608. The Four Tops: “Your Love Is Amazing”
Messy but still full-on excellent, shambling towards greatness; it’s a rush, a buzz, a gas, utterly irresistible in its demented glee. (8)
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607. The Four Tops: “It’s The Same Old Song”
Based solely on its reputation, this seemed like it might be a chance to ease up on the flow of constant praise we’ve had recently – but no, this one’s absolutely fine by me. (8)
606. Jr. Walker & the All Stars: “Cleo’s Back”
Don’t get me wrong, this one’s still undeniably cool – I almost feel a compelling need to listen to it while wearing shades and cracking open a cold beer – but if you put a gun to my head and said I had to choose one Cleo, and only one, it wouldn’t be this one. Luckily, nobody’s ever going to force you to make that choice. (7)
605. Jr. Walker & the All Stars: “Shake And Fingerpop”
Very much the All Stars’ Wild One compared to Shotgun‘s Dancing In The Street, for good and ill. I like it a lot, but I like their previous two singles even more. (7)
604. Choker Campbell’s Big Band: “Mickey’s Monkey”
Kind of fun, in a pleasant enough polite early-Sixties jazz rock-out sort of way – but it’s preposterously short, and (maybe as a result) it feels almost completely ephemeral, a highly unusual choice for a first UK-only Motown single. (4)
603. The Miracles: “A Fork In The Road”
Sumptuous in its beauty, quietly devastating in its lyrics… I don’t know how he’s doing this. (8)
602. The Miracles: “The Tracks Of My Tears”
For the second time in a row, the Miracles are shafted out of a (10) simply because I’ve only got fifty to award, and I’d run out of them. But, again, if you were to say this one was your favourite Miracles single, favourite Motown single, even… I’d get it. (9)
601. The Contours: “Searching For A Girl”
Not bad or offensive, it’s just sort of there. A fun but forgettable bit of filler. (4)
600. The Contours: “First I Look At The Purse”
Unexpectedly, it turns out Smokey, and Motown, needed the Contours to exist: not as a link to the past, but as an outlet for silly ideas, as an expression of physical energy, as a pressure valve. And this, daft as it is, is just buckets of fun. (7)
599. Marvin Gaye: “Now That You’ve Won Me”
The overall effect is to remind me of the Supremes’ similarly beautiful, similarly half-realised Standing At The Crossroads Of Love: when it’s lovely, it’s lovely enough to matter. (6)
598. Marvin Gaye: “Pretty Little Baby”
While this isn’t Marvin’s best Motown side so far – it’s bizarre, and it’s miserable, it’s probably my favourite. It’s raw, it’s honest, it’s painful, it’s beautiful, it’s everything I want when I go to Marvin’s later albums. Quite some going. (9)
Motown Junkies 