665. The Velvelettes: “Since You’ve Been Loving Me”
This isn’t so much soul as it is indie pop. It’s remarkable, in almost every sense – it’s both surprising and surprisingly fresh, it’s raw and honest and beautiful, and I love it. (9)
This isn’t so much soul as it is indie pop. It’s remarkable, in almost every sense – it’s both surprising and surprisingly fresh, it’s raw and honest and beautiful, and I love it. (9)
I don’t know if this is Marv Johnson’s best Motown single side – there are a few more to come yet, not to mention a highly unlikely late-career revival, which are ripe for rediscovery – but I do know I really, really like it. Good show. (8)
A blot on the CV of everyone concerned, this was still – incredibly – selected for inclusion on the Supremes’ first album Meet The Supremes later that year. They might have been better off simply leaving that space on the record blank, or printing up a bunch of speaker test signals or something. (1)
The biggest problem, really, is that Come To Me was never that great a song to start with. It’s immediately obvious it wasn’t written with Mary Wells in mind, providing a distinctly unsatisfying experience. (5)
A slower, more contemplative number than its Historically Significant A-side Come To Me, this is much less energetic and done in a more straightforward and familiar doo-wop setting, but it’s also – for my money – a considerably better song. (6)
People will always want to seek it out, but the reason for that is because of its historic value, rather than its musical merits. A decent enough start, but there was considerably better to come, even in that shaky, uncertain first year. (5)