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Motown M 1090 (A), February 1966
b/w Just As Long As You Need Me
(Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland Jr.)
Tamla Motown TMG 553 (A), March 1966
b/w Just As Long As You Need Me
(Released in the UK under license through EMI/Tamla Motown)
We’ve only just reached February 1966 and already every side of every single, er, single we’ve seen this year – this Motown year, I should specify, since it’s taken me, like, four actual ones to get through these first few weeks of ’66 – has earned a big green number at the bottom of the review. For new readers, the marks are meant to be a fun conversation starter, not the be-all and end-all of my thoughts on a particular song, but still… including the last weeks of December 1965, that’s a streak of fourteen straight songs I’ve rated as, at the least, very good.
Make that fifteen. Hope it isn’t getting boring! If my praise starts to sound repetitive, do me a favour and stick the actual records on – right now, they’re all brilliant. Nothing much I can do about that.
Motown was on a tear, no question, and for most fans 1966 marks the apogee of the label’s anything-but-mythical Golden Age, the time when everyone at Hitsville was at their very best. Motown’s prodigious output would be one thing, but the quality of that output at the time is, by and large, the stuff the label’s legend is built upon. Just as the city’s motor industry was firing on all cylinders, Motown brought worldwide attention to Detroit in the mid-Sixties, as the most successful music industry talent-spotting and -gathering operation of all time came to fruition. Berry Gordy had gathered around him the absolute cream of the industry’s black American talent, whether that meant in songwriting, musicianship, production, singing, dancing, marketing… you name it, Motown probably had someone who was the best at it.
Even more remarkably, some of this unique confluence of brilliance had happened entirely by accident; the Supremes were famously the runts of the litter, Stevie Wonder was a “blind dancing kid with harmonica” novelty act, Smokey Robinson just happened to be Berry’s friend. Did Motown realise they had signed the future biggest and most famous girl group of all time, and two of the greatest singer-songwriter-producers in history, any one of whom could have sustained an independent label of their own for years? What about the session drummer, Marvin Gaye? Or the A&R secretary, Martha Reeves?
And yet, astonishingly, there had still been some Ones That Got Away, even in Detroit. The Four Tops had somehow lasted until 1964 as perennial and well-known “local talent” before getting a single on Motown, ten hitless years of hard slog rewarded and paid in full. By teaming the Tops with the Andantes, the immortal Motown female backing singers, the Holland-Dozier-Holland team created something close to alchemy, a blend of beautiful voices and gritty soul sensibilities verging on the perfect (and sometimes, as in the case of their début Motown 45 Baby I Need Your Loving, actually perfect). This record may not be quite as good as that one (because, frankly, almost nothing is), but stone me if it’s not brilliant anyway.
Fifteen in a row, ladies and gentlemen. The Sound of Young America, conquering the world.
This is something special alright, isn’t it? I mean, it may be getting slightly tedious for you guys to be reading all these reviews dripping with praise as a seemingly endless production run of masterpiece singles comes off the neverending conveyor belt, but believe me, it’s equally hard for me to write about records you all probably already know. (That’s not why I keep taking impromptu year-long breaks, though, I promise). But, well, like I said, these records are special because for most listeners, these records are Motown. You could probably make someone a Motown compilation only including songs from 1964 through 1966, and not receive any complaints about major hits being missing, even though obviously loads of them would be. These are the songs that made Motown “Motown”, and, well, this is another one. Of them.
The biggest trademark of the genius Holland-Dozier-Holland writing and production team, who were responsible for an inordinate amount of those signature hit songs, is fully present and correct here. Not the 4/4 floor-filling beat, or the crotchet pulses the Funk Brothers throw in on the beat to keep things driving along, or even the swooping, sweetening vocal harmonies that lift those heavenly band tracks to another yet-higher celestial plane – those are all here, alright, but I’m talking about another signature HDH feature, namely their ability to take a driving, fully danceable upbeat tune, and promptly marry it to the most anguished and depressing lyrics you could come up with. This is a song about a guy who is losing his mind, paranoid and permanently on edge, plagued by fears his partner is about to walk out on him, stoked by (possibly imaginary) rumours, fuelled by insomnia. And it sounds like a party, like the narrator’s pain would make a great ringtone. That, right there, is the magic of Holland-Dozier-Holland, and this is as good an example as you’ll ever find in their catalogue.
