168. The Marvelettes: “Playboy”
If the stellar, never-to-be-recaptured magic of their début single had been something of a quirk, a statistical oddity if not an outright fluke, then in many ways the Marvelettes’ story really begins right here. (6)
Category Archives: Writing credit: Brian Holland (non-HDH)
165. Eddie Holland: “Last Night I Had A Vision”
This isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be; it’s very pretty but quite meandering, effectively consisting of three great bits linked with a lot of unmemorable fluff. (4)
164. Eddie Holland: “You Deserve What You Got”
Probably the best of Eddie’s three Motown singles to date, and the writing credit means it’s a Historically Significant record to boot; it shows plenty of promise and development, and it’s a good little record, but there was still significantly better to come from Edward Holland Jr. as both a singer and as a writer. (6)
156. Singin’ Sammy Ward: “Big Joe Moe”
Still, best not concentrate on what this record isn’t, and just enjoy it for what it is. And what it is, really, is a lot of fun. It’s just not quite “there” in terms of everything clicking into place. (6)
151. Henry Lumpkin: “Don’t Leave Me”
A disappointing waste of both a good song and a good vocalist, paired together wholly inappropriately and satisfying no-one. (3)
143. The Marvelettes: “I Want A Guy”
No, on the whole, it’s good. It is. It’s just not pants-wettingly good, and so it suffers by comparison to the original, which I love. Which is more my problem than the Marvelettes’, I know, but there we are. (6)
142. The Marvelettes: “Twistin’ Postman”
Ultimately, it’s not terrible, but the Marvelettes had come down from a whole different level to get here.
141. Mickey Woods: “(They Call Me) Cupid”
Contrary to initial misgivings – and compared to Woods’ previous sides, which had resulted in three musical abominations – this one is actually (whisper it) not too bad. (4)
139. The Twistin’ Kings: “White House Twist”
The stupidly annoying bits mean this can’t really be considered as being on a par with Xmas Twist, but the band performance is nearly enough to outweigh them. (3)
127. The Valadiers: “Take A Chance”
Despite initial appearances to the contrary, there’s not much to report going on here song-wise.
126. The Valadiers: “Greetings (This Is Uncle Sam)”
Motown’s first white vocal group; on this evidence, they were also pretty ordinary singers compared to some of their Motown labelmates, even if they were above average by the not-terribly-high standards of white Sixties doo-wop groups.
Motown Junkies 