The painful truth is that while Marvin Gaye may have been Motown’s greatest and most fascinating solo star, his MOR output is that of a keen hobbyist indulging himself at the listener’s expense, and on this evidence, I’m not sad we won’t be covering any more of it. (2)
A lifeless, rote rendition of a song that wasn’t all that great in the first place, and its very existence underlines the fact Marvin Gaye still wasn’t quite the finished article. (2)
A rather nice little record on its own merits, neat and tidy, skilfully avoiding the dangers of sentimental treacle through sensitive handling, I think I’d probably have been kinder to this if I didn’t know the backstory. But there are some things you can’t un-learn. (4)
Not awful, but certainly not one to savour; if, given the circumstances, it’s understandably forgettable, it’s also advisedly forgettable. (3)
Under the weight of Tony’s side-splittingly misjudged vocal, it ends up being about as special and moving as Westlife singing about drywall. Potentially quite a pretty little song, but ruined beyond all hope like this, it’s just terrible. (1)
Whatever the motivation, it’s a dud from start to finish. One of my least favourite Motown A-sides so far, this is an embarrassing mis-step for both singer and label. (1)
So very, very bad, a bad idea turned into a bad song done badly, that I can’t find anything really nice to say about it. (1)
It’s awful, and artistically indefensible – let’s be clear on that point, this is a terrible record – and yet I can’t quite bring myself to hate it enough to mark it down as the very worst record of all time. High praise indeed. (1)
After the bland rock-out blind alley of the A-side, it’s just good to hear the Miracles back on something like their usual form. (7)
A waste of the talents of everyone involved, wafer-thin and surprisingly ill-suited to its lead singer; even Smokey isn’t taking this seriously, so there’s really no reason we should bother. (3)
Completely out of character for the group – if you were asked to identify these guys on sound alone, “the Contours” would be the absolute last answer you’d give – but no worse for it. Nice surprises are the best kind of surprises, after all. (7)
Motown Junkies 