This is Motown Junkies, a track-by-track review of every US and UK Motown single, including all subsidiaries. Not ambitious, then.
“I wasn’t always a Motown junkie. In fact, I wasn’t always interested in pop music at all. Thirteen-year-old me was into Kraftwerk, T.Rex, the Electric Light Orchestra, and knew nothing of Motown beyond a handful of overplayed oldies on the radio. (I also knew nothing of the Beatles, Stones, Commodores, Coltrane, Cole, Beethoven or Bix Beiderbecke, for that matter. I knew nothing full stop, really.) I was unprotected and unprepared, and I made easy prey for pop music’s most insidious pushers of hooks and tunes. I spent my teens listening to all sorts of random stuff, in search of the ultimate hit (in every sense), eventually rummaging around in the equivalent of the music industry’s scrap bins – samplers from Finnish indie labels, unsigned Louisiana hip hop collectives, anything – to try and get another taste of something that ran through the veins of all my favourite records, something I couldn’t quite grasp or understand but always recognised as soon as I felt it. I didn’t know, of course, that what I was looking for was staring me right in the face the entire time. So when – thanks to a bunch of compilation CDs at a local shop’s closing-down sale – I eventually fell for Motown, I fell hard and I fell deep.”
– (from my review of Dancing in the Street)
Ten years ago, this sort of undertaking would have been totally impossible; it’s only with the release of the superb Hip-O Select Complete Motown Singles box sets, and the scholarship of the compilers and researchers who put those sets together and provided the copious liner notes, that a buffoon like me is able to sit here and do a blog like this.
Research by many dedicated, knowledgeable soul fans across the Internet has unearthed a great many more facts, corrections and other bits of trivia, serving as a kind of gloss on those box sets. As recently as twenty years ago, the information that’s now freely available through a couple of clicks and a few well-worded Google searches would have marked you out as an expert, a Motown nerd of the highest caliber. Nowadays this vast slew of other people’s hard work provides an instant reference for anyone wanting to know anything about what came out on any Motown label, who wrote it, who recorded it, when it was released, how it fared on release, and what happened afterwards. Provided you’re willing to put in a minuscule amount of time searching for it, that information is out there.
And yet, there’s seemingly very little information on the net about what some of these records are actually like, or which ones people like, and which ones they think are rubbish. And if there’s one thing I like to do, it’s talk about records. At length. That, and swearing a lot. (Sorry.) So I pounced, almost catlike, on the opportunity to talk about these records. All of them.
So, here we are. I’m Nixon, and I’m British. I love music in almost all its forms, and I love Motown. The title, for the uninitiated, is a Manic Street Preachers joke. (I note James Dean Bradfield has long since stopped singing the opening bars of Baby Love when introducing Motown Junk; good for him.)
Here’s how this will work. I’m going to do a separate post for every released (or planned) A- and B-side, and these will then be compiled both on the pages for each label, and also in the Master Index, which is just a great big list of everything that’s been posted to date. Unless otherwise noted, for the stuff between 1959 and 1972, I’ve treated the liner notes in the Complete Motown Singles box sets as the Word of God, and will only be dissenting from the officially-sanctioned “party line” where I think it’s important to do so (and noting the conflict). I’ll also provide external links to any information out there which I’ve taken note of, or which might provide useful further reading.
Each song will have its own post, and that post will note (in the header) what label it was on, the catalogue number, the month of release (or scheduled release) – not the date of recording – and the writers. At the bottom of each post, there’s also now an entirely subjective mark out of ten, mainly for my own amusement and to provoke debate. There, you’ll also find links back to the previous Motown release and forward to the next one. (Obviously, I’ll add those last ones retrospectively.) Yeah, I can tell you’re excited.
Comments are enabled, so should you disagree with what’s been said or spot a glaring error, you can have your say too.
Well, that’s enough preamble. Now, time for a bit of prehistory. Enjoy the blog.
Motown Junkies 
Hi Nix, I’ve just answered your query about information on Morris/Luvel Broadnax on Soulful Detroit’s Motown Forum.
Here it is: Morris Ervin Broadnax was his given name. Luvel must have been a nickname, and his credits changed to “Luvel” Broadnax about 1/2 way through his career. He was born in 1931.
