365. Liz Lands: “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands”
A shrieking, warbling, directionless bossa nova cover of a song that was already teetering on the precipice of first-grade singalong territory, this is just about as bad as it gets. (1)
Tag Archives: Motown
364. Liz Lands: “May What He Lived For Live”
The tone is resolute and inspirational, both for and about we who must survive rather than those taken from us. Keep calm and carry on. (9)
363. The Miracles: “Christmas Everyday”
Even if it’s not a great record, even among the rest of the Miracles’ output in 1963, it’s charming, bouncy and joyful, and I still (whisper it, blasphemer!) actually prefer it to Mickey’s Monkey. (6)
362. The Miracles: “The Christmas Song”
I was absolutely prepared to hate this going in, but it’s both charming and disarming, and filled with character and what I assume are bold choices. Either way, it’s lovely. Bravo. (6)
361. Martha & the Vandellas: “Darling, I Hum Our Song”
Oddly unsatisfying when compared to Eddie Holland’s original version; Martha turns in a very fine vocal performance, but arguably for entirely the wrong song, while the rest of it just doesn’t hang together properly at all. (5)
360. Martha & the Vandellas: “Quicksand”
This just isn’t as good a record as Heat Wave; it’s a perfectly adequate sequel, and a fun little Vandellas single in its own right, but they’d come down from a whole other plane in order to make it. (7)
359. Cornell Blakely: “I Want My Share”
By Motown’s 1963 standards, it sounds positively prehistoric. Not awful, just generic and boring. (3)
358. Cornell Blakely: “I’ve Got That Feeling”
A terrific little blues-pop record. A real pity this couldn’t have been included on The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 3; it certainly merited a place. (7)
357. The Miracles: “Such Is Love, Such Is Life”
It’s not terrible – there’s something in Smokey’s pained, awkward delivery which always brings me back for more, so they must be doing something right at least – but it’s very much a remnant from an era Motown was already leaving behind forever. (4)
356. The Miracles: “I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying”
This is manifestly better than Mickey’s Monkey on almost every possible level, even though it shares most of the same ingredients. (8)
355. The Supremes: “Standing At The Crossroads Of Love”
Really quite charming, more so in the knowledge that this is one of the last chances we’ll ever get to hear these unschooled, decidedly teenage Supremes doing their thing. (6)
Motown Junkies 