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Motown Junkies

~ because it's what's in the grooves that counts

Motown Junkies

Category Archives: Mary Wells

481. Mary Wells: “I’ll Be Available”

May 9, 2012

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)

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480. Mary Wells: “Whisper You Love Me, Boy”

May 5, 2012

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)

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440. Mary Wells: “Guarantee (For A Lifetime)”

December 6, 2011

Crass and tacky in every possible sense, and Mary comes across as already too dignified for this sort of thing. (2)

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439. Mary Wells: “When I’m Gone”

December 2, 2011

For want of a better word, it’s sophisticated, in pretty much every sense. Mary, having come of age, delivers the first great single of her new career as one of America’s top stars – and nobody got to hear it for two years. (8)

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417. Marvin Gaye & Mary Wells: “What’s The Matter With You Baby”

September 30, 2011

Nowhere near as good as it could have been, nowhere near as good as it thinks it is, and (perhaps most importantly) nowhere near as good as its opening half-minute suggests it’s going to be. (4)

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416. Marvin Gaye & Mary Wells: “Once Upon A Time”

September 28, 2011

It’s just nice, which isn’t a crime, but which is a crying shame; the two voices go together so well, this really needs a big, soaring chorus, something to show both singers off to their very best. Somewhere in New York, Ashford and Simpson were taking note. (5)

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405. Mary Wells: “Oh Little Boy (What Did You Do To Me)”

August 22, 2011

Motown’s best ever B-side, and – even in light of the perfect pop precision of My Guy – quite possibly Mary Wells’ best ever record. A genuine masterpiece, and a fitting end to a bunch of brilliant careers. (10)

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404. Mary Wells: “My Guy”

August 20, 2011

Perfect.

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335. Mary Wells: “What’s Easy For Two Is So Hard For One”

March 6, 2011

This is a record full of ideas for the future career of Mary Wells, none of them fully-realised yet, to the extent that it sounds like four or five different songs all smooshed together with no great care – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing in itself. (6)

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334. Mary Wells: “You Lost The Sweetest Boy”

March 5, 2011

It’s still a fun, vital record which still sounds fresh and young today, and it shows a side of Mary Wells that audiences across America had forgotten she even had. (7)

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294. Mary Wells: “What Love Has Joined Together”

December 19, 2010

Too slow to be a single, this is still one of the best records of Mary Wells’ all-too-brief tenure with Motown, and it gets better each time you listen to it. (9)

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MOTOWN JUNKIES

This is Motown Junkies, an unofficial track by track history of Motown: in-depth analysis and discussion of both sides of every Motown single ever released between 1959 and 1988. Enjoy!

 

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Motown Junkies

This is Motown Junkies, an unofficial guide to every Motown single ever released, or planned for release, on every US Motown label (or via Tamla Motown in the UK), featuring reviews of each A-side and B-side in chronological order. New reviews appear every couple of days.

Think of it as an unauthorised track-by-track companion to the magnificent The Complete Motown Singles CD box sets, and beyond, with marks out of ten.

I'm NOT Paul Nixon.

FURTHER INFORMATION

More info about the blog (and me) can be found here. If you want to leave a comment on any review, please feel free to do so - all feedback, corrections, disagreements and encouragements gratefully received. If you've something you'd rather not say in public, I can be contacted at fosse8 at gmail dot com.

(Oh, and if you arrived here looking for the Motown Junkies music group, they're nothing to do with me, I'm afraid - but they are very nice people, and they can be found at www.motownjunkies.com instead.)

HOW TO USE THIS BLOG

You can jump straight to the full list of reviews so far in the Master Index, or browse by label instead.

If you're looking for something a bit more specific, you can click an artist's name in the "Artist" menu at the top of the screen to see a little biography and all the reviews we've done for them so far. Only people whose records I've already discussed appear there at the moment - more names will be added to the lists all the time as I work my way through Motown's history, so do keep checking back!

Alternatively, the front page displays excerpts from the most recent reviews, and on the right hand side of the screen you'll see a list of the most recent entries and also a sampling of the most popular entries from the last 48 hours, as well as the latest comments left by visitors.

Dive in, explore and have fun!

LEGAL STUFF

This is an unofficial site, and is not affiliated in any way with Universal Motown, Hip-O Select or any of the artists referred to in the blog.

Where indicated, label scan images appear by kind permission of Lars "LG" Nilsson (as originally prepared for the Complete Motown Singles series).

Digital images courtesy of Gordon Frewin are supplied for use at motownjunkies.co.uk by arrangement. All applicable rights reserved. No unauthorised republication is permitted.

Many label images were kindly provided by Robb Klein, together with invaluable historical research.

All text © Motown Junkies, 2009-19. All rights reserved.

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