• About Motown Junkies
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    • A
      • Alan, Lee
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    • B
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    • C
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    • D
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    • E-F
      • Eckstine, Billy
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    • H
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    • K-L
      • Kayli, Bob
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    • M
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    • N-R
      • Nick & the Jaguars
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    • S
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      • Taylor, R. Dean
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    • U-V
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    • W-Z
      • Walker, Junior (& All-Stars)
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      • Wells, Mary
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Motown Junkies

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

Motown Junkies

Category Archives: Writing credit: Robert Bateman

254. The Valadiers: “You’ll Be Sorry Someday”

November 1, 2010

Weird (which I wholeheartedly approve of), but also faintly rubbish (which I don’t). (4)

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168. The Marvelettes: “Playboy”

May 26, 2010

If the stellar, never-to-be-recaptured magic of their début single had been something of a quirk, a statistical oddity if not an outright fluke, then in many ways the Marvelettes’ story really begins right here. (6)

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151. Henry Lumpkin: “Don’t Leave Me”

May 6, 2010

A disappointing waste of both a good song and a good vocalist, paired together wholly inappropriately and satisfying no-one. (3)

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142. The Marvelettes: “Twistin’ Postman”

April 27, 2010

Ultimately, it’s not terrible, but the Marvelettes had come down from a whole different level to get here.

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127. The Valadiers: “Take A Chance”

April 12, 2010

Despite initial appearances to the contrary, there’s not much to report going on here song-wise.

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126. The Valadiers: “Greetings (This Is Uncle Sam)”

April 11, 2010

Motown’s first white vocal group; on this evidence, they were also pretty ordinary singers compared to some of their Motown labelmates, even if they were above average by the not-terribly-high standards of white Sixties doo-wop groups.

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125. Eddie Holland: “Take A Chance On Me”

April 10, 2010

A clear statement of intent, both from the singer – who had slogged through two years of flops at United Artists without ever hinting he had this sort of performance in him – and from the writers, each of whom was making a real name for themselves. Quite superb. (8)

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123. The Satintones: “Faded Letter”

April 8, 2010

An interesting exercise and no more; inconsequential to the point of pointlessness. […click title to read more]

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119. Freddie Gorman: “Just For You”

April 1, 2010

A disappointingly straightforward rocker with little to commend it; opening with an unexpected guitar solo, it quickly settles into a shuffling R&B/blues-influenced groove and then fails to go anywhere at all. […click title to read more]

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101. The Marvelettes: “So Long Baby”

February 26, 2010

Not a patch on the A-side, and Wanda’s incredibly high pitched falsetto vocals are actually painful to listen to in places.

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100. The Marvelettes: “Please Mr Postman”

February 25, 2010

This is just about as good as any pop record that had ever been made up to that point, and while it would still be years before Motown approached anywhere near this level of quality on every release, it’s still an essential inclusion in any Motown best-of shortlist. In a word: marvellous. (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!

 

Index of all reviews to date

Lucky Dip (a random review)


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Recent Posts

  • 694. The Temptations: “Get Ready”
  • 693. The Four Tops: “Just As Long As You Need Me”
  • 692. The Four Tops: “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)”
  • 691. Marvin Gaye: “When I Had Your Love”
  • 690. Marvin Gaye: “One More Heartache”

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Links

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Hand-picked hits, harmonies and hard-hitting soul from the world's greatest record label, specially chosen by Motown historian and writer Steve Devereux. Whether you're new to Motown or a seasoned veteran, you'll find something good here

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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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