All my complaints about this being slightly scruffy are really only minor niggles, and it’s really only the existence of a better version which diminishes this one for me, and there’s really only a small gap between the two versions… but it’s the same size as the small gap between “rather good” and “bleedin’ great”, and I can’t quite bridge it. (6)
Perfectly capable, enjoyable R&B dance fluff that gets the job done without pulling up any trees; it’s only really the name on the label that marks this out as any kind of disappointment, but ultimately that’s what it ends up being. Sorry, Shorty. (5)
Something of a sad note upon which for a legend to depart the scene, even if the record itself isn’t the train wreck it might have been. (4)
There’s simply no reason to seek out and listen to this one, not when there’s a superior version of what is for all intents and purposes the exact same song already out there. (4)
A straight, almost note-for-note cover of a bluesy R&B song taken to the Top Ten in a version by Motown alumnus Marv Johnson on United Artists in 1959, this is pretty much an exercise in pointlessness; if you listen to that one, you’ve listened to this one. (3)
A bluesy pop ballad with doo-wop tempo, Mable John turns in a similarly startling lead vocal performance as she did on the A-side, but the song isn’t as strong. (4)
Mable John, an early confidante of Berry Gordy (from back when he was struggling to get songwriting work) and who provides the touching opening essay for the first volume in the Complete Motown Singles box set series, was the first Motown female solo act, beating out the better-known Mary Wells by a matter of weeks, and this engaging bluesy strut was her first professional recording as well as her début single. (6)
Three singles, three B-sides which might, all told, be better than the plug sides. Hmmm. (6)
The most energetic Motown single up to that point, it has a liveliness not found in the label’s previous sides which makes up for the lack of imagination on show here. (5)
