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Soul S 35012 (A), May 1965
b/w Tune Up
(Written by Autry DeWalt Jr., Henry Cosby and Willie Woods)
Tamla Motown TMG 520 (A), July 1965
b/w Tune Up
(Released in the UK under license through EMI/Tamla Motown)
Following hard on the heels of Junior Walker and the All Stars’ big breakthrough hit Shotgun, this is cut very much from the same cloth. But as we’ve already seen with the Supremes (and Mary Wells before them), the big break can be a liberation, a confirmation that you’re on the right track, that what you believed was right all along. So, now Walker and Motown had the big hit, they took it as a green light to take that concept and run with it. Do the Boomerang is more than just Shotgun Redux – it’s more like Shotgun refined, except that that word has no business being anywhere near Junior Walker.
Junior wastes no time at all tearing right into this – the track’s only a few seconds old when, with practically his first contribution, he whips out a piercing altissimo sax squall – but as with Shotgun, it’s more fun when the track becomes a duet, a duel between Junior (either on saxophone, or delivering another fantastically gruff lead vocal), and a rolling, chugging organ part. The sax on this, fearsome though it is, is actually little more than a musical garnish, rather than forming the blood and guts of the record; this is a dirty, grizzled slab of prime Walker, equal parts thrilling funk-pop and menacing screw-you blues.
I was really interested to see how Junior and his crew would respond to sudden and unexpected fame, and what they did now that they had the big hit under their belts. The answer, it appears, unsurprisingly, was: “whatever they damn well wanted to do”.
The All-Stars’ records were always out of step with whatever else was going on at Motown, but not necessarily only because of their sound – rather, because they seemed to be following a different developmental path to everyone else, their idea of “progress” rather different to their labelmates.
This is very much in the same bag as Shotgun, something I’m sure Junior himself would have freely admitted, but it’s rougher, less nimble; there’s a heavy quality to this, a sort of toughness akin to the thudding, physical clomping of weighty work boots rather than dancing shoes. The playing’s not as tight, the timing’s off. Yet somehow it feels like a step forward anyway.
The sloppier play may be because these are possibly the actual All Stars themselves, rather than Motown’s house musicians the Funk Brothers (who’d been drafted in to provide a tidier performance on Shotgun), backing Junior – which, if it’s true, would explain a lot about the track’s more relaxed, all-friends-here feel. I’d have said it’s almost impossible to dislike this, except that so far I’ve found nobody who has a kind word to say about it; it’s universally written off as a tired retread of the Shotgun concept, more messily executed and less catchy. (Terry Wilson really sticks the boot in, calling it “a sedate plod… slapdash and half-hearted”). But I don’t think it’s like that at all.
Rather, I think that perhaps this actually, somehow, sums up the spirit of Shotgun – and thus the spirit of Junior Walker – better than Shotgun itself. The gleeful exuberance found on the big hit when Junior bellowed “We gonna – EAT TOM-AY-TAS! We gonna – DIG POT-AY-TAS!” is one of my favourite moments from Shotgun, and Do The Boomerang feels like it’s almost entirely been constructed using that bit as a template, like it’s got the best features of Shotgun coursing in its very DNA. By the time things break down to the point where Junior and the band just start chanting:
I said now:
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Now, what’d I say?
…you’d begrudge them nothing.
This is a messy, dirty kind of a record, little-loved and completely at odds with everything else Motown was aiming for in the spring of 1965. It’s also brilliant. Go figure.
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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After the brilliance of “Shotgun”, I can remember how disappointed I felt when I first heard this completely uninspiring retread. Out of all of Jr’s singles, this is my least favourite. 6/10.
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It’s nice to read this record so defended. Sandwiched between “Shotgun” and “Fingerpop,” I think it always went a little under-regarded. With the all polish being increasingly applied to the Supremes, Temps and Tops, a few ‘messy and dirty’ ones from elsewhere in the stable were most welcome. And I’d rather be blasted awake by its instrumental b-side than any other record or alarm clock. Soul 35012, then and now is a Motown record I can’t be without.
It’s just 8 in the morning here, and I’m still on the first cup, so I may be forgetting one. I mentioned many posts ago paying $40 or $45 American for a pre-owned Shotgun vinyl LP a few years ago, and I still think it’s any Motown artist’s finest debut album. Save, I think, “Tally Ho” every track on it eventually becomes a 45, fully six of them on-the-radio, A-side hits. I believe the next Soul album, Jr.’s Soul Session didn’t appear to the spring of ’66, and there was no hurry: Shotgun was going to supply more than a year of deathlessly good Motown music.
