201. Henry Lumpkin: “Break Down And Sing”
A jaunty, relatively restrained R&B pop number that reminds me of a couple of other records without ever managing to be as good as any of them. 3
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200. Henry Lumpkin: “Mo Jo Hanna”
I guess it’s just one of those songs that works better as communal property, as a vehicle for a live jam or for singalong high-jinks, than something you’d choose to listen to over and over again. 3
199. Mike & The Modifiers: “It’s Too Bad”
This would probably have worked quite nicely as a group harmony number circa 1959. (3)
198. Mike & The Modifiers: “I Found Myself A Brand New Baby”
A catchy, R&B-influenced pop-rock song, exactly the sort of thing that was just catching on over in the UK in 1962 and which, two years later, would storm the USA under the catch-all heading of “the British Invasion”. (5)
197. Gino Parks: “For This I Thank You”
This excellently slinky R&B excursion turns out to be one of the best things Gino ever recorded with the label. (6)
196. Gino Parks: “Fire”
Just about the loudest and angriest record Motown had released in its first four years of existence. It’s certainly not blues, but it’s no pop record either; it’s almost defiantly uncommercial. (5)
195. Hattie Littles: “Is It True (What They Say About You)”
Interesting, fast-paced fun, too slight to be a single in its own right, but a good opportunity for singer and band to let their hair down; I’m just very intrigued to know what it sounded like before Hattie got to record it. (6)
194. Hattie Littles: “Back In My Arms”
Hattie could take heart in the fact she wouldn’t be the last Motown artist to suffer such a fate, and she’d be in some pretty good company. (6)
193. The Contours: “Move Mr Man”
Not awful, by any means, but the image of the Contours conjured for new listeners by Do You Love Me is slightly dispelled here. (4)
192. The Contours: “Do You Love Me”
A good example of an inspired match between performer and material; the Contours’ performance makes a thin song into a super record, while Berry Gordy’s song briefly makes a bunch of tone-deaf dancers into a star recording group. (8)
191. Mickey McCullers: “I’ll Cry A Million Tears”
If this had been released two years earlier with a better lead vocal, it might have been a hit; instead, this feels like something of a waste of material, and a waste of Smokey Robinson. (6)
Motown Junkies 