I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby would have made a perfectly decent follow-up single to Pride And Joy, and could have made a much bigger chart splash if it had been released under its own steam. It’s just difficult to get away from the fact that this is a good song, but one that’s been cut from the cloth of an even better song. (6)
The best record Marvin Gaye had yet made, his career was now set irreversibly on the right track, such that not even Marvin himself could argue against this kind of evidence. (9)
Paradoxically too catchy, too good, to be a B-side, but out of date as a viable chart single. (7)
He sounds so into what he’s doing, it’s positively infectious. If you’re humming it to yourself as you read this, I bet you’re smiling too. (8)
Delicate and charming, whilst at the same time being sappy and unspectacular; it does at least sound like Marvin Gaye, the Marvin Gaye we know and love, and that’s worth something. (5)
Fun enough on its own merits, and it certainly did its job – there’s plenty to enjoy here. I’d just be surprised if this was anyone’s favourite Marvin Gaye record. (6)
In front of it all, there’s Marvin Gaye, electric, mesmerising, a star in the making. America had seen his future, just as Motown had done a year before, and it wasn’t knocking out MOR pap like “Mr Sandman”. (7)
This is one of the most important of all Motown records, not just because it’s so much fun, or because audiences have had so much fun with it, but because it marks the start of Marvin Gaye’s career proper. (8)
It’s good, but it’s a case of a few great bits balancing out a few awful bits, rather than the whole thing being the enjoyably lightweight romp it apparently thinks it is. (5)
I really rather like this. Your mileage may vary. Certainly, though, for me at least, this is the first good Marvin Gaye record, and in no small part because it’s also the first one that actually sounds like a Marvin Gaye record. (6)
Considerably less traumatising than the horrific A-side Mr Sandman, this is probably the most commercial thing Marvin Gaye had yet recorded. (5)
Motown Junkies 