(The fact the chorus is such an unapologetic blast came as a kind of surprise the first time I ever heard this, since the record starts in gloomy – if undeniably groovy – fashion, the lower reaches of a piano keyboard being pounded menacingly, the drums kicking in with almost unnerving echoing thuds, a positively mesmerising James Jamerson bass riff on a loop coming stabbing out of the speakers. But then the strings, the horns, the vibes, they all creep up on us, filling out the silence; when we get to the chorus, it’s almost as anthemic as I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) in terms of singalong value, and when the backing vocals chime in to repeat “When it’s over!” to cover the gap to the next main vocal line, it’s another one of those hands-aloft Motown hooks that will just stay with you forever. Magical stuff.)
But that’s only half of the equation. The rest of this record’s brilliance comes squarely from the Four Tops (and the Andantes) themselves, and in particular Levi Stubbs, who gives a great acting performance here as our mentally-tortured hero. He sings as wonderfully as he always does, while also still sounding like a man on the edge of – or maybe even just over the edge of – a complete breakdown. The lyrics are deliberately ambiguous, not only as to whether these rumours the narrator keeps hearing are true, but even as to whether they’re real, these voices he hears at night as his neighbours supposedly talk about him, to cast doubt on his relationship. And the narrator is definitely being badly hurt by all of this; when he pleads:
I can’t bear to be losing you
Because I’ve loved you my whole life through!”
– it’s not only heartbreaking, it’s followed by a seemingly impromptu string fill (though of course it’s not impromptu at all, I’ve no doubt it took real effort to make this sound so effortlessly and yet artfully raw) which makes it seems like the narrator has just given up for a moment, lost for words at the sheer injustice of it all, with nowhere to turn.
Two of my all-time favourite Tops singles are still yet to come, and each of them draws great power from Levi Stubbs’ sheer magnetism as a frontman, the pain in his voice, the constant balancing on a tightrope between the gritty, almost shouted soul edge born of those years of trooping around cockroach-laden chitlin circuit venues and the angelic, soaring smoothness he could bring to a vocal without warning at any time. That mix is played right up here, probably more so than anything we’ve heard from the Tops before, and it’s clear the HDH team didn’t want him to hold back. When he belts out “What a fool I am / not to realise”, honestly, his delivery is the sort of thing they should give medals for, and yet his vocal line in the chorus – My whole world, you’ve inspired – is so sweet. He’s such a star, and the only reason I don’t say he carries this record is because it doesn’t need carrying, everyone involved in this record is working at max power.
Those backing vocals, goodness me. The way the Tops and Andantes blend their voices together is still a thrill after half a dozen singles, and the sheer enjoyment that comes across from the Tops in particular dovetailing their harmonies behind Levi’s anguished lead, vocal lines just dancing in and out of each other but never colliding, goes a long, long way towards negating the (really pretty dark) lyrical subject matter. The more I play it, the more it dawns on me just how much work has gone into not making this horrifying.
The Four Tops are wonderful, and right now, like the rest of their labelmates, songwriters, producers, musicians, and – heck – probably the people at the pressing plants, they can do no wrong. This is a magnificent record, and I can’t find anything bad to say about it except that, somehow, some even better Four Tops singles exist, or else it’d be getting a ten as well. As is becoming traditional on this blog at the moment, I love it.
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 the Four Tops? Click for more.)
