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Tamla T 54115 (A), May 1965
b/w I’ll Be Available
(Written by Smokey Robinson)
Tamla Motown TMG 519 (A), June 1965
b/w I’ll Be Available
(Released in the UK under license through EMI / Tamla Motown)
By 1965, Brenda Holloway was stuck in a holding pattern at Motown. As with almost every female solo act who wasn’t Mary Wells, the label didn’t really know what to do with her, and so Brenda had somehow fallen prey to the first concrete idea anyone had had for her future career. This plan meant she ended up inheriting a series of Mary’s cast-offs – a strategy which was bringing ever diminishing returns, commercially at least.
For the second time in a row here on Motown Junkies, Brenda Holloway presents a “brand new” single where both sides have been heard before (this time, it’s not one but two covers of old Mary Wells songs). Unlike last time, when Brenda had gamely tried to out-Mary Mary on a new version of Miss Wells’ excellent When I’m Gone, with mixed results, this time the song she’s presented with is far from golden. Mary Wells had recorded the original version of Operator all the way back in January 1962, the song sneaking out as a B-side that fall and then being used as filler on the Two Lovers LP before receding from history altogether.
Smokey Robinson, who’d written and produced that original version, and who was gaining a reputation for revisiting old material with an eye to a do-over, must have heard something in the song which made him think it would be a good idea to dust it off and present it to Brenda as the killer 45 to revive her already-flagging career. Commercially, he was dead wrong – this barely dented the Hot 100, failing to even scrape the top 75 before disappearing – but artistically he had a point. For the first time here on Motown Junkies, even though the bar wasn’t set terribly high, Brenda Holloway turns in a Mary Wells cover that improves on the original.
Whether Mary or Brenda was “better” is a debate that’s raged among Motown fans for years, but in the liner notes to The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 5, Brenda herself is quoted with an answer that should settle that argument, or at least quieten it down a bit.
“On certain things, she was better. On other things, I was better.”
And that’s the crux of it, really.
Brenda is full of respect for Miss Wells (“I was honoured [to be given Mary’s old songs], that girl was fabulous… she is one of my all-time favourites. To me, Mary Wells was the voice behind Motown”, she tells Andy Rix), and that profound respect informs all of Miss Holloway’s covers, for good and ill. Good, because while their voices are different, Brenda shows here that she can adopt Mary’s ocean-deep, soft-loud semi-spoken contralto approach to a song; ill, because she’s often reluctant to just copy what Mary did, and as a result many of her covers are strident vocal-showcase affairs that miss the subtlety and pathos in the originals.
You can’t blame her for that, of course, as I’ve said before; her chances were few and far between, and you can’t begrudge Brenda the opportunity to show off her pipes (regardless of whether it suited the song) by attacking the material with her biggest stick, in the fear she might not get too many more bites at the cherry. It’s interesting, then, that Brenda turns in her best “Mary impression” on a cover of a song where Mary’s original performance had been sorely lacking, taken at much too fast a lick and done without much control; Smokey, who re-recorded the song with a brand new band track, string arrangement and guitar parts, must have listened in the booth and smiled to himself as Brenda did the song the way it was meant to be done.
I don’t want to oversell this; Operator was an annoying, gimmicky little song in Mary’s hands, and so it remains here. But it’s slower, sexier, and just altogether more grown up than Mary’s original, Brenda really teasing out the pain and frustration in the song. The narrator in Mary’s version was a tetchy teenager, snapping at the titular operator to fix the supposed problems getting in the way of the narrator’s long-distance phone call to her boyfriend (who, it’s strongly implied, is rather less keen to talk to Mary than she is to speak to him.) Here, Brenda is no less strung-along by the man, the lyrics haven’t changed one word, and yet the whole thing feels much more… What’s the word I want? “Dramatic”, I suppose?
Though that feels too perjorative. Certainly there’s melodrama here that wasn’t in Mary’s version, but unlike Brenda’s lead-footed run through the lacework-subtle When I’m Gone, here the slightly overwrought emotional delivery really fits the song, the narrator clutching the reciever so tight as to make her hands hurt, cord absent-mindedly wrapped round her wrist, genuinely needing this call to go through, refusing steadfastly to believe her “long gone lover” might have hung up on her. Ultimately, unlike Mary’s original version, with Brenda’s reworking you can see the hand of Smokey in the dark psychology of the lyrics, a portrait of a woman on the edge.
If nobody will be confusing this for a masterpiece any time soon, nonetheless I much prefer this version to the original; finally the song makes sense. Not as a choice of single, mind you.
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!)
COVERWATCH
Motown Junkies has reviewed other Motown versions of this song:
- Mary Wells (October 1962)
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 Brenda Holloway? Click for more.)
