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Gordy G 7041 (B), April 1965
B-side of A Thrill A Moment
(Written by Kim Weston, Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter)
Taken together, the two sides of this – the Kim Weston single which fell between the cracks, a chart flop which was never even released in Britain – make up for a strange old time.
The A-side, A Thrill A Moment, with its Seventies production and Kim’s no-holds-barred vocal showcase, was a sort of amplification of all the full-on excesses of her previous single, I’m Still Loving You, with mixed results. This B-side, though, is even odder, a wildly inconsistent number full of unearthly chords, intentional off-time harmonies, and tentative, playful passages interrupted by short bursts of, well, full-on excess.
As always, I’m a sucker for anything even remotely strange, and so while this isn’t a masterpiece or anything, out of the two sides it’s this one that gets my vote.
It’s immediately striking, if not enduring; floaty, bossa nova fare in the verses, dramatic, pounding, chest-thumping show tune in what passes for the chorus. A weird mix of strange backing vocals – I can’t even tell how many people are singing backup on this, but there are three distinct (and separately-timed) vocal lines running in the background behind Kim – and unusual effects, drifting in and out, the listener cast adrift on an ocean of sound.
I’ll Never See My Love Again – not exactly a happy, good-time title, that – doesn’t sound much like a Kim Weston record. Not in the verses, anyway; when she cuts loose in that enormous show tune sort-of-chorus (only really distinguished from the verses by a ramping up of volume and melodrama from everyone involved, but still effective) she’s immediately recognisable, but for the most part she’s competing for attention with other voices and other instruments, and it’s not an entirely successful experiment.
(A tidied-up version of the same band backing track – sans fascinating harmonies – was used by Smokey Robinson as the basis for a new and entirely different song, Do Like I Do, which was duly offered to Kim a few months later – but her version didn’t see the light of day until it was used as a bonus disc (pictured left) in a British-only Tamla Motown anniversary box set in 1980. That’ll be around review number 3,000, if anyone is still reading by then.)
And speaking of things to come on this site… We haven’t met the Lewis Sisters yet here on Motown Junkies, but this sounds very much like one of theirs: the lavish quasi-orchestral production, huge grand piano glisses drenched in echo, those bizarre high harmonies, a kind of extended riff where a chorus should be. I fully expected to see their names somewhere in here, but no.
What we end up with is something akin to five or six different songs all jockeying for position in the same groove, none of them exactly winning out over the others. It’s a startling listen, but it doesn’t leave much impression once it’s over, no matter how pretty and ethereal it all is while it’s playing. Still, for all of that, it’s not only a bewildering record, it’s momentarily bewitching too, and I’ve always got plenty of time for forays off the beaten track which bring unexpected results.
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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Motown Junkies 
The interviewer is an idiot!
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I’m unclear if you mean me – if not, please clarify. And if so, some elaboration as to why would be nice!
If you didn’t mean me, you can skip this next bit.
If you did mean me, well, having the courage of your convictions would also help, Frank, or “Mickey The Twistin’ Playboy” as you usually call yourself. We’re all grown ups here – if you (or anyone else) wants to call me an idiot, just go ahead and call me an idiot! No need for different names, nobody’s going to get banned or anything. (I’m pretty sure I’ve actually expressly invited people to use those exact words in the past). I’d hate to think that politeness has been stopping people speaking their minds or calling me out on my wacky opinions.
But I do prefer a slightly higher standard of discussion, whoever you were referring to; otherwise, you’re just some stranger yelling random abuse, and the Internet’s got plenty of those already.
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I can’t really disagree with your rating or your comments on this one because I know, the first listen threw me for such a loop, I didn’t listen to the song again, until I was fooled by the “Do Like I Do” switch-a-roo. Once again, I learned an important lesson: sometimes the lyrics really can spell the difference between a good song and bad song.
You’re right on the mark about the bewildering array of vocals all competing and the odd effect on the whole record. It sounded like a huge mess to me, but I gave the producers points for at least attempting to try something new and different.
Now, “Do Like I Do” surprised me. I saw the title and of course had no idea it was the same song that scared me away. Yet here it was: same odd musical bed, but now with new lyrics, and more unified lead / backing vocal arrangement, this thing actually sounded pretty good. Amazing how much just one or a couple of changes can make or break even a decent music track.
