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501. Marvin Gaye: “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”
It's not terrible, and unlike the last Four Tops single, I can see how this could be someone's favourite Marvin Gaye song. But, honestly, this feels like an artefact from some other, cheesier version...
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502. Marvin Gaye: “Forever”
The song itself hasn't got worse, it's still superb, and this is still a fine record. But yet again, I'm left wondering what I might have made of a Motown recording if I'd heard this version first,...
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519. Marvin Gaye: “This Is The Life”
A lifeless, rote rendition of a song that wasn't all that great in the first place, and its very existence underlines the fact Marvin Gaye still wasn't quite the finished article. (2)Continue reading »
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520. Marvin Gaye: “My Way”
The painful truth is that while Marvin Gaye may have been Motown's greatest and most fascinating solo star, his MOR output is that of a keen hobbyist indulging himself at the listener's expense, and on...
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550. Marvin Gaye: “I’ll Be Doggone”
I love Marvin Gaye. Love him. As you'll see later, he's probably my favourite Motown artist. But this - this beautifully-formed little pop record - is wrong, and I'd be lying to myself - and undoing...
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551. Marvin Gaye: “You’ve Been A Long Time Coming”
Never in a million years is this a single, and a greater contrast to the A-side you'd be hard-pushed to find, but it's effortlessly beautiful all the same. (7)Continue reading »
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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...
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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)Continue reading »
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634. Marvin Gaye: “Ain’t That Peculiar”
Not for the first time, Marvin Gaye sounds every inch the pop superstar, and once again here he's made an excellent pop record. The difference, now, is that he's making excellent records that sound...
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635. Marvin Gaye: “She’s Got To Be Real”
It's not great - it's weird and it's been poorly thought out, and what's more it's badly dated, as well as musically derivative of a much better song Marvin had already recorded. Still, even if it says...
View Article690. Marvin Gaye: “One More Heartache”
Marvin's life story was a fascinating patchwork of weird, unbelievable things; here, his musical story treads the same odd pathways, and the results are a strange, groovy trip, but a trip which still...
View Article691. Marvin Gaye: “When I Had Your Love”
Marvin Gaye's time with Smokey Robinson is drawing to a close here on Motown Junkies, but this absolutely has to go down as one of their best team-ups. It's weird and it's thought-provoking and it's...
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