A single-scoop serving of pleasing low-key balladry, and it’s obviously a decent song, but it’s got less to do with Stevie Wonder than anything since he dropped the “Little” from his name, and as such it needs to be seen as a step backwards, nice enough though it is. (5)
It might sound like damning with faint praise to call this probably Stevie’s best single since his big breakthrough with Fingertips. (6)
This sounds wonderful, as well as being one of the Holland-Dozier-Holland trio’s most beautifully understated and underrated songs, a mediation on loss (or even bereavement) as powerful and dignified as anything pop music had done so far. If this was the sound of Motown “selling out”, I’m all for it. (8)
All the ingredients are here, not just that beat, that sound, but the mixture of “up” music and “down” lyrics (sometimes up, sometimes down indeed!), the dichotomy of Diana’s cold, dispassionate steely glare and her broken, begging desperation, and the basic structure of beautiful verse, killer chorus. They’re all here, and – thanks to Nella Dodds – they’re all at Number One. (8)
It’ll never be mistaken for a prime bit of classic Marvelettes, and it’s not in the same league as the A-side, but with these girls it’s always good to hear more – and in the absence of an album, well, it’s nice to catch up on what they’d been up to. (5)
Probably the best-sounding Marvelettes single to date, certainly the most “grown up”, and – again – excellent. (8)
None of the individual elements of this (the song, the vocals, the band) is completely awful, just mediocre, but somehow when they’re all put together they amount to less than the sum of their parts. I’m not often physically worn out by trying to listen to a record turned up loud, but this one managed it, and I don’t particularly want to hear it again. Sorry, lads. (2)
Not completely terrible, it has its redeeming features, but if I find I’m impatiently waiting for a record to finish, then it’s not done it for me, I’m afraid. (3)
It’s still a good song, and it still makes for a good record – but the existence of a better previous version means this is reduced to being a bit of a pointless do-over. (5)
Ultimately I think the good outweighs the bad, but it’s just so strange I can’t give in and love it. (6)
All my complaints about this being slightly scruffy are really only minor niggles, and it’s really only the existence of a better version which diminishes this one for me, and there’s really only a small gap between the two versions… but it’s the same size as the small gap between “rather good” and “bleedin’ great”, and I can’t quite bridge it. (6)
Motown Junkies 