He started with Motown in 1961, signed an exclusive contract as a songwriter. He had been sent to Motown by his friends, The Four Tops, to try out for a singing contract. They liked his songs a lot better than his singing. On You-Tube there is an interview with him. As the “new writer”, Berry Gordy assigned him to work with Little Stevie Wonder, as the others didn’t want to work with him. He teamed up with Clarence Paul (Wonder’s producer). He was the one who first encouraged Stevie to write songs, and helped him start out. He later worked also with Hank Cosby and Sylvia Moy. He wrote songs for most of the more known Motown acts, including The Miracles, Temptations, Mary Wells, Four Tops, Gladys Knight and The Pips, etc. With The Clarence Paul crew, it was Broadnax’s job to overdub the lead and background vocals. He wrote “Just A little Misunderstanding” -the Contours, “I Miss You, Baby”-Marv Johnson, many songs for Stevie Wonder and The Four Tops.
On Google you can find some links to info about him. He worked with Motown from 1961-1969, when he started working as an independent songwriter, working with Aretha Franklin (whose family he had known for many years). He had written “Till You Come Back To Me” (along with Stevie Wonder and Clarence Paul) for Stevie, but offered it to Aretha (for whom it became a big hit).
Broadnax was the one most instrumental in trying to start a Motown Alumni Association, in 1989. It didn’t start until 1995. He died in 2009.
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Hi Nix, I’ve just answered your query about information on Morris/Luvel Broadnax on Soulful Detroit’s Motown Forum.
Here’s a link to an interview with Mr. Broadnax by his nephew. It was made not so long before he died.
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Thanks Robb, it’s very much appreciated! I was just looking for confirmation that Morris and Luvel were definitely the same person, which would explain the seeming lack of biographical information on the latter.
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Why did you stop??
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What a brilliant site! Found it by chance when googling The Satintones. Going to give this a mention on my facebook page onj a regular basis. KTF
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and I followed Stewart here – cheers Stew 🙂
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any chance once this hefty tome is completed we might see it in printed form … like a book? so much more personal and interesting than the notes in “the complete motown singles – still unfinished(!) ” multi-volumned cd set. i would sure use it as a constant companion. then you could start your companion piece, “choice tracts and unreleased masters”!
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At the rate I’m currently going, “once this hefty tome is completed” is so far in the future that books may have ceased to exist by then.
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Let’s hope not. Books should be kept around. They don’t have to be recharged or rebooted and won’t short out if you spill your soda on them.
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True, though precious few books will withstand the soda treatment either!
Sorry for the delay in getting the new entry up, everyone. The Marvelettes will be on deck very shortly.
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After reading your review of Tommy Good’s ‘Baby I Miss You’, I found this interesting information about Tommy Good on the web:
http://static.record-eagle.com/2006/may/11tommy.htm
Great site, by the way!
All best wishes, Chris
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MOTOWN IS RICH WITH GREAT SONGS, TONS OF DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF SONGS THAT WERE HITS BY ALL OR MOST OF THE ARTISTS AND GROUPS AT
MOTOWN IN THE VAULT AND OUT IN THE MARKET. MOTOWN HAS MORE SONGS AND DISCOVERIES OF ARTISTS IN THE CAN. I LOVE MOTOWN AND YES, I AM TRULY A MOTOWN JUNKIE!!!
THANKS BERRY, SMOKEY, THE FUNK BROTHERS AND TO THE ALL OF THE GROUPS, WRITERS, AND THE ADANTES WHO PLAYED DOUBLE FOR THE MAJOR GIRL GROUPS AND ALL OF THE BACKGROUND SINGERS WHO HANDCLAPPED OR ADDED EFFECTS TO THE MAGIC OF MOTOWN FOR THE
WONDERFUL MUSIC AND APOLLOS SHOWS…THAT BROUGHT THE WORLD TOGETHER AND SHARED MANY GREAT MEMORIES
AND THANKS TO THE DETROIT GOLDEN PERIOD AND THE LOS ANGELES PERIOD. 1959-1985
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What a terrrific site!!! I don’t know how I stumbled here, but it’s an amazing site. One of the best on the WWW.
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Thanks WB. I appreciate the kind words.
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I just did the same! was about half hour ago and i cant remember the reason for the connection lol…however I am very pleased I did. how cool is this! nice one : )
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Thanks Debs! Sorry for the late reply. Glad you’re enjoying!
