Really this was just the start; there were still two more years of toil and a lot more misses than hits to be endured before Motown would get to where they were heading. But this is a definite start along that path nonetheless, and a great song to boot.
While Marvin doesn’t sound quite as bored as he did on the A-side, he’s still only giving this about fifty per cent, tops. The song really calls for a forceful, full-on delivery to mask its pilfering and lack of lyrical content, but he sounds most un-Gayelike: flat, perfunctory, almost limp; going through the motions. (4)
Both sides claimed a victory, but to the modern, objective listener, the first round of the match between MOR and R&B for Marvin Gaye’s musical soul ends with honours even. At zero. (2)
It seems to have confused audiences, because very little press or radio play was garnered by this promo single, and the album sank on release. Still, if audiences in 1961 were confused by this, they must have been veritably baffled by what happened a mere five days later.
As a single, it’s OK. As a historical document, a crossroads, a glimpse into some alternate timeline, it’s fascinating. As a Marvin Gaye record, it’s not exactly one of the classics. But whatever the outcome, he’d laid down a marker as One To Watch.
This is the last great doo-wop record, a fitting monument to a dying art as well as a superb single in its own right, and the fact that it was only released because Motown were sued into withdrawing a third-rate Shirelles knock-off is one of the luckiest of all the label’s lucky scrapes with history.
A thin, charmless Everly Brothers pastiche, this throwaway B-side from 1959 by “Ron & Bill” wasn’t up to much even on original release, and so quite why it was dusted off and dragged out for another go-round two years later is really anybody’s guess.
Another unashamed soundalike which flouts its “inspiration” and barely bothers to cover its tracks; the victim this time is the Coasters’ wacky Yakety Yak, a hit from almost three years previously. It’s not great. (3)
Neither engaging or likeable, this is one of the most thoroughly forgettable of all Motown B-sides, making it especially ironic that it ended up being used three times. Poor. (2)
literally a note-for-note cover version with slightly different lyrics. Not only that, a note-for-note cover version of a song everyone in the world already knows.
…Just that bit, right there. If they could have bottled that, if they could have made a whole song out of it, it would have been a classic. (5)
Motown Junkies 