652. The Dalton Boys: “Something’s Bothering You”
A nice way to sign off; it doesn’t pull up any trees, it never takes off in the way it seems to vaguely promise, but it’s sweet and catchy and wholly listenable, and that’s okay by me. (5)
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651. The Dalton Boys: “Take My Hand”
They really, really seem to have liked the early work of John Lennon, even copying his vocal style in a few places, but the song is a fifth-rate jog that ends up going absolutely nowhere. (3)
650. The Dalton Boys: “I’ve Been Cheated”
The blaring horn riffs, sax and trumpet trying to blaze right out of the speakers, and the belting drum track: those are excellent. They deserved to be used on a better record than this. (3)
649. The Four Tops: “Darling, I Hum Our Song”
A fine effort in its own right, and the vocals are lovely, but everyone involved had already moved on, and HDH were right to finally let it go. (6)
648. The Four Tops: “Something About You”
It’s pretty good, I guess, and yet I’ve never warmed to it, never thrilled to it, never breathlessly gone straight back to the beginning to play it again. (6)
647. The Headliners: “Voodoo Plan”
Somehow underpowered, mannered; this should be sweaty and exuberant and silly and fun, it all sounds a bit restrained, a bit tentative, not fully committed. (4)
646. The Headliners: “We Call It Fun”
If the Headliners surely didn’t kid themselves they were making a rival to I Get Around, it must still have been galling to play the tape back and find they hadn’t even made an Amusement Parks USA or Salt Lake City.(3)
645. Jimmy Ruffin: “How Can I Say I’m Sorry”
It just doesn’t sound like it’s quite finished, which is a pity. (5)
644. Jimmy Ruffin: “As Long As There Is L-O-V-E Love”
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)
643. The Supremes: “Who Could Ever Doubt My Love”
The fact that so much about it is slightly off-centre, the fact that it practically advertises up front that it’s not perfect? Well, that’s just about enough to make me think it really might be. Crafty blighters. (10)
642. The Supremes: “I Hear A Symphony”
They push their luck with each clambering step up the ladder, and still it doesn’t break, so they decide to push it again and stretch for the next one. And they carry it off each and every time, the song climbing forever to heaven. (10)
Motown Junkies 