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Knowledgeable, but entertaining, as are many of your pages. I read through the archives over the past week or two, and I must say I think I’m found a new bookmark.
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Thanks Aida, I appreciate it. I hope you’re enjoying the site 🙂
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Mr. Nix, have you heard about this?
Motown’s Unsung Female Trio Finally Gets Acclaim
Forgive me if the href tag gets messed up…the Yahoo article is about the Andantes getting a spot in a Motown Museum exhibit.
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I feel I’ve uncovered a previously hidden special christmas present in finding this site. I plan to spend quality time playing with this “toy” for a long time to come, Lord willing!
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Love your site! So MUCH information that is really appealing to me as I also grew up being a ‘Motown Junkie’ in the USA. Although I’ve known about your site for some time through the Soulful Detroit Motown Forum (on which I am “motownlover”), I’ve not until now spent much time reading your blog.
Your approach brings back lots of good memories to me from the hey day of classic Motown in the 1960s. I consider Motown as my life’s soundtrack. When listening to a familiar song from that era, I can think back to the year it was released and what my life’s journey entailed at the time.
I used to make believe I was a Motown dj and make my very own top 30 lists that were subject to change day by day, all typed out on a very old German typewriter! Too bad I didn’t save those typed listings to look back at.
Thanks big time for all your wonderful, dedicated efforts!
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Has the continuing review of the motown discography stopped? What a shame if that is the case! So much new information here that I never knew about motown.
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Not stopped! I’ve just got a lot on my plate at the moment, so the pace has slowed down a bit. New entries appear once or twice a week at the moment.
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Perfect! You’re just now getting into the middle of the classic era before the H-D-H meltdown. Looking forward to your new postings once I get to the end of the current blog! Thanks!!!!
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“…it’s almost impossible to pinpoint a dividing line between “classic era” Motown and what came before and after; the “Motown Sound” is hard to define, and the development of a recognisable musical style wasn’t something that was just switched on overnight one day, this record simply marking another step along the way…” I love any attempt to try to figure out what single Motown record represented the beginning of “The Motown Sound”. I am almost as interested in what others would consider to be the LAST Motown record that featured that sound. I have a great appreciation for that Motown boxed set that separated the Motown Sound era between the Detroit sessions and the LA sessions, when Motown made it’s west coast move. What say you guys?
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One of the last records to have an identifiable Motown sound was Keith and Darrell’s “You’re My Gardener”, released on Tamla in 1981.
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I am also rabidly interested in what folks here think about the distinction between a “favorite record” and a “favorite SONG.” My all-time favorite record…EVER…is The Temptation’s My Girl. I wouldn’t say that My Girl is my favorite song, though it ranks among them. I love Stevie’s take on the song…totally hated Smokey and the Miracles take on it. What say ya’ll?
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I’ve been listening to music since 1950 or so. I have about 150,000 recorded songs on vinyl and/or styrene, plus, probably another 20,000 songs on cassette tape, plus probably another 3,000 on CD, and another 1,000 on digital files, recorded over five decades, and located in 5 different countries on 2 different continents. It would be extremely difficult to narrow down to a “top 500”, or possibly, even a Top 1000, let alone a single favourite. My favourite would change daily, with my mood and time distance from last hearing a song. One day, it might be “Up On The Roof” by The Drifters, or “My Saddest Hour” by The Five Keys, or “Grand Spanish Lady” by The Royal Ravens, or “Lucky To Be Loved By You” by Emanuel Lasky, or “I’ll Come Running” by Carolyn Crawford, or “I’m Yours” by The Flamingos, or “It’s Been So Long” by The Leaping Flames, or “Young Boy” by Barbara Green, or “Found True Love” by Billy Butler and The 4 Enchanters, etc., etc.
As to “favourite song” vs. “Favourite record”, my favourite records are all like old friends (like Scrooge McDuck remembered each and every coin he ever obtained). HAAA! HAAAAA! HAAAAA! (he cried, frothing at the mouth in a mad fit). I remember where and when I got each one of the many 1000s. Again, I’d be hard pressed to name a top 1,000. They also are all old friends. Remember, I’m a record collector-NOT a music collector! But, I AM a music lover, nevertheless (as Billy Butler once said!)
