Marvin Gaye's "Your Unchanging Love" A puzzler

I was listening to this yesterday and I remember when I first heard it in the late 70s. It was a radio DJ in Chicago who was having a Motown Weekend. Literally. Every single record he played that weekend was a Motown 60s record. I was still new to Motown so this was absolutely EXCITING to me! I carried around a portable tape player so I could record EVERYTHING!

When Marvin Gaye's "Your Unchanging Love" came on and I already knew "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You" so my immediate thought was "OH! This must have been the follow-up. Good one! A few years later, I got ahold of The Rolling Stone Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll and there was whole Motown chapter with discography. When I saw that "Your Unchanging Love" was put out in 1967, I was blown away. Absolutely. By this time, I was getting hipper about how the Motown Sound had changed slightly from the early days through the end of the sixties and "Your Unchanging Love" just sounded SO '64-ish to me. I always wondered how Motown came around to picking that record to release.

Context. I know there's some context that I'm missing because I'm looking at a 1967 release from the vantage point several decades removed. Over the years I've learned that by The Summer of Love, there was a growing nostalgia on the part of 20-somethings for the music of their childhood and radio stations were doing the Oldies But Goodies thing. I've also learned how in the mid-to-late 60s, the Low Rider community had a love for Mary Wells' early Motown records; they wouldn't touch any of her newer post-Motown music, just the older material.

So was there maybe something happening at the time with the public that Motown thought that this earlier throwback-sounding Marvin Gaye record would tap into that psyche? I like the record, but it's just kinda odd that they would put this one out between the much-newer sounds of his Tammi Terrell duets.


https://youtu.be/o_eHSdXnOAQ

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Originally Posted by WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance

So was there maybe something happening at the time with the public that Motown thought that this earlier throwback-sounding Marvin Gaye record would tap into that psyche? I like the record, but it's just kinda odd that they would put this one out between the much-newer sounds of his Tammi Terrell duets.

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I doubt Quality Control was thinking much about the public liking a throwback sound. The track didn't sound all that dated. Other than "It Takes Two" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" which cracked the top 20, Marvin had a string of flops since "I'll Be Doggone" in late 1965. The likely answer was that they needed a hit on Marvin and pulled an HDH track with the most potential.

What I can't understand is why his previous single on his own, "Little Darling [[I Need You)," charted so low. It didn't even crack the top 40. I love that song so much [[mono version only - I can't bare to listen to the stringless stereo mix) and certainly deserved to chart higher.

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Originally Posted by bradsupremes

I doubt Quality Control was thinking much about the public liking a throwback sound. The track didn't sound all that dated. Other than "It Takes Two" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" which cracked the top 20, Marvin had a string of flops since "I'll Be Doggone" in late 1965. The likely answer was that they needed a hit on Marvin and pulled an HDH track with the most potential.

What I can't understand is why his previous single on his own, "Little Darling [[I Need You)," charted so low. It didn't even crack the top 40. I love that song so much [[mono version only - I can't bare to listen to the stringless stereo mix) and certainly deserved to chart higher.

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It's interesting that "Little Darling [I Need You]" charted low, but apparently scored well enough with someone because the Doobie Brothers went with it for one of their singles.

Ever since we've been getting collections of vaulted material, now, more than ever, I start wondering why Quality Control would reach back to pull older material when there were plenty of newer recordings just gathering dust. Except that maybe nobody heard anything even close to a hit in the newer recordings. I don't want to say "Your Unchanging Love" sounded dated, but honestly, I was just 12 when I heard it around '78 and even then I believed it was from the "How Sweet It Is" era of a couple years earlier. The honky-tonk piano for one thing- I wasn't really hearing that in the Motown records from '66/'67. But QC apparently made a good call because the record gave Marvin another Top 40 hit.

"Moods Of Marvin Gaye" is one of my favourite albums of all time and you guys got me to listen to my mono "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" cd and I discovered that "Hey Diddle Diddle" completely different to the stereo version. Thanks again!

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Originally Posted by WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance

So was there maybe something happening at the time with the public that Motown thought that this earlier throwback-sounding Marvin Gaye record would tap into that psyche? I like the record, but it's just kinda odd that they would put this one out between the much-newer sounds of his Tammi Terrell duets.

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The only reason that Marvin Gaye's "Your Unchanging Love" came out in 1967 is because it was a replacement for Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". Berry Gordy didn't like "Grapevine" at the time and felt that "Your Unchanging Love" was better for Marvin's image. Norman Whitfield who produced "Grapevine" then decided to record the song with Gladys Knight & The Pips. After their version became a Massive Hit, Norman asked Gordy if he could Marvin's version of the song on his then upcoming 1968 LP, In The Groove. Only after the song started getting airplay [and fan demand from audiences] did Marvin's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" get released as a single [and became one of Gaye's best loved songs].

