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    • A
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Motown Junkies

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

Motown Junkies

Category Archives: Writing credit: Harvey Fuqua

677. Jr. Walker & the All Stars: “Cleo’s Mood”

August 12, 2014

Berry Gordy was vindicated again, the record both gaining plenty of new fans, and selling well; people bought it and people played it, and I find that heartening. Certainly I like this a lot more than I might once have expected to. (8)

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660. The Supremes: “Children’s Christmas Song”

February 5, 2014

Maybe it’s unfair to give it a mark at all, never mind to consider it as part of the Supremes’ “real” recorded output in this most glorious of years for Motown’s top group. But here it is – and it’s so cacophonous, so ear-splittingly unlistenable, that no matter how good its intentions and how kind its heart, it ends up one of the worst Motown singles of all time. (1)

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657. Tammi Terrell: “Hold Me Oh My Darling”

January 14, 2014

If the rest of the song is too slight and weird to really connect without Marvin Gaye and his chemistry balancing things out, this is still a fine record not easily forgotten. (7)

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656. Tammi Terrell: “I Can’t Believe You Love Me”

January 11, 2014

Understandable that Tammi’s solo work has been overshadowed by the Marvin Gaye duets, especially since we never got to hear the next act in her story. But this right here is Tammi’s show, and she inhabits the record body and soul; as calling cards go, they really don’t come much more impressive than this. (9)

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593. The Spinners: “Tomorrow May Never Come”

March 10, 2013

Dated (which isn’t necessarily a problem), rough (again, not always a problem), and boring (definitely a problem), this is an inexplicable return to a time already vanished, and the trip does the Spinners no credit at all. (3)

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488. The Spinners: “How Can I”

June 2, 2012

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)

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79. Marvin Gaye: “Never Let You Go (Sha Lu Bop)”

December 5, 2009

While Marvin doesn’t sound quite as bored as he did on the A-side, he’s still only giving this about fifty per cent, tops. The song really calls for a forceful, full-on delivery to mask its pilfering and lack of lyrical content, but he sounds most un-Gayelike: flat, perfunctory, almost limp; going through the motions. (4)

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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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