Would my favourite song be the one of which I have the most different versions by the most different artists?: “Over The Rainbow”, “White Christmas”, “Stormy Weather”, “The White Cliffs Of Dover”, “The Glory Of Love”, “Red Sails In The Sunset”, etc., etc.? Or one of the many 1,000s to which I have a sentimental attachment?
Impossible to answer your question. I CAN say, however, that “My Girl” would make both Top 500 lists.
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My dear Mr. Kinnard & my friend Robb,
Finally, finally, finally …. someone has hit upon Good Record vs Good Song. I get tired of all of those websites (not this one!) where people list their most hated songs. In many cases people get “bad record”/”bad song” mixed up. I will have to think hard about my favorite Motown record vs song. A possible example is “War” by Edwin Starr (& originially done by the Temptations). Simply looking at the lyrics, they sound very naive. Kind of like a 10th grade position papers (ie “War causes unrest in the younger generation”). Of course, I agree that was is bad, but anyway. When put together in a fantastic production (ie Starr’s version), you have a completely awesome record. When judged as “sheet music alone” many Motown songs, at first glance, look a little lame, but put together a great arrangement/production/instrumentation/vocals & you have a great record!
And to my friend, Robb… Wow! You have quite a collection of songs. And I must say that I really, really like “Found True Love” by Billy Butler. Wonderful record. A lost gem! An now defunct oldies station in Baltimore, MD used to play that on their Sunday Night forgotten 45’s show.
A possible favorite song (though not Motown) might be the standard “Tenderly”. I tend to like every version I have heard of that.
Anyway, I hope you have a great week my friends!
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Landini,
Thanks for the feedback. I totally agree that loving every version of a song makes a good case for it being worthy of a being considered favorite song. I know that many could consider For Once in My LIfe a smaltzy song but I have to say that I have loved just about every version of it that I have heard because no performance of it that I have heard obscures the beauty of the lyrics and melody. Paul Williams version is still the apex!
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Yes sir… “For Once” is a great song, though I have gotten used to Stevie Wonder’s uptempo version. The ballad versions are nice. Funny that some people don’t realize that the song started out as a ballad. Yes, Mr. Williams did a fine version of this song.
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As I read your most recent post I am listening to Billy Butler singing Right Track! LOVE IT!!!!
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You said it brother!
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Robb, Hi! Hope you are well. I just noticed you mentioned “Red Sails In The Sunset”. A great song. Have you heard Joe Turner’s uptempo version? That is really cool. Love the 5 Keys doing “Glory of Love”. Love the Righteous Bros doing “White Cliffs of Dover” & the Magnificent Men doing “Stormy Weather”. Best to you my friend!
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I LOVE the Dells’ version of Glory of Love!!!!
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Will have to check that out. Not sure if I heard it before. Have no doubt it is great!
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Hi Landini,-yes, I have hear Joe Turner’s version of “Red Sails In The Sunset”, and have it on vinyl record. Glad you are cancer free once again.
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A Motown site ,great job Nix,
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Former Motown Promoter & recording artist Cornell Blakely has passed away. December 3 in his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. I have biographical information on Cornell. I have known him “worked: & written about him & his multi faceted & colorful career.
Cornell introduced Legendary John R Richbourg to Berry Gordy in the early Sixties.. Thats was history & a global audeniece for The Motor Town Sound -The “Sound Of Young America” .
I can be contacted on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cassie.j.fox and my e-mail addy is: news2cassie@yahoo.com
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Hi,
Great site, I can’t believe I’ve only just discovered it. I stumbled upon it looking up Sammy Ward and then quickly flicked around and was shocked to see that you weren’t American and that you had come to Tamla by way of Rock!
Have only had a chance to read a few pages so far but can already see that it is a truly valuable asset to fans of Tamla like myself. I look forward to reading all the rest.
As for dissent: Should I Tell Them by The Velvelettes, perhaps it’s my age, but I would give that a nine any day. A gem of of a recording that seems to be about the boy/girl romance thing and transend it too, all wraped up in a strange off beat kind of way.
Thanks.
