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Gordy G 7042 (A), May 1965
b/w I’m Not A Plaything
(Written by Berry Gordy)
Tamla Motown TMG 525 (A), August 1965
b/w I’m Not A Plaything
(Released in the UK under license through EMI/Tamla Motown)
MARV!
Look who’s back. Marv Johnson had cut the very first (official) Motown record, Come To Me, all the way back in January 1959. His success in getting that record into the upper reaches of the charts, and getting his and Eddie Holland’s contracts bought out by United Artists, had bankrolled Motown’s shaky early days, in many ways laying the foundation stone for everything that had come after. Now, six and a half years (and 584 reviews) later, he returns.
The world was a very different place, and Marv Johnson hadn’t changed with it. His UA career had started out great guns, a string of Top Ten singles (Motown records in all but name, written, produced and recorded at Hitsville, so much so that I was tempted to include them here on Motown Junkies) briefly making him a star at the beginning of the Sixties – but when Motown had gotten too busy to waste the time (or need the money!) to work with him for another label’s benefit, the hits had dried up, Marv’s big-shot attitude had made him few friends, and by 1964 UA had had enough and kicked him to the kerb.
He returned, naturally enough, to Motown, where he had hopes of being received as a prodigal son; he was popular around the corridors of Hitsville among some of the staff who’d been there from the start, as back when things were going swell at UA, he’d returned frequently to his old stomping grounds (both to cut new material for UA and for social visits), celebrating his newfound fame and wealth by indulging in ostentatious generosity and flirting. Now, though, he was no longer a big deal; Motown had younger, richer, more famous, more handsome and more talented guys than him traipsing through the building every day. The problem, if you believe the stories, was that in Johnson’s head, he was still cock of the walk; one astonishing anecdote, related in Nelson George’s Where Did Our Love Go?, has Berry Gordy visiting him in his hotel, only to be turned away by a flunky because he didn’t have an appointment.
Compounding all of this was the fact that Marv was a voice from the past in more than one sense. It’s surprising to find that the unrestrained, unschooled falsetto tenor that had lent itself well to the sort of Jackie Wilson pastiches Berry Gordy and co. had written for him at the start of the decade – effective enough, but propelled more by charisma than technique – hasn’t developed with age. Here in 1965, he still sounds like the slightly uncontrolled, slightly thin, high-voiced fellow we heard all those years ago on Come To Me and its B-side Whisper; a far cry from the maturing sounds of his one-time peers, the former high-pitched teenagers like Eddie Kendricks or even Smokey Robinson who’d grown into exceptional singers as they’d become young men. For Marv, it would always be 1960.
His first “new” Motown record was this, a cover of one of Eddie Holland’s old United Artists non-hits from 1961 – and not one of his best, at that (as perhaps evinced by the lack of a Youtube clip for Eddie’s original!) Eddie had left UA with his tail between his legs shortly after cutting Why Do You Want To Let Me Go – unlike Johnson, Holland had racked up nothing but flops at UA. Eddie had carved out a respectable recording career after returning to Motown, leading to a stellar second life as a legendary songwriter, and Marv could well have done the same – he was no slouch with a pen, with an ear for a tune that outstripped his vocal ability to hold one, and it would have been interesting to see him join the full-time writing corps at Hitsville. The key difference, though, was the four years of trailblazing success that Motown had enjoyed since Eddie had made the walk of shame back to Hitsville; by this point, quite simply, Marv Johnson needed Motown much more than Motown needed Marv Johnson.
It can’t have been easy for a notorious ego like Marv – who, after all, could quite legitimately claim that Motown wouldn’t even exist without him – to accept his new role as a supplicant at the bottom of the Hitsville food chain, a charity case, a re-signing motivated by sentiment and gratitude rather than commercial excitement. Nonetheless, it’s inescapable that his return saw him starting again in an entry-level position. The lack of support within the company for what should have been a triumphant homecoming is well illustrated not only by the choice of dated, second-hand material here, but by the fact that Marv made that homecoming not in May 1965 (when this was released), but rather in May 1964 (when this was recorded).
That’s right – even with the boss of the company helming the session, Motown placed so little stock in the return of their prodigal son that his would-be comeback single sat in the can for an entire year while Johnson twiddled his thumbs. That this was left on the shelf, while scores of other long-forgotten recordings and obscure curios were dusted off to jump the release queue must have hurt – but Marv was in absolutely no position to demand anything, and Berry Gordy could now afford to flex his muscles and remind people who was boss. What’s that, Marv? You want to discuss when your record’s coming out? Do you have an appointment?
