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Motown Junkies

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

Motown Junkies

Category Archives: Writing credit: Ronnie White

639. The Temptations: “Don’t Look Back”

September 14, 2013

This should have been the A-side; this should have been the way the Miracles approached My Girl Has Gone. Should, should, should. What it is, though, is another excellent Temptations single. We won’t be meeting them again for six months; Don’t Look Back is good enough to make that temporary parting hurt. (8)

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636. The Miracles: “My Girl Has Gone”

August 28, 2013

It’s not bad, and I’ll never turn down the chance to hear the golden-era Miracles doing what they do best. It’s just that after all the riches they’ve given us recently, and with all the riches they’re going to be giving us just around the corner, this feels like a stopgap, and therefore something of a let-down. (5)

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635. Marvin Gaye: “She’s Got To Be Real”

August 22, 2013

It’s not great – it’s weird and it’s been poorly thought out, and what’s more it’s badly dated, as well as musically derivative of a much better song Marvin had already recorded. Still, even if it says very little about the Marvin Gaye we’ve come to know here in 1965, you can’t really accuse it of being dull, and that’s worth a couple of marks in itself. (5)

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603. The Miracles: “A Fork In The Road”

April 2, 2013

Sumptuous in its beauty, quietly devastating in its lyrics… I don’t know how he’s doing this. (8)

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521. The Temptations: “My Girl”

August 29, 2012

If My Girl isn’t in your fifty top Motown tunes, I fear nothing can be done for you. (10)

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455. Kim Weston: “Looking For The Right Guy”

February 4, 2012

Really not very good at all, a stark example of what happens when you try to squeeze a big-voiced R&B star vocalist into a pop framework cut to someone else’s measurements – but that’s not to overlook the fact the song itself isn’t very good either. (2)

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430. The Miracles: “You’re So Fine And Sweet”

October 30, 2011

Plenty of fun as far as it goes, but that only really lasts for as long as it’s playing – you wouldn’t dig it out on purpose for repeated listening, and it fades from the memory literally ten seconds after it’s done. (4)

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388. The Miracles: “Heartbreak Road”

July 9, 2011

Motown’s musical standards had risen dramatically in the 18 months or so since this was first cut, and by those increasingly rarefied and demanding standards, this rough-edged R&B scribble just wasn’t up to scratch any more. (4)

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347. Kim Weston: “Another Train Coming”

April 12, 2011

It’s all pretty workmanlike; perfectly adequate B-side fodder, listenable enough, but not anything to linger over. (5)

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327. The Miracles: “Whatever Makes You Happy”

February 26, 2011

It’s a testament to the strength of Smokey’s songwriting, and the excellent vocal he turns in here, that even a “Miracles by the numbers” job like this is still better than some groups’ best efforts. (5)

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241. The Miracles: “Happy Landing”

October 9, 2010

That it came coupled with one of the all-time great Motown ballads is just unfortunate, because this is a fun little single in its own right. (6)

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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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Recent Posts

  • 694. The Temptations: “Get Ready”
  • 693. The Four Tops: “Just As Long As You Need Me”
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  • 691. Marvin Gaye: “When I Had Your Love”
  • 690. Marvin Gaye: “One More Heartache”

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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.

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