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Originally Posted by Motown Eddie

The only reason that Marvin Gaye's "Your Unchanging Love" came out in 1967 is because it was a replacement for Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". Berry Gordy didn't like "Grapevine" at the time and felt that "Your Unchanging Love" was better for Marvin's image. Norman Whitfield who produced "Grapevine" then decided to record the song with Gladys Knight & The Pips. After their version became a Massive Hit, Norman asked Gordy if he could Marvin's version of the song on his then upcoming 1968 LP, In The Groove. Only after the song started getting airplay [and fan demand from audiences] did Marvin's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" get released as a single [and became one of Gaye's best loved songs].

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Ah Ha! Okay it was a Berry Gordy move. I knew about the issue with "Grapevine" but I didn't realize "Your Unchanging Love" was in the equation. OK, thank you for revealing the rationale behind this.

"Your Unchanging Love" is a very good song sung very well by Marvin. Nuff said.

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Originally Posted by bradsupremes

I doubt Quality Control was thinking much about the public liking a throwback sound. The track didn't sound all that dated. Other than "It Takes Two" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" which cracked the top 20, Marvin had a string of flops since "I'll Be Doggone" in late 1965. The likely answer was that they needed a hit on Marvin and pulled an HDH track with the most potential.

What I can't understand is why his previous single on his own, "Little Darling [[I Need You)," charted so low. It didn't even crack the top 40. I love that song so much [[mono version only - I can't bare to listen to the stringless stereo mix) and certainly deserved to chart higher.

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You forgot about 'Ain't That Peculiar' which got to #8 in late '65.

I always thought Your Unchanging Love was an obvious choice to follow How Sweet It Is. But I understand why I'll Be Doggone was released because Smokey was on an amazing roll in 1964-65 with The Way You Do the Things You Do, My Guy, My Girl. Of course, HDH were on an even hotter streak with the Supremes and Four Tops. Maybe Your Unchanging Love should have followed Ain't That Peculiar for Marvin.

I love Marvin's "Moods Of Marvin Gaye" album released in May of 1966 -- especially the HDH-produced tracks including "Little Darling [[I Need You)", "You're Unchanging Love", "You're The One For Me", and "You've Been A Long Time Coming" -- all of which boast back-up vocals by The Andantes. In fact, it's one of my all-time favorite Motown albums.

I've gotta agree with bradsupremes [[above). The Stereo version of "Little Darling [[I Need You)" is annoying to listen to, as it robs the listener of the beautifully-arranged string passages contained in the Mono version.

MONO:
https://youtu.be/SJSQ-N18d-4?si=Mac2KHJQUr30tZ9c

STEREO:
https://youtu.be/BMp_2fIaRHk?si=zfKCkKcsasgreG5U

As can clearly be heard, removing the strings leaves the production sounding half-naked.

One additional thought on the subject -- There's an HDH-produced track which should have been included on the "Moods Of Marvin Gaye" LP but wasn't. The song is "I'll Take Care Of You", released as the B-side of the "Your Unchanging Love" single. It's graced with some of the most beautiful harmonies ever sung by The Andantes, and it's a perfect example of why I love their harmonies so much.. Unfortunately, it got left off the "Moods Of" album in favor of "One For My Baby [[And One More For The Road)", which would have been better-suited for one of Marvin's MOR albums, i.e., "When I'm Alone I Cry".

"I'll Take Care Of You"
https://youtu.be/OsaDbtxeQkk?si=9p82DoDBf0e_RDRc

It would seem that Your Unchanging Love was intended to be a followup to the massively successful How Sweet It Is, since the structure and sound of the two are the same.

Motown began having problems with Gaye as early as the mid 60s. He bucked Gordy's authoritarian control much as he bucked military control. Smokey began working with Gaye as they had grown close and the hit potential of I'll Be Doggone could not be denied. QC voted that to be the next single.

Smokey himself has complained that he had Ain't That Peculiar pegged for the follow up, but Marvin had produced himself on Pretty Little Baby and apparently demanded it's release as a single. It didn't do well so Motown quickly followed up with Peculiar.

Going into 1966 Gaye hit the doldrums as his single releases began to fail. Even an Ed Sullivan appearance couldn't get This Old Heart Of Mine into the Top 40. The only successes he had going into 1967 was the duet with Kim Weston and then with Tammi Terrell, but his solo recording career had stalled.

Unchanging Love was resurrected by HDH and played at a QC meeting along with Whitfield's Grapevine. We all know Gordy vetoed Grapevine even though QC chose it, and instead issued the HDH love song to protract Marvin's image as a sex symbol. Alas, it also did poorly.

Ironically Gaye's single career suffered even more under the massive success of his Terrell duets. Two of is all time best singles, You and Chained made little noise.

To the consternation of Berry Gordy, when Gaye's 1968 lp In The Groove came out, Grapevine, long thought dead, got rousing support from DJs across the country as a single release. This song not only re-established Gaye's solo recording career but sent it into an orbit it had not seen previously.

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Originally Posted by BayouMotownMan

It would seem that Your Unchanging Love was intended to be a followup to the massively successful How Sweet It Is, since the structure and sound of the two are the same.

