There are so many great moments here that it’s pointless even trying to list them all; it’s just a pity they’ve all been shoehorned into a somewhat ropey little song. And Bobbie Smith I could listen to all day long. For now, knowing there’s so much better to come from these guys around the corner, this will just about do. (5)
Fine work, and as second chances go, at least this time Mickey couldn’t complain that he wasn’t given a great song. (7)
One of Motown’s biggest personalities and one of Motown’s biggest voices, and they’re utterly wasted on this thin little sketch, a failed proof of concept intended for two entirely different people; it’s like giving Cézanne a paint by numbers and some chunky crayons. (3)
If it’s lacking a little as a song, there’s very little wrong with it as a record, and as an introduction to a hot new partnership, it’s right on the money. There’d be better songs for these two yet, but this is a fine way to start. (7)
It serves no real purpose other than to let three prominent Brothers do their thing for posterity, it doesn’t really go anywhere, and it’s great fun as opposed to just great – but there are moments that set the pulse racing, and you don’t really want it to end. Not as quickly as it does, anyway.(7)
Probably not what Van Dyke or the other Funk Brothers had in mind when Motown said they were greenlighting a house band instrumental single, and it’s not really anything all that special – but it’s plenty of fun, it’s energetic, it’s good to dance to, and it sounds considerably better when you’re drunk, so it does everything it’s meant to. Still, if there’s an argument that there should be more of these, and less of (say) the Marvelettes, it’s not an argument anyone should really be making. (6)
There isn’t any more after this, I’m afraid, and so it’s up to us to squeeze as much entertainment as possible from these last dregs. Which, it turns out, is actually quite a bit of entertainment, all things considered. (4)
Another super Motown record, in a year not exactly short of them, and it shows that Mary was still at the peak of her powers right up until she walked out of Hitsville for the last time. We’ll never know what might have been had she clocked back in again the next day. (8)
We’ll never hear the Supremes do anything like this again, but it’s a gas alright, alternately charming and thrilling even as its faltering structure trips over its own feet. (6)
This is one of Motown’s most famous singles simply because it’s one of Motown’s best singles. I don’t care how many times it gets played, it’s as much of a thrill the first time as the 350th, and that’s pretty much the definition of magical. (10)
A morose little song about heartbreak, self-doubt and suicide, backed with all sorts of movie trappings (flurries of horns and Debussy strings and twanging bass and stately drums) even though it’s not actually from a movie. (4)
Motown Junkies 