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Motown Junkies

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

Motown Junkies

Category Archives: The Contours

601. The Contours: “Searching For A Girl”

March 26, 2013

Not bad or offensive, it’s just sort of there. A fun but forgettable bit of filler. (4)

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600. The Contours: “First I Look At The Purse”

March 24, 2013

Unexpectedly, it turns out Smokey, and Motown, needed the Contours to exist: not as a link to the past, but as an outlet for silly ideas, as an expression of physical energy, as a pressure valve. And this, daft as it is, is just buckets of fun. (7)

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510. The Contours: “That Day When She Needed Me”

August 1, 2012

Completely out of character for the group – if you were asked to identify these guys on sound alone, “the Contours” would be the absolute last answer you’d give – but no worse for it. Nice surprises are the best kind of surprises, after all. (7)

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509. The Contours: “Can You Jerk Like Me”

July 30, 2012

I’ve given it many, many listens and I still don’t know what to make of it, or where it fits into the Contours’ story. Your mileage may vary. Mine certainly does. (5)

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396. The Contours: “I’ll Stand By You”

August 3, 2011

Really rather pretty, and absolutely fine as far as it goes, even if it only goes halfway to where it really needs to get to. (6)

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395. The Contours: “Can You Do It”

July 24, 2011

Never a masterpiece, but a corking dance rocker, very rough around the edges but definitely alive; a hint of a Contours we never really got to see, the Contours their live shows always presented to wowed audiences.

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310. The Contours: “You Get Ugly”

January 24, 2011

This isn’t just awful on its own terms, as I’d previously believed to be the case, but it turns out it’s also a craven attempt to sponge off another record’s success, the sort of thing I thought Motown had rather grown out of by this point in history. I never learn.

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309. The Contours: “Pa (I Need A Car)”

January 23, 2011

I’d be a massive hypocrite if, having berated the Contours for doing the same thing over and over again, I didn’t at least give them credit for trying something new. I just wish it had turned out a bit… better, that’s all. (5)

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284. The Contours: “It Must Be Love”

December 4, 2010

Completely out of nowhere, this has to be considered one of the best records the early Contours ever made, and it should have become a significant hit single in its own right. (8)

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283. The Contours: “Don’t Let Her Be Your Baby”

December 3, 2010

It’s not a terrible record – it shares a lot of the rhythm and danceability of Do You Love Me – but it is mean-spirited, cynical and completely pointless. (2)

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244. The Contours: “You Better Get In Line”

October 22, 2010

Thin, weak, bored-sounding “dance music” that – fatally – doesn’t ever make you want to get up and dance, this is both an artistic misfire and a commercial misjudgment. (3)

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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.

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