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Motown Junkies

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

Motown Junkies

Category Archives: Writing credit: Holland-Dozier-Holland

693. The Four Tops: “Just As Long As You Need Me”

March 23, 2019

It’s not as brave as the A-side, or as startling, and – hand on heart – it isn’t quite as good as a record, either; but it’s still lovely, and it still works. (7)

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692. The Four Tops: “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)”

January 14, 2019

The Four Tops are wonderful, and right now, like the rest of their labelmates, songwriters, producers, musicians, and – heck – probably the people at the pressing plants, they can do no wrong. (9)

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689. The Isley Brothers: “There’s No Love Left”

October 29, 2017

Just another really solid Motown cut. By now, Motown could afford to be blasé about such things. (7)

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688. The Isley Brothers: “This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)”

June 29, 2015

It should be better known, but then that would still be true if this had sold six million copies; it’s a great, great record. ★ 10 ★

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684. The Elgins: “Darling Baby”

December 9, 2014

Even though this is maybe a slower burn than Put Yourself In My Place, it ultimately gives a brighter light; the work that’s gone into this is staggering, and the results get better with every listen. (8)

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683. The Elgins: “Put Yourself In My Place”

December 5, 2014

What we have here is a calling card for a fine new group, in many ways the first “new” Motown signing of the mid-to-late Sixties, the first Motown group born as a “Motown” group. It sounds great, and it’s also a really good record, even if there’s better to come. (7)

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679. The Supremes: “My World Is Empty Without You”

October 11, 2014

The music is designed and deployed to devastating effect, the vocal is as good as anything we’ve heard from Diana so far, the whole package is quite startling: this is the saddest-sounding outrageous pop stomper I’ve ever heard, and it’s a masterpiece. (10)

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675. Tony Martin: “Ask Any Man”

August 4, 2014

Just about Tony Martin’s best single for Motown. Which really isn’t saying very much. (2)

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649. The Four Tops: “Darling, I Hum Our Song”

November 27, 2013

A fine effort in its own right, and the vocals are lovely, but everyone involved had already moved on, and HDH were right to finally let it go. (6)

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648. The Four Tops: “Something About You”

November 9, 2013

It’s pretty good, I guess, and yet I’ve never warmed to it, never thrilled to it, never breathlessly gone straight back to the beginning to play it again. (6)

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643. The Supremes: “Who Could Ever Doubt My Love”

October 8, 2013

The fact that so much about it is slightly off-centre, the fact that it practically advertises up front that it’s not perfect? Well, that’s just about enough to make me think it really might be. Crafty blighters. (10)

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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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  • 693. The Four Tops: “Just As Long As You Need Me”
  • 692. The Four Tops: “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)”
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  • 690. Marvin Gaye: “One More Heartache”
  • 689. The Isley Brothers: “There’s No Love Left”

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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.