This is songcraft on quite another level from the workaday R&B and doo-wop that had been Motown’s stock in trade up until now; not even twenty and already a class apart, this is a superb calling card for one of the all-time great songwriters.
After the horrors of the A-side, this is slightly better, but still hardly great; extremely repetitive and almost mindlessly simple, running for less than two minutes, it sounds more than anything else like a Buddy Holly record being played at 33 by mistake.
Quite comfortably the worst Motown single thus far, though it would be challenged handily for that crown later on, this is a blot on the copybook of everyone concerned. (1)
Motown Junkies 