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Firstly I have recently discovered your website- well done, it truly is a labour of love and your exuberant enthusiasm is evident in every line. It is great that after so many years I’m able to connect with likeminded fans of the greatest music ever, thanks to the world wide web. I was born in 1961 so have only hazy recollections of the 60’s with regards to pop culture although I was surrounded by music – my cousins who would babysit along with their boyfriends would bring their singles collections to play on my fathers state of the art stereogram and my dad, who was a member of a dance band, would play pop, c&w, jazz and we would listen to and record the pirate stations on his Grundig reel to reel tape recorder. How I wish those tapes had survived if only to hear my childhood self playing Disc Jockey between the tracks! I’ve always been aware of Motown and the Supremes and Four Tops in particular. Growing up in an all white rural Scotland they represented another alien world, exotic, beautiful and sophisticated ‘negresses’ (in the words of the Daily Record newspaper in 1965!) Although I would buy the odd single now and again (e.g. Sugar Sugar) I really started seriously collecting music in 1974 and studying the charts- BBC/Luxembourg/Billboard. I fell in love with the Supremes and Diana Ross in particular with all her faults. First Supremes album I bought was a Music for Pleasure release off early recordings titled ‘Baby Love’ which had been re-released and charted on its 10th anniversary. The triple ‘Anthology’ album was next as wereDiana’s solo projects and duets with Marvin. My collection expanded to include singles and albums by all motown artists, alongside contemporary artists of the day. I get frustrated when Motown’s influence on the development of popular music is downplayed by the mainly white middle-class music press/critics. Their ignorance can at times be staggering- take Amy Winehouse as an example- hailed as original yet she was in my opinion nothing more than a glorified 60’s girl group tribute act. The Back to Black album is a complete plagiarised rip off of motown classics- yet this was never acknowledged and Whitehouse was lionised as a supreme (pun intended) new talent. These critics seem to view Motown’s importance as a side bar. What nonsense- listen to any modern pop singer and the structure of pop songs and Motowns is evident in its DNA. To completely ignore the significance of the Supremes in pop culture is criminal. 12 US No1’s bettered only by Elvis and the Beatles, breaking through the colour bar in so many ways. It is also conveniently forgotten that Diana was the top female star of the 70’s with a record 6 no1’s in US. Without them the Spice Girls, Destiny’s Child Whitney, Madonna, Janet, Beyonce, Rihanna and co would have found life much tougher and yet they rarely acknowledge Diana and the Supremes. Keep up the great work and I look forward to regular visits.
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I never read this section of Nixon’s wonderful blog and David Wilson I agree with you completely. Before I moved from Philly to Ft. Lauderdale I remember a poll taken by WDAS Radio Station. WHO IS THE GREATEST FEMALE GROUP OF ALL TIME? Would it be The Spice Girls, The Jones Girls, Destiny’s Child, En Vogue, or, perhaps, The Supremes? Now WDAS is a serious SOUL station and probably never played any of these groups. However, the result in 2011 was —— The Supremes, by a land slide. So, on occasion, though never enough, they get their due.
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It’s a great pleasure to discover this website. I was a pre-teen when I bought my first 45, and I can proudly say it was “Playboy” by the Marvelettes. Didn’t even know what a “Playboy” was, but that song made me want to be one. And I can remember what a thrill it was to listen to “My Girl” on the radio when it was FIRST released (“Here’s a brand new song by the Temptations”), and hear that opening guitar riff by Robert White. Most of my friends were fanatics for Elvis and The Beatles, but I was grooving to Motown. It’s the music of my youth, and I love it as much today as I did then.
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I have recently purchased some property of an old Motown executive. Some of what I found amongst her belongings are quite astounding. I have several rare acetates containing The Supremes “Where Did The Love Go”, The Temptations “My Girl”and several others. They are 10″and in very good condition. Would you know anything about these. Let me know.
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Love your site and great thorough write up’s about the songs. Great work!
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First – thank you for this amazing site – in many ways it’s better, more complete and better organized than most of the books available on Motown. I’m currently using it as a listening guide as I study the Complete Singles collection. I have a small enhancement request: if a copy of the Previous/Next buttons could be placed at the top of each page, it would be easy to quickly navigate through (in my case, looking for composer credits) without having to scroll to the bottom each time.
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AM I missing something.i haven’t seen any new reviews of songs. I still have This Old Heart Of Mine up . was this the last review? I am in withdrawal
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You are correct that “This old Heart of Mine(Is weak For You)” is the last review. Mr. Nixon has been beset with familial and career obligations, but has already again started work on reviews for this site, and told us they some will be forthcoming “relatively soon”. I look forward to them. But, in the meantime, I have discovered that there are many songs on which I have not commented.