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I think that “Do Like I Do” is only very slightly better. I’d give both of them a “5”. I’d like to see a scan of the British Tamla-Motown release of “Do Like I Do” here, as it was physically released (albeit years later after its recording), but it is a graphic entity to draw the eye of the potential reader to, perhaps read the entire review out of curiosity, when, perhaps they might not otherwise, if they are just scanning the various reviews for things of interest.
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Hey, man, it’s their loss – I write this stuff for myself. But thank you for the scan, I’ll add it when I next get a chance (they take a while to process and upload).
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Another interesting wrinkle in the whole “I’ll Never See My love Again”/”Do LIke I Do” saga. Apparently, Smokey Robinson recorded a version of “Do Like I Do” for one of his 70s albums. I heard a snippet of his verson which is taken at a funky pace. I also learned that Smokey’s version is a favorite for rappers to sample. Interesting!
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Chris Clark covered “Do Like I Do” the following year, and that wasn’t released at the time either. The Kim tracks that Chris recorded suited her.
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Whatever the individual grades come up for Weston’s singles’ sides -and I give this a 7 like the A- it really is a shame she never got a solo vinyl album of her Motown material in the 60s. As far as I know, in the states, the first album was 1990’s “Greatest Hits and Rare Classics” and I got it very quickly, but enough of the material on it had been out as Tamla and Gordy 45s, and could easily have filled a 12 band vinyl LP. Little wonder Stevenson jumped ship in ’67 and took his wife with him. Oh well.
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The Motown Anthology double CD set – which still doesn’t include “Do Like I Do”, incidentally – is an absolute godsend, with enough strong material for Motown to have carved maybe three decent albums’ worth out of it.
I’m actually not all that familiar with a lot of Kim’s post-Motown stuff, but what I’ve heard has been excellent; given the complete lack of push she received from Motown, her leaving might actually be one of those rare occasions where Motown’s loss was music lovers’ gain.
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Believe me, I’m rarely the one to defend Motown’s handling of its “secondary” performers but…
Kim must have had some push. I grew up in a small town in Upstate central New York (perhaps a British equivalent might be a place like Devizes, small and in the middle of nowhere?). There was a modest black population and a few of the kids in school were my friends so I heard a lot of music I probably never otherwise would have heard from 1963 onward. And I was able to buy both Take Me In Your Arms and Helpless at the local record store with no problem. So Motown must have been giving Kim somewhat of a push. Don’t get me wrong, I think she definitely got the short end of the stick promotion-wise but her music got out there. However, I never heard this single until I picked up the Motown Anthology. Your ratings seem about right although I prefer the “A” side.
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You’re absolutely right, and “push” was a really poor choice of words on my part. I just meant that even though her post-Motown career was rather short on hits, she still managed to release 4 LPs in three years after leaving the label, whereas it took Motown the best part of four decades to get its act together on that front – so her departure from Motown wasn’t necessarily such a bad thing for Kim-hungry fans.
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“That’ll be around review number 3,000, if anyone is still reading by then.”
Believe me, people will still read this, even after review number 859,478,540,975,631. We may not be around to see it, but it’ll happen.
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🙂 Thanks – I don’t honestly know how long it will take. We used to be zipping through the years at super speed, but now we’re doing this in something approaching real time…
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Which means it’ll be about five years till we get to “Stoned Love”? Darn.
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Double-tracked lead vocals – Kim Weston
Backing vocals – The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps
(two different tracks)
I like it. Ms. Weston and The Andantes do an excellent job. I’d give it an 8. I can even imagine The Supremes or The Ronettes doing a cover of it. It kinda sounds like a “Holland-Dozier-Holland meets Phil Spector” sort of song.
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I don’t think the re-recording (“Do Like I Do”) was any better. Once I had this version in my head, it was a comedown to have the new version, which “clarified” the record while diminishing the mystery of it. It’s precisely those several double-trackings that drew me to this.
Motown Fan, I often think that the true “Wall of Sound” was built in Motown’s studios, and I treasure the mixes that are so layered that you can listen and hear something new long after you’ve purchased the record.
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Finally (!) added the scan of “Do Like I Do” which Robb kindly sent me ages ago – as I said, it’ll have a proper review when we get to around 3,000 or so…
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I never liked “Do Like I Do” either. Theres not much Motown i don’t like between 1960-1972 but this 45 is one of them.
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