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I certainly like this one better than “Shotgun.” As Nixon says, it’s more off-hand, with a funkier lope to it, and I feel it’s got layers to it. The rhythm draws you in, but the variety of sounds keeps you there.
It’s always been difficult for me to tell when it’s just the All Stars playing, and this one’s no exception. The Funk Bros. can do this, too.
I go along with a 9 for this.
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Pleasantly surprised by your rating, Nixon, but in total agreement with it! This tune, undeservingly, has gotten a “bad rap” over the years; glad to see its day of redemption has finally come.
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I don’t think Jr Walker ever cut a bad record IMHO
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I’d definitely disagree – there are several Junior sides I can’t abide, though a lot of that is my innate and freely-acknowledged prejudice against the saxophone – but when he was good, he was very, VERY good. That’s been one of the nicest real “discoveries” for me going through The Complete Motown Singles series; I’d never really been minded to dig any deeper than the big hits, but this, shambling though it may be, is all kinds of splendid.
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I’ve always liked Boomerang. That opening salvo just threw me up against the wall when I first heard it and made me laugh. The groove is far slinkier than Shotgun’s and that made it just different enough for me. (I think Shake And Fingerpop is more of a retread than this is.)
While this recording has its detractors it also has a strong following. I don’t think it’s any accident that jazz clarinetist Don Byron called his homage album to Walker “Do The Boomerang” rather than “Shotgun”. And funnily enough, when we presented a certain saxophonist’s band (the sax player is well known in avant-garde circles as an uncompromising player) in concert and had dinner at my house, I played Junior Walker and he was grooving along to it. and mentioned how Walker was one of the players to inspire him to take up the instrument. He also made a comment on how Byron didn’t get Walker’s music right. And during one piece as the band went into a section with a backbeat, he picked up his saxophone and played the opening squall to Boomerang at the start of his solo and smiled.
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Good story! Thanks.
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Delighted to see this get a 9, particularly given your saxophobia! If I can blow my own trumpet (or saxophone), I’d like to encourage any Motown-lovers in the Boston area to come to Boston University on February 15 at 6.30, where my fantasia for sax and piano is being prepared; although it’s a classical piece, it includes an homage to Jr Walker. Details on my website (just click on my name; 2d paragraph of Semptember 27 blog; details under Events.) Eloquent and spot-on analysis again, Steve.
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I meant ‘premiered,’ not ‘prepared!!’
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I’ll be there 🙂
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Yes, blow away! (Same goes for anyone with an event, record or blog to push here, we’re all ears.) I hope it went well!
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Dave L., your comment about the “Shotgun” LP made me drag it out and put it on. (Found mine for $2 at a gift shop in Atlantic City in 1973, and it’s a miracle it has survived several moves/purges). Side one is a mad mother[bleep]er of a disc: “Cleo’s Mood,” “Boomerang,” “Shotgun” (an act of audacity putting those two back-to-back), “Road Runner” (which would reappear on its own LP), “Shake and Fingerpop,” and “Shoot Your Shot.” I’m sure this side got played straight through at many a house party back in the day. We have to wait until side 2 for the album’s masterpiece, “Tune Up,” after which things cool off (I have NEVER liked “Hot ‘Cha”).
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yes yes yes yes yes
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A wild, fantastic record. I can’t relate
to anybody not liking this one.
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Yeah it sloppy…the good kind of sloppy. Like trying to eat an overstuffed bbq sandwich. The difference between “Shotgun” and “Boomerang” is like the difference between Timberland and Mountain Gear. Dig it!!!!
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Last night I fell asleep listening to a looped playlist of 8s, 9s and 10s from 1965 & 1966 being played by the “Transcribe!” program (“AmazingSlowDowner” is another that does it) at the same speed, but tuned up in pitch by six or seven keys. The result is bizarro chipmunk vocals, but the bass rises up into the singing range and becomes super-clear. You can clearly hear details that are very hard to appreciate at normal tuning. And … Oh.My.God … Jamerson (was he the exclusive bassist at this point?) is just insanely great. It’s quite a revelation.
I’ve had the “Standing the Shadows of Motown” Jamerson tribute book/CD package for years and have spent a lot of time listening to all these stud bassists playing their Jamerson transcriptions with mocked up rhythm section backing. It makes it much easier to focus on the bass than listening to the originals at normal pitch, but if you can stand to ignore the chipmunk vocals and nerd out on just the bass, I think you’ll find it a shocking and mind-blowing experience. As great as all those famous bassists are, the academically produced tracks that come with the book don’t really capture the full rush of Jamerson’s playing.
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