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Motown Junkies

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

Motown Junkies

Category Archives: Writing credit: Smokey Robinson

694. The Temptations: “Get Ready”

September 14, 2020

If white radio wasn’t ready for this in 1966, it’s their loss, because now it’s 2020 and I am so very ready for this today. It sounds fantastic. (10)

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691. Marvin Gaye: “When I Had Your Love”

January 13, 2019

Marvin Gaye’s time with Smokey Robinson is drawing to a close here on Motown Junkies, but this absolutely has to go down as one of their best team-ups. It’s weird and it’s thought-provoking and it’s utterly beautiful, and it will stay on your mind for months on end (trust me on that last one). I love it. (9)

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690. Marvin Gaye: “One More Heartache”

January 11, 2018

Marvin’s life story was a fascinating patchwork of weird, unbelievable things; here, his musical story treads the same odd pathways, and the results are a strange, groovy trip, but a trip which still compels you to get up and dance. I love it. (9)

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674. The Miracles: “Choosey Beggar”

August 2, 2014

A success all round, then, leaving aside the nagging curiosity as to what might have happened with just a couple more days’ work: a fitting way to cap the best year so far in the Motown careers of both Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, now restored to their full powers. Roll on 1966. (8)

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673. The Miracles: “Going To A Go-Go”

July 27, 2014

Genuinely excellent, the sort of thing that helps give Motown its good name. And it’s better than anything the Miracles have ever done in this mode until now, there’s no doubt about it. Excellent. Just not quite as excellent as some of the Miracles’ 1965 highlights. (8)

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666. The Marvelettes: “Don’t Mess With Bill”

April 2, 2014

We’ve never had cause to doubt the Marvelettes’ quality before, but now they’re paired with the right producer, they’ve got a part to play in the Motown story too, a part that finally makes sense; Don’t Mess With Bill is almost something like a rebirth, the start of the Marvelettes’ magnificent second act, and its brilliance is cause for much celebration.

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644. Jimmy Ruffin: “As Long As There Is L-O-V-E Love”

October 16, 2013

Smokey Robinson, who writes and produces here, had by now developed a knack of bringing the best out of underpowered singers, and this is a fine effort; if it’s not exactly top-drawer Smokey (or indeed top-drawer Jimmy, though listeners at the time had no idea what that might sound like), it’s Ruffin Senior’s best single to date, both whistleable and likeable. (7)

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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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638. The Temptations: “My Baby”

September 9, 2013

Is it a worthy follow-up to either My Girl or My Guy? You’d have to say no. Is it a worthy continuation of the recent glorious string of Temptations singles? Again, surely the answer would be no. But for all of that, is it a bad record? Of course it isn’t. (5)

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637. The Miracles: “Since You Won My Heart”

September 7, 2013

It’s hard to see this as anything other than filler, both on the album and on this single – once again, I doubt many fans have this at the top of their lists of Miracles favourites – but at least it’s very pretty filler. (5)

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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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MOTOWN JUNKIES

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  • 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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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.

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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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