But finally, after a year of waiting, and six and a half years after we last met him, at long last Marv Johnson had a new Motown record in the shops. The comeback starts here! And…
…And it’s not very good.
Damn it. I was rooting for Marv here, hoping he’d step up and deliver the goods, but no. His piping, reedy voice is almost comically unsuited to the material, the Funk Brothers turning in a muscular backing track full of physical stomp and jangle and clatter – it’s loud and it lacks direction, but it’s undeniably tough – only for Marv to spend the entire duration warbling and wailing ineffectively over the top.
The middle eight is vastly better than the verses or the weedy chorus – I was running around, well I was running around, Marv barks, in a lower register amplified by an echo-heavy backing vocal chanting in the distance, and for a brief moment it all suddenly comes together, perking up the listener’s ears – and there are some dazzling moments of invention here that weren’t in the Eddie Holland original, suggesting that Gordy had a better idea of what worked and what didn’t than Marv himself – just off the top of my head, besides that excellent repetitive chant section, there’s a striking new two-chord bridge, a series of heavy-booted foot stomps matching the more shuffling, grizzled feel of the backing track, and a beautifully-tailored squalling sax break that accounts for most of the extra thirty seconds here compared to the original, not to mention this version dropping the ill-fitting key changes that marred the closing stages of Eddie’s version.
(Man, it would really have been useful to link to the original here. Thanks for nothing, Youtube.)
But every time this threatens to get good, Marv comes back to serve up more barely-controlled strained falsetto yelping, reaching for notes he can’t make, stretching himself over notes he can’t sustain, and boom, my interest dissipates again. If anything, his voice actually gets weaker as the record goes on, apparently becoming less and less able to hold the tune – the final moments are almost painfully underpowered, so obvious is it that he’s got nothing left in the tank – until he eventually winds up sounding like a bad impression of Eddie Kendricks circa 1961. And that’s not meant as a compliment.
Sure, it’s intriguing to have him back, and there are certainly much better records to come from Marv’s Motown return (which is a relief, albeit a relief only granted by hindsight – listeners at the time wouldn’t have had such reassurance). But this one is a chaotic, messy shambles which really isn’t Johnson’s song. Had this been his Motown début proper – if he’d had no place in Motown history, if his turn-of-the-decade United Artists triumphs had been registered without Gordy’s involvement, if he was just another washed-up star of 1960 à la Sammy Turner – then I sincerely doubt there’d ever have been a follow-up.
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 Marv Johnson? Click for more.)
The Lewis Sisters “By Some Chance” |
Marv Johnson “I’m Not A Plaything” |
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Robb Klein said:
I don’t think that this song was recorded as early as May, 1964. I remember seeing the list. He recorded 3 songs soon after he returned. But none of those 3 were songs that were released on vinyl.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Per both TCMS 5 and Don’t Forget The Motor City, the date of completion was 29th May 1964.
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Robb Klein said:
I disagree that the material (songs) given to Marv upon his return were poor quality and “dated”. “Why Do You Want To Let Me Go” WAS dated, a relatively weak song, and a poor fit for Marv. But “I’m Not A Plaything”, “Just The Way You Are”, “I Miss You Baby”, “I’ll Pick A Rose For My Rose” and “You’ve Got The Love I Love” were ALL great songs, given the “star” “A-stde” treatment by The Funk Brothers, a sound up with the times. Marv’s main problem was that although he remaind with Motown from 1964 until 1972 (when they moved to L.A., he recorded relatively few songs and only had 3 singles released in USA, and NONE of those got any marketing push (although, I feel that their quality was quite good. His recordings were so good that they were desired by the British Tamla-Motown staffers, for inclusion in a Tamla-Motown LP. “So Glad You Chose Me” and “Sleep (Little One)” were very good, as were most of the other cuts. His updated version of “Everybody’s Gotta Pay Some Dues” is also great, as is “There Goes A lonely Man”, “Save My Love For A Rainy Day”, and “Farewell Is a Lonely Sound”, but they were all left in the can.
Berry Gordy didn’t think Marv could be a hitmaker any more, but he continued to record him (as a courtesy?) even as late as 1972, when it was later found that his recording contract had lapsed in 1969, and they hadn’t renewed it. Marv also had flunky work at Motown all during that period, so he could make ends meet. He also wrote some songs.
