338. Marvin Gaye: “Can I Get A Witness”
The best record Marvin Gaye had yet made, his career was now set irreversibly on the right track, such that not even Marvin himself could argue against this kind of evidence. (9)
Category Archives: Writing credit: Holland-Dozier-Holland
334. Mary Wells: “You Lost The Sweetest Boy”
It’s still a fun, vital record which still sounds fresh and young today, and it shows a side of Mary Wells that audiences across America had forgotten she even had. (7)
326. The Miracles: “Mickey’s Monkey”
Oh yeah, they all knew this was some infectious junk alright. Damn it, Smokey, you know I can’t stay mad at you – you’ll always get me in the end. (6)
323. Martha & the Vandellas: “A Love Like Yours (Don’t Come Knocking Everyday)”
A neat little jewel in its way, oddly affecting and eminently likeable, a snapshot of a group who knew they were good but didn’t yet know they were famous. (7)
322. Martha & the Vandellas: “Heat Wave”
A remarkable record, and one of the best singles Motown ever released. (10)
321. The Marvelettes: “Tie A String Around Your Finger”
if the Marvelettes were about to give up their crown as Motown’s top girl group, they were doing so as gracefully as possible. (7)
315. Holland-Dozier: “Come On Home”
So inconsequential that there’s almost nothing to it. Two minutes of instrumental blues piano tinkling, drums, horns and handclaps, a bit of organ, and that’s your lot. 3
314. Holland-Dozier: “What Goes Up, Must Come Down”
I know Berry Gordy was always keen to latch on to a possible trend, but surely the chances of a sudden surge in demand for records featuring “unknown producers doing improvised Vaudeville sketches in silly voices” were too implausible even for him? (3)
268. Martha & the Vandellas: “Jealous Lover”
A record that’s no more than “okay” at best – but Holland-Dozier-Holland’s creations couldn’t always be winners, and luckily the A-side was brilliant enough that no-one would be dwelling on the flip anyway. (4)
267. Martha & the Vandellas: “Come And Get These Memories”
If 1962 had belonged to the Marvelettes, then 1963 would belong to Martha and the Vandellas; this single marked them out not only as worthy recipients of the Marvelettes’ baton as Motown’s number one group, but one of the best new pop groups in the world, full stop.
265. The Marvelettes: “Locking Up My Heart”
Neither a travesty nor a masterpiece, it’s a decent pop single with a somewhat irritating lead in the choruses; for a pop group who’d so recently specialised in the extraordinary, this just doesn’t hit the spot. (5)
Motown Junkies 