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thanks. need my Motown junkies fix
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Hmmm…..For some reason, it looks like this website has been abandoned!!!!! That’s a shame because this looks like it could be the best site on THE MOTOWN SOUND that ever existed on the World Wide Web. Therefore, I’m gonna list the fifty Motown singles that I would give a rating of “10” thus are my personal favorite Motown songs.
My list is as follows:
1.) “I Hear A Symphony” THE SUPREMES
2.) “Since I Lost My Baby” THE TEMPTATIONS
3.) “Nowhere To Run” MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS
4.) “Ooo Baby Baby” THE MIRACLES
5.) “You Lost The Sweetest Boy” MARY WELLS
6.) “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” THE FOUR TOPS
7.) “Don’t Mess With Bill” THE MARVELETTES
8.) “Stop In The Name Of Love” THE SUPREMES
9.) “War” EDWIN STARR
10.) If This World Were Mine” MARVIN GAYE AND TAMMI TERRELL
11.) “Every Little Bit Hurts” BRENDA HOLLOWAY
12.) “The Love You Save” THE JACKSON 5
13.) “My World Is Empty Without You” THE SUPREMES
14.) “Hey Love” STEVIE WONDER
15.) “I’ll Try Something New” THE MIRACLES
16.) “Ain’t That Peculiar” MARVIN GAYE
17.) “Shotgun” JR. WALKER AND THE ALL STARS
18.) “If I Were Your Woman” GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS
19.) “Smiling Faces Sometimes” THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH
20.) “Love Child” DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES
21.) “The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game” THE MARVELETTES
22.) “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep” THE TEMPTATIONS
23.) “That’s The Way Love Is” MARVIN GAYE
24.) “Strange I Know” THE MARVELETTES
25.) “Quicksand” MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS
26.) “Ask The Lonely” THE FOUR TOPS
27.) “For Once In My Life” STEVIE WONDER
28.) “Never Can Say Goodbye” THE JACKSON 5
29.) “You’re All I Need To Get By” MARVIN GAYE AND TAMMI TERRELL
30.) “When I’m Gone” BRENDA HOLLOWAY
31.) “My Baby Loves Me” MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS
32.) “The One Who Really Loves You” MARY WELLS
33.) “Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday” STEVIE WONDER
34.) “I’ll Be There” THE JACKSON FIVE
35.) “Too Many Fish In The Sea” THE MARVELETTES
36.) “A Place In The Sun” STEVIE WONDER
37.) “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You” MARVIN GAYE AND TAMMI TERRELL
38.) “Baby I Need Your Lovin” THE FOUR TOPS
39.) “Don’t Look Back” THE TEMPTATIONS
40.) “Where Did Our Love Go” THE SUPREMES
41.) “My Cherie Amour” STEVIE WONDER
42.) “Don’t Make Hurting Me A Habit” THE MARVELETTES
43.) “Here Comes The Judge” SHORTY LONG
44.) “Save Me” SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES
45.) “A Bird In The Hand (Is Worth Two In The Bush)” THE VELVELETTES
46.) “I Can’t Believe You Love Me” TAMMI TERRELL
47.) “A Thrill A Moment” KIM WESTON
48.) “What Love Has Joined Together” MARY WELLS
49.) “Just Ain’t Enough Love” EDDIE HOLLAND
50.) “Darling Baby” THE ELGINS
Hopefully, there are enough people who still come to this website that Mr. Nixon will start posting more GREAT REVIEWS and those of us who want to post on this blog can get back to discussing THE GREATEST MUSIC EVER MADE AKA THE MOTOWN SOUND. Until then, I wish everybody who comes here THE VERY BEST IT CAN BE!!!!
Sincerely Yours,
Greg “Gregorzick” Kipp
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Not abandoned, just… Resting. 🙂
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A really informative site, and the best I have seen on Motown. Well done (Da iawn)!
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Just discovered your fantastic website! Been a Motown fan since high school. I still remember hearing “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” for the first time on the radio in 1962 while in college in Washington D.C. .. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Motown was the thread of much of my life in the 60s onward! I still have many many 45s! Thanks for the memories!