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The Nixon Administration said:
I’d find your disagreement easier to understand if I’d said anything of the sort! 🙂
Marv and Britain is a fascinating story. There’s a reason his album, pictured above, was a UK-only release, but it’s not because Tamla Motown staffers thought the cuts were so good. They are, but the real reason is because I’ll Pick A Rose… unexpectedly hit the British top 10 in 1969, its follow up I Miss You Baby also charting well. But this is a story for another day…
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144man said:
Marv Johnson’s version of Marvin Gaye’s “I Wish I Liked You (As Much As I Love You)” is also quite good. My favourite Marv Johnson Motown track is “She’s All I Need (In This World)”, but unfortunately that is in spite of his vocal performance rather than because of it.
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The Nixon Administration said:
I just noticed… How often do you ever even hear the word “flunky” in general conversation? And yet both Robb and I used it independently of each other within days. I love this place.
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I LOVE THE SUPREMES AND TEMPTATONS said:
I pretty much agree with your assessment
this song never goes anywhere….it lacks a hook…something that would make this song memorable
And Marv’s lack of vocals doesn’t help either
Also atleast with Eddies voice you heard a potential of soon to be greatnes…I just don’t think Marv’s voice was good…
3/10
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Damecia said:
Now this is a song that I say had potential. If re-worked/re-tooled this possibly could have been a hit of some sorts. First the opening is great with those “why baby’s”. Second the song is catchy. It is great for a solo or a group song — male or female. The singing from Marv isn’t bad either.
What I would have re-done to help the song is sped it up just a little, another vocal take from Marv, and taken out that annoying sax solo.
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bogart4017 said:
No promotional grease here folks. I never heard this on the radio or at any dances with a hired dj. The only shops i knew carrying the single were the ones that carried the “Top 100 Soul Singles” or whatever they called them. I can’t even recall how the song sounds it disappeared so fast, and i remember a lot of flops around that time.
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nafalmat said:
I remember buying this in the UK in August 1965 when it was released, and at the time was very disappointed with it. Too me it was the least enjoyable TMG release up to that time. However, that would soon be be beaten a couple of months later when Dorsey Burnette’s awful single was released in the UK. It sounded dated and boring then. As the decades have passed it has grown on me. I know find it very enjoyable. The sax break in the middle is superb and the powerful backing voices give it a real boost. The key change towards the end also adds to the excitement. Rather like a quality bottle of wine, this as improved over the years.
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nafalmat said:
There’s seems to be some confusion with TMG collectors regarding this disc. Many people think that no white label TMG demo was ever pressed for this single, but they’re wrong because I have one and have had it since new in October 1965. I bought every TMG release from the start in March 1965 up to the end of 1972. Everyone came from the same record shop in Ashford, Kent. Some by the more well known artists the shop had in stock, the more obscure releases such as this had to be ordered. I remember particularly the time I had to wait to get this single. I placed the order in August when it was supposedly released, but didn’t get the copy until October. The longest I’d ever had to wait for a single I had ordered that was already released. The biggest surprise when it arrived was that it was a white label demo with a big red ‘A’ on the plug side, typical of all EMI demo singles at that time. The shop owner, who I knew well, asked me if I wanted it or would I prefer it was sent back and reordered for a standard copy. I had waited a long time for it so I said that providing it played ok, I would take it. At that time I had no other demo records in my collection and back then I don’t think they were of any more value than stock copies as I don’t think people were particularly attracted to demos anymore than stock copies, certainly I wasn’t. In fact, I always thought the disc looked out of place with my other TMGs, so at that time I would have gladly swapped it for a stock copy if I had known someone who had one. That was unlikely as I was probably the only Motown collector in Ashford, Kent at that time, as Ashford was a sleepy little market town well behind the times. Anyway, there we have it, at least one white copy exists. I would be happy to send scans of this disc if anyone is interested enough to see it.
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Don't Mess With Will said:
Hmmm after a first and second listen I’d boost this up to a 4. Yeah it’s below average for Motown ’65 but it’s not bad. I can hear what you’re saying about Marv’s weakening vocal and the lyrics aren’t too memorable, but the tune is catchy and those glowing background harmonies push the song up a notch in my favor. Back in 1964, I can see this being a nice album track for Marvin Gaye (I can hear him hitting those “Why baby why!”s for all they’re worth). I agree with Damecia that the song could benefit from a faster tempo.
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Eric Kidder said:
Very surprised to find one of my personal fave Motown obscurities trashed so mercilessly. Upon first hearing this on a UK comp cd 20+ years ago, I anxiously sought out the Eddie Holland original, finding it sadly sub-mediocre. Johnson, Gordy et al took an otherwise forgettable clunker off the shelf and tailored it to a sound that…with promotion Gordy was unwilling to muster, perhaps due to personal pique with Johnson’s haughty demeanor, coulda/shoulda been at least a minor hit.
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