Various Artists: The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 9: 1969 : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

In Detroit rock, 1969 was the year of the Stooges' wild lust and the MC5's fuck-you politics. But Motown's Berry Gordy was ready for the Seventies. In October, he issued the Jackson 5's Motown debut, "I Want You Back." Its mix of Detroit punch and L.A. glitz sealed the shift in Gordy's ambitions from boss of a Midwest singles factory to Hollywood mogul, and it shows in the transitional ups and downs on these six CDs. The year starts with Edwin Starr's thundering "Twenty-Five Miles," and the Temptations ditch the sharkskin with their funk juggernauts "I Can't Get Next to You" and "Psychedelic Shack." But most Motown acts did not get the hang of the black rock of Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. The Supremes and the Temptations team up to make ball-gown R&B of the Band's "The Weight," and whoever paired the party-soul singer Shorty Long with Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was flying on bad acid. In fact, many of the best moments here are romantic, not rebellious, such as the black-Beach Boys harmonies of the Originals and saxman Junior Walker's magnificent Top Five ballad "What Does It Take (to Win Your Love)," which Gordy dismissed as "too pretty . . . [Junior] can't sing about love." He was wrong.