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Soul S 35010 (B), March 1965
B-side of Never Say No To Your Baby
(Written by Robert Staunton and Robert Walker)
Tamla Motown TMG 513 (B), May 1965
B-side of Never Say No To Your Baby
(Released in the UK under license through EMI / Tamla Motown)
First* impressions on listening to the mysterious Hit Pack’s Let’s Dance: Hey, this is energetic! What a beat! We’re in for some fun here!
Second impressions: Actually, this isn’t as energetic as I thought it was going to be. The singer is flat and underpowered, making up for it by shouting and screaming a lot, the groove – while impressively muscular – doesn’t go anywhere, and the song just kind of runs out of puff before it’s over without having smashed any doors in.
Third impressions: Imagine how mad the Contours (AWOL due to contractual and line-up issues) must have been hearing this – it’s essentially another, less-good group taking advantage of their absence from the release schedules by stealing their entire schtick.
* (Well, actually, my very first impression was: “Wow, listen to that opening drum riff! Ooh, is this going to be a cover of the Four Tops’ Baby I Need Your Loving…? Oh. No, no it isn’t. Damn, that’s a shame.” But I digress.)
The beat’s good, the groove is there, but until the singer (is this Robert Dobyne again?) starts cutting loose, it’s unforgiveably boring, and that thudding 4/4 beat is its only concession to anything that had happened at Motown since 1962, otherwise you’d assume this was cut much earlier. The vocalist starts bringing in hints of both Stu Gardner and Shorty Long towards the end, which suits him a lot better than any of that tiresome “carrying a tune” nonsense from the early verses – again, shades of the Contours (and only shades) – but to be honest, my attention had started to wander by that stage.
Not awful – I can see how people might even prefer this to the A-side, it certainly kicks more arse – but it’s too aimless (and frankly, too dull) to be my cup of tea.
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!)
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In Holland, we call such poor efforts, drek! I’d give it a 2.5. Terribly written song. Goes nowhere. Singing job is weak. Not worth a listen in my estimation.
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What this song has is POTENTIAL! The instrumentation is nice and the lyrics may be bad, but they are catchy. If given to one of the major male groups at the time or even Martha & the Vandellas or The Marvelettes this could have been a hit too. Were these song for demo purposes because the singing is so weak and sloppy? I would raise this one point higher and give it a 5/10
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I’m guessing that BOTH sides were just made as demos for the eventual artists, and for whatever reason, Berry decided to “allow” Staunton and Walker to have their OWN release, to placate them, somehow. It didn’t work, as the company gave it no marketing push at all, and it sold zilch. It certainly doesn’t sound like anything the company would actually TRY to sell. Neither side had any care taken in its mixing, and both vocals would have had many more takes done to end up with better vocal tracks. Records that Motown actually wanted to plug and sell had at least one side get the elaborate “A” side treatment on vocals, background singers, instrumental tracks and elaborate mixing.
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Makes sense, because this was just poorly done especially considering the time frame.
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I can’t dispute a thing about your review, for it’s a nearly impression-for-impression description of what I felt with this. I thought it was going to be a great stomper, but it seems to be a lot of fuss and bluster without anything to back up the threat. The only thing that saves it for me whenever I let it play is when at the end, the drummer starts really pummeling the bass drum as if trying to inject some life into an already last-nail-in-the-coffin affair.
I think this makes a good argument too that it’s not always the song, sometimes it is the singer. If the Marvelettes or Contours did this, I’d probably have a bigger rave over it as those two groups could make Mary Had A Little Lamb sound like a Soul revival.
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