Marvin Gaye “When I Had Your Love” |
The Four Tops “Just As Long As You Need me” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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papaman46 said:
You wait all day for a bus and two come at once! Thankyou so much for yet another insightful review of one of my favourites. Looking forward to more buses before too long…
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Riley said:
This is not really one of my favourites from the tops, but very enjoyable and interesting review as usual.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Not to go all Book Club on everyone, but I’m genuinely interested: after listening to the song again, how many of you think this is really happening, and who thinks it’s mostly in the narrator’s head?
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John Plant said:
It’s really happening. Those neighbours’ voices are all too palpable…
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John Plant said:
…But on the other hand, perhaps this is just a study in jealousy, and the neighbours constitute a collective Iago… what makes the song so poignant is the uncertainty – as the tears stream down my face!
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144man said:
I think those voices here are just as real as they are in “Barbara’s Boy”.
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mndean said:
That the question is so hard to answer is a tribute to both HDH’s brilliant lyrical tributes to romantic paranoia and Stubbs’ ability to sell them so well.
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Double-O Soul said:
I always thought it was real. Your deconstruction is interesting, though.
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MichaelS said:
So glad that you’re back “on the job!” Missed your terrific essays. Yes, this is a fantastic performance and deserves at least a 9.
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Robb Klein said:
I would rate this at about “9”. So we agree on this one. Glad you are back for more than one song!
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John Plant said:
The Supremes covered this on ‘The Supremes a Go-Go,’ – and that was the version I heard first – I think it was only when ‘The Four Tops Greatest Hits’ was released that I heard the original. The Supremes’ version, of course, lacks Levi Stubbs’ trademark anguish, but it got under my skin nonetheless. SHOUTS OF JOY AT YOUR RETURN!!
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John Plant said:
Later, starting in the fall of 1966, my awareness of oncoming songs was no longer dependent on the campus jukebox – I was finally able to have a car at school. Suddenly top 40 radio became part of my life, and … even if a masterpiece like ‘The Love I Saw In You Was Just a Mirage’ never made it onto the jukebox, I’d hear it in the car….
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Andrew J said:
So that you’re back! We don’t always agree, but I always enjoy reading your thoughts.
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144man said:
That was a perfect review. The only possible argument is whether the track deserves a 9 or a 10.
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Alex Stassi said:
How funny i was about to mention “Barbaras Boy” as the comparison!!!
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nafalmat said:
Another magnificent Motown record! I seem to use that adjective all too often on Motown records of this period, but there were so many wonderful singles issued by Motown at this time. It’s difficult not to use this or a synonym of it to describe them. More often than not it’s the incredible production/arrangement/mixing/engineering and artistic performance that makes these records so fantastic. That’s not to say this is a bad song, but when you compare this recording with the slightly later Supremes’ version, which has a much weaker arrangement, you realize how important the above elements are to raise this song from pleasant to brilliant! That intricate and gorgeous string arrangement is marvelous. The only thing that amuses me is the lyrical parts that go on about hearing the neighbors criticizing. I’ve live in a terraced house at one point in my life with people either side, and you could hear them when they were shouting at each other, but not normal conversation. I wonder what sort of property Eddie Holland was thinking of when he wrote the lyrics where people could hear their neighbors ordinary conversations. Presumably a cardboard house!!
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144man said:
Putting an ear to a glass held against the wall will often do the trick 🙂
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Rupert Kinnard said:
Oh, Nixon…I can’t put in words how happy I am to have you back!
“Through these walls so thin…” If that were the case, I don’t think you’d have to even use a glass. It was be hard for me to imagine a song that is so angst ridden than this one, in terms of paranoia. I can’t help but wonder what aspect of this song made Barbara Streisand record it some 9 years later, in terms of it being one of the only Motown songs she has ever recorded.
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Rupert Kinnard said:
…and this record so moves me, I’d have to give it a 10!
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david wilson said:
I only ever heard Stresiand’s version played once on UK BBC Radio 1 in 1975. I was 14 and had yet to discover the original Top version. Over the years whenever I mentioned Barbra’s version folks thought I was mad- no one had any knowledge of it. Thanks to the internet, You Tube & Amazon I was at last able to prove I wasn’t mad and imagining the whole thing- it DID exist. A mid 70s early disco hit (Streisand’s first). The sound quality of Barbra Streisand’s version is terrible. The Four Tops original is one the the tracks that best encapsulates the “Motown Sound”.