Stevie Wonder “The Square” |
Brenda Holloway “I’ll Be Available” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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Dave L said:
All the way to a 9 for me – I love this record. When I lost my last copy as a kid sometime in the 60s, it took me till 1977 to find it again, ending up with three new-old stock copies within six months. (And now two CD versions too.)
Let’s note the difference also. The Tamla 54115 45 starts out cold with Brenda on the title word, and fades out before she comes to the line, I’m begging you to put him through without delay. The CD version, both on Greatest Hits and Rare Classics, as well as 1999’s Very Best Of (maybe others), and still mono, includes the final line, and about a seven second strutting intro before Brenda sings, bringing the track to about 3:20.
For 11 years old ears, already under the spell of Diana, Martha, Mary, Gladys and Wanda, this was and would remain irresistible. In retrospect, listening to the yearning Smokey coaxes from Brenda, obviously he’s ready to unveil Wanda The Chanteuse, and that’s only six months away. What Phil Spector could do for Veronica Bennett, on his better days, Smokey could match with virtually any Motown girl, and I could this among them.
I can live happily with your six; you found plenty of nice things to say about the record, and no small sympathy for Brenda served so many hand me downs. If Smokey hadn’t been so terribly busy in 1965, maybe he could have whipped up some newer stuff for Holloway, which she surely would have done right by.
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MichaelS said:
Never knew of the version with the 7-second intro; thanks, Dave L! This version of “Operator” gets a “7 in my book. Smokey was wise to slow it down for Brenda.
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Ed Pauli said:
Nah…..liked Mary’s better..LOL
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The Nixon Administration said:
Now, that really *does* surprise me! Do elaborate, I’d love to hear more.
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David L. said:
This song is a 10 for me. When I first heard this in 1974, I was just starting to explore the wealth of the Motown catalogue and fell for this immediately. I found a copy with a hole in it at a discount store and wore it out quickly. To me, Brenda Holloway understood her status and double-downed on every song she was given. Smokey Robinson once said that he worked Mary Wells hard, doing many takes, in order to get a husky, emotional sound out of her. I think this often resulted in an oversung, robotic performance. Case in point : Operator. Brenda’s version sounds like her heart is truly aching. I wish they had videos back then — ” … just put him on the line, that long gone lover of mine.’ — love it! I also enjoyed your review of “I’ll Keep On Holding On”, The Marvelettes third best song.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Only just noticed the very last sentence there! 🙂 Which are their two best?
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Robb Klein said:
I’d give it at LEAST an 8 (9 on a good day). I think 6 is a little harsh (especially given that a Bobby Breen cut gets a nearby 5. But we’ve been through all this discussion many times before.
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The Nixon Administration said:
You’re never going to let me forget that, are you? 🙂 Will it enrage you to learn this only got bumped up to a 6 at the very last minute…?
I was kind of expecting the 8 I gave the Hillsiders to supplant poor old Bobby as the poster child for my wacky leftfield scoring excesses.
Truth be told, while I like both of these Brenda sides, I’m not hearing anything in either of them which would mark them out as classics. I’m rather jealous of those of you who do.
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David L. said:
I was going to wait until these songs were reviewed but in the spirit of ” live for today,” my ttwo favorite Marvelettes songs are 1) “The Hunter Gets Captured By the game” and 2) “When You’re Young And In Love”, maybe with “My Baby Must Be A Magician” coming in fourth.
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Damecia said:
Hi Junkies! I’ve missed you guys. I tried getting the “operator, operator” “to put you guys on the line,” but much like Brenda I had no success.LOL.
Agree with the 6/10. I enjoy this song very much it’s cute and catchy. Not to mention Brenda lends a youthful appeal that Mary Wells never had. Great song!
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I LOVE THE SUPREMES AND TEMPTATONS said:
Brenda’s vocals are great as always
but this song is bland and never seems to go anywhere…I’m waiting for that hook something to bring the song home but it never gets there
Not my favorite song by her…
4/10
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bogart4017 said:
Slinky, sexy, sometimes vocally choppy, this song gets my eight (only because i used to BE an operator many, many years ago.
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tomovox said:
When I picked up this record, I like both sides immensely. With “Operator”, I could imagine it being played on some soul radio station in the wee hours of the night. Something about this one just sounds perfect for those hazy, quiet hours of the middle of the night. I didn’t mind that Motown was trying very hard to push Brenda as a Mary Wells replacement because I felt Brenda had the voice for it.
As I’ve gotten older though, I’ve come to appreciate that this was a big mistake. Mary had something- something that came across in her voice, even if you didn’t know what Mary looked like. Mary had a vulnerability that was present in everything she recorded and you can’t copy, reproduce or re-create that quality at all. I wish Motown had allowed Brenda to just be Brenda. Hearing some of the incredible things Brenda recorded that were left in the can, it’s absolutely mind-boggling that nobody thought to just let the genie out of the bottle and let Brenda Holloway craft her own niche at Motown.
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