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well I am still in withdrawal and need a fix. miss this site so much. seems like forever.
you are so appreciated and missed.
please come back soon. wishing you peace and rest .
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Really enjoy the site. But is there any way you can make it easier to read? The grey-on- black template has me constantly squinting and struggling to make out words. If the grey-ish text could be whiter or brighter (similar to the text you have in bold), it would be easier to read — and less tiresome to read in depth. I’d like to peruse the whole site, but it creates eye strain to view more than a few pages at a time. Thanks!
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the new Supremes a go go got me thinking about this sight and wanted to stopin and see if there are any updates. please come back soon. our world is empty without you. sorry I had to.
you are missed.
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This site is fantastic. I recently picked up the CD “Greetings From Detroit – The Sound of Early Motown.” It’s a pretty basic, probably public domain collection of the early Motown singles. No liner notes whatsoever, so I Googled and found this site. Thanks so much for the wealth of information.
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Pingback: A Blog for Motown Junkies – Ceroc & Modern Jive Dance by Paul Jeffery
No update in two years? I has the sads! I hope you’re writing somewhere because I happened across your review of Marvin Gaye’s first single and was totally absorbed by your writing style! And I’ve learned a lot…
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Thanks! I’ll be back at some point, though I’ve learned not to go promising any kind of definite time frame. Just having an extended break, writing commercial things and spending time with my family. Motown Junkies will return!
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Please return, I’ve just found your blog and I have to say I am amazed by the quality of your “10” picks. They have changed my perception of Motown.
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Aw, thank you. I’m not away on purpose, just been extra busy with work and other life based things – but it’s always my plan to return! Glad you’re enjoying!
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Is it still possible to be notified when you post a new review? Thanks and welcome back!
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There’s currently a huge project underway on genius.com to transcribe the lyrics to all 1,838 songs released on “The Complete Motown Singles” – So far 1,184 tracks have been transcribed. What’s really cool is that most the people transcribing these songs are either teenagers or in their 20s and this website has been a huge help providing context and learning about the individual bands/songs. Link to the project thread: https://genius.com/discussions/319976-The-motown-singles-project-19591972 So thanks for your help!
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I am not sure if this is the proper forum where to post this notice, so please advise if it isn’t.
I have collected the entire Motown catalog on LP vinyl and have every issue since the beginning on the Motown, Soul, Tamla, Gordy and Mowest labels and am interested in selling the entire collection. All discs are playable. If anyone is interested or knows someone who is, please contact me by email at
ogemaw516@gmail.com
John
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Trying to identify the instrumental played by Choker Campbell’s Orchesta at the beginning of the Motortown Revue live at the Apollo in 1963. Can anyone be of help?
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Hi Nix, I hope everything is fine with you and your family. I have posted the answer to the conundrum of the Motown-Chess release dates of “Bad Girl” by The Miracles, which clears everything up related to the discrepancy between “official” in-house release date information and what was printed in other sources at those times. I hope you’ll look at the comments, and comment yourself on it. Thanks. I posted this here, because I seem to have lost your e-mail address.
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Really enjoying this blog. Hope you find the time to post some more entries soon!!!
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So do I! Thank you so much for the nice comments.
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Amazing site, incredible undertaking….
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What a labour of love this must have been. Well done, it is just amazing and invaluable.
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love the s. very informative.
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I have a very basic question and with my limited knowledge if this era/genre please be kind. I have a few 45 singles that are just on the Tamla label. One with Smokey Robinson (with the Miracles as well)from Great Britain seem to have little to no extra value added to them but the uniqueness of having it be a now long gone part of Motown or early Motown. Prior to these singles I only knew if Berry Gordy as Motown and knew nothing about Tamla. I have a some Marvin Gaye and I believe abitger smokey as well
Just a interesting fact in the late 1980s I worked at a video store in Roswell NM and one of Smokey Robinson”s writings partners little sweet mother came in often. Her name was Diamond and she was so proud of her sons writing and Smokey Robinson. She always had something to show me about them.
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I am compiling my own list (basic HTML), adding in the rank and date with link to my own on-line (that is, my computer) Billboard chart for the pertinent date, and to the MP3 version of the song. This blog site has been a tremendous aid in filling in the blanks … of which were many … in informtion lacking in my record collection.
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