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Graham Betts said:
Glad to have you back, with not one but two new reviews!
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Tom Lawler said:
Motown really was on a tear in the mid 60’s – and these songs are the proof. The oldies station in Houston never played this Tops tune…and I rarely heard it on CBS-FM in New York.
But Philly my friends…Philly loves this song. Hyski, the Geator, Harvey Holiday & Butterball all cued this one up whenever they wanted to keep people moving and grooving on the dance floor (and on the radio).
This tune gets a 10 in my book – but your (line dancing) mileage may vary.
Welcome back!
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Mary Plant said:
Having grown up near Philly in the mid sixties I second your comments. In terms of music, a GREAT time and place to be in high school!
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david wilson said:
For me this is one of the Four Tops greatest records and a true Motown classic perfectly epitomising the Motown Sound. A clear maximum 10 points from me. It’s another head scratcher, why did such a fantastic record fail in the UK? 1966 was when the Motown Sound had fully matured and the consistency of excellent recordings is unmatched yet somehow a large proportion of these classics bombed in the UK. Obviously the “Pirates” played them so why did they fail? Even the Supremes fell flat on their faces with 5 flops in a row- despite a live appearance on Top of the Pops to promote one (Nothing But Heartaches). I’ve never quite understood this fallow period.
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The Nixon Administration said:
I could be way off base here, as I wasn’t born until years afterwards, but… I have a theory about this.
The UK charts wouldn’t become fully accurately based on sales (and streams) until decades later. At the time, the charts were more akin to an opinion poll, a market research exercise where a “representative” sample of record stores (“chart return shops”) were asked to report back on what had sold that week, and the results tallied to produce that week’s chart. It’s my theory that during the early and mid-Sixties, those chosen stores weren’t necessarily fully “representative” of all genres of music, and specifically music by black American artists; the idea that a record shop was a record shop, not taking into account that people (besides jazz aficionados) might favour out-of-the-way, independent stores, was still prevalent. Soul music fans at the time needed to be pretty tribal when it came to where to buy records; they’d know which shops stocked the latest US imports, could be relied on to recommend stuff, and would carry all of these British Tamla Motown releases, not just the ones the BBC Light Programme (later Radio 1) played on heavy rotation. Once they started buying their records there, they wouldn’t suddenly start going to Woolworths – who might not even stock every TMG release anyway, depending on how much money and effort EMI put in – to get the new Four Tops single, and so it’s possible that there were sales that, as far as the charts were concerned, effectively never happened, because they took place in the wrong shop.
Like I say, it’s just a theory, but I wonder if that might have been factor.
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david wilson said:
Interesting theory and might account for the lack of success by “lesser” Motown acts but the Supremes were a headline act who did appear on TV (even in the UK). The BBC has a minor role in promoting pop music as the majority of young folks were tuned to the Pirate stations who heavily promoted Motown acts. EMI was a major player in the UK and were keen to push licensed Motown product. EMI and other major labels/distributors knew the handful of shops that made chart returns and chart fixing was rampant! Motown records did sell well in the capital but something somewhere just didn’t click. After a year in the wilderness You Can’t Hurry Love would see the triumphant return of the Supremes to the top of the UK chart although a country star who had been dead for 2 years would keep it from No1
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144man said:
I sometimes used to buy “Mersey Beat” magazine. I can’t remember if they published charts for individual record shops or for the area, but I do remember that Motown records generally figured higher here than nationally. London was another Motown stronghold.
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therealdavesing said:
You covered of my two Fav Four tops songs. The 1st one was Jan 1965 ( and to me those are the greatest vocals I ever heard on record) and the 2nd one isn’t until 1970 when they are teamed up with Frank Wilson with a little help from Smokey
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