Highly energetic and plenty of fun, even if it is ultimately a bit directionless; it’s always fun to see Eddie let his hair down a little and move away from his immaculately-pressed “dapper young gent” image, and – coupled with his obvious new ideas about where pop music should be headed – this ends up being just about his best solo single to date. (7)
If the Marvelettes’ sales figures weren’t getting better, this is ample proof that on their day the group still deserved to be counted among Motown’s best. Remarkable. (9)
The song is good, but the record isn’t. If they’d had another couple of weeks to work on this, it might have been spectacular; instead, it’s a missed opportunity, and showbiz never allows you too many of those. (6)
Still not really one to dwell upon, and hardly a pleasant experience, but it’s far from being completely unlistenable. (3)
It’s a featureless musical soup masquerading as a powerful message and a great vocal performance. (2)
I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby would have made a perfectly decent follow-up single to Pride And Joy, and could have made a much bigger chart splash if it had been released under its own steam. It’s just difficult to get away from the fact that this is a good song, but one that’s been cut from the cloth of an even better song. (6)
The best record Marvin Gaye had yet made, his career was now set irreversibly on the right track, such that not even Marvin himself could argue against this kind of evidence. (9)
Definitely an improvement on the A-side; ironically given the title and Stevie’s jokey opening spiel, this is actually one of the more mature records he’d been associated with so far, and all the better for it. (6)
A strange miscalculation – the first of a great many such miscalculations for Little Stevie over the next two years – it’s difficult to know who would be satisfied by this. (4)
This is a record full of ideas for the future career of Mary Wells, none of them fully-realised yet, to the extent that it sounds like four or five different songs all smooshed together with no great care – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing in itself. (6)
It’s still a fun, vital record which still sounds fresh and young today, and it shows a side of Mary Wells that audiences across America had forgotten she even had. (7)
Motown Junkies 