LikeLike
Ron Leonard said:
I too love the use of the vibes on “It’s Growing”..Once again, only on the Single version, the drums and the vibes especially in the first few verses REALLY stand out!You unmistakenly know you are listening to the “Motown Sound”!!!!
LikeLike
The Nixon Administration said:
Adding the British EP picture sleeve, which I’d meant to include at the time. Oops.
The Andantes are definitely on this, and seem to have had at least one session when the Temptations themselves were also present – there’s a story in TCMS 5 featuring Melvin shoving a basketball under his shirt to tease the heavily pregnant Louvain Demps.
LikeLike
Mickey The Twistin' Playboy said:
I’ve LOVED this track since the day it came out. David Ruffin’s vocal performance is one of his best. Great lyrics from Smokey. I love everything about this song. 9/10.
LikeLike
Damecia said:
I love the piano in the beginning, I love the cute/witty lyrics, I love odd, but good wood clap in the chorus, I love the addition of the Andantes, I love David on the lead…why haven’t I heard this song before?!? lol.
Of course this is no “My Girl”, but to compare the 2 would be like comparing apple & oranges. This is good, but of course “My Girl” overshadows it. I can definitely hear this as a Jackson 5 cover on 1 of their earlier albums.
8/10 seems a little much, but to mark it lower would seem wrong….oh i’m so torn! LOL
LikeLike
Ron Leonard said:
I agree, this is no “My Girl” however, I still love listening to “It’s Growing”. When this song came out, I did NOT hear it on the radio. In the spring of 1965, I was 14. Also,
“Since I Lost My Baby” coming up, was another great Motown record I never heard on the radio. The first time I heard these was when I purchased “The Tempations Greatest Hits”with the silver letters and blue backing on the Album cover and Bill Cosby did the liner notes on the back. “My Girl” of course I heard when it came out as it was a HUGE hit. Also, where I grew up probably had something to do with it, living in the Pacific Northwest. There were no Soul radio stations, which I would’ve loved!
So, alot of the Motown songs I found on my own,except for what the radio stations would play. By the way, 8 or 9 is fine! Thank you.
LikeLike
Edin Burak said:
I agree with the 8 rating because it is really rough around the edges but if you can get passed that, it’s a brilliant record. I give it 10 because it is one of my top 10 Tempts tunes. Plus the way it builds up to an exciting ending makes me love it. Another way to call this record is an exhilarating and epic story of everlasting love.
LikeLike
Kevin Moore said:
Hmmm … with the caveat that I’ve listened to this song 4 times – all of them just now – I’m surprised. When I saw the 8/10, I thought “ah, I bet he’s going to base a lot of this on some brilliant analysis of the lyrics”, but no – it seems to be the music that’s knocking everybody out. To me, it sounds like a shameless remake of My Girl (especially the aborted guitar figure that makes it impossible to not start humming My Girl and that sounds like it was sheared by copyright lawyer’s scissors just before it went far enough that Smokey could sue Mr. Robinson), and the “majestic modulation” sounds like the standard “rise up” modulation that’s so often used to make up for the lack of a bridge.
All that said, the only discussion here seems to be whether it should be higher than 8/10, so I’ll assume I’m missing something and return to the woodshed until the lightbulb goes on over my head.
LikeLike