Motown began having problems with Gaye as early as the mid 60s. He bucked Gordy's authoritarian control much as he bucked military control. Smokey began working with Gaye as they had grown close and the hit potential of I'll Be Doggone could not be denied. QC voted that to be the next single.

Smokey himself has complained that he had Ain't That Peculiar pegged for the follow up, but Marvin had produced himself on Pretty Little Baby and apparently demanded it's release as a single. It didn't do well so Motown quickly followed up with Peculiar.

Going into 1966 Gaye hit the doldrums as his single releases began to fail. Even an Ed Sullivan appearance couldn't get This Old Heart Of Mine into the Top 40. The only successes he had going into 1967 was the duet with Kim Weston and then with Tammi Terrell, but his solo recording career had stalled.

Unchanging Love was resurrected by HDH and played at a QC meeting along with Whitfield's Grapevine. We all know Gordy vetoed Grapevine even though QC chose it, and instead issued the HDH love song to protract Marvin's image as a sex symbol. Alas, it also did poorly.

Ironically Gaye's single career suffered even more under the massive success of his Terrell duets. Two of is all time best singles, You and Chained made little noise.

To the consternation of Berry Gordy, when Gaye's 1968 lp In The Groove came out, Grapevine, long thought dead, got rousing support from DJs across the country as a single release. This song not only re-established Gaye's solo recording career but sent it into an orbit it had not seen previously.

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Thank you - this addresses a few other things I've always wondered about concerning the singles released on Marvin. For example, it never made any sense to me why "Pretty Little Baby" was released when it was. Motown's own rule was to follow up a successful single with another in the same vein and "Pretty Little Baby" just seemed a bit too pretty and as delicate as lace to follow "I'll Be Doggone.".

What I also find interesting is that HDH had a nice tune with Marvin, "Lonely Lover" that may have made for a good single, but I also understand if HDH maybe just had a really strong feeling about "Unchanging Love" but I agree 100% that it may have worked even better following "How Sweet It Is.". In fact, thematically and lyrically, it sounds like a continuation, or an affirmation of the thoughts expressed in "Sweet."

When I look back at Marvin's mid-60s singles, it seems a bit haphazard in a way. I've never been able to peg it but you look at the Four Tops, Supremes, Temptations and even the Marvelettes and there's a sense of an ongoing maturation, a sense of identity - almost as if you could draw a straight line through those groups' releases. With Marvin, it's a bit like there was no clear concept of what slot he was supposed to fill at Motown. But your comments helped to put that into perspective.

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Originally Posted by BayouMotownMan

It would seem that Your Unchanging Love was intended to be a followup to the massively successful How Sweet It Is, since the structure and sound of the two are the same.

Motown began having problems with Gaye as early as the mid 60s. He bucked Gordy's authoritarian control much as he bucked military control. Smokey began working with Gaye as they had grown close and the hit potential of I'll Be Doggone could not be denied. QC voted that to be the next single.

Smokey himself has complained that he had Ain't That Peculiar pegged for the follow up, but Marvin had produced himself on Pretty Little Baby and apparently demanded it's release as a single. It didn't do well so Motown quickly followed up with Peculiar.

Going into 1966 Gaye hit the doldrums as his single releases began to fail. Even an Ed Sullivan appearance couldn't get This Old Heart Of Mine into the Top 40. The only successes he had going into 1967 was the duet with Kim Weston and then with Tammi Terrell, but his solo recording career had stalled.

Unchanging Love was resurrected by HDH and played at a QC meeting along with Whitfield's Grapevine. We all know Gordy vetoed Grapevine even though QC chose it, and instead issued the HDH love song to protract Marvin's image as a sex symbol. Alas, it also did poorly.

Ironically Gaye's single career suffered even more under the massive success of his Terrell duets. Two of is all time best singles, You and Chained made little noise.

To the consternation of Berry Gordy, when Gaye's 1968 lp In The Groove came out, Grapevine, long thought dead, got rousing support from DJs across the country as a single release. This song not only re-established Gaye's solo recording career but sent it into an orbit it had not seen previously.

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Marvin produced Pretty Little Baby? Surely Clarence Paul is listed as producing the song, which he wrote too

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Originally Posted by Philles/Motown Gary

I love Marvin's "Moods Of Marvin Gaye" album released in May of 1966 -- especially the HDH-produced tracks including "Little Darling [[I Need You)", "You're Unchanging Love", "You're The One For Me", and "You've Been A Long Time Coming" -- all of which boast back-up vocals by The Andantes. In fact, it's one of my all-time favorite Motown albums.

I've gotta agree with bradsupremes [[above). The Stereo version of "Little Darling [[I Need You)" is annoying to listen to, as it robs the listener of the beautifully-arranged string passages contained in the Mono version.

MONO:
https://youtu.be/SJSQ-N18d-4?si=Mac2KHJQUr30tZ9c

STEREO:
https://youtu.be/BMp_2fIaRHk?si=zfKCkKcsasgreG5U

As can clearly be heard, removing the strings leaves the production sounding half-naked.

One additional thought on the subject -- There's an HDH-produced track which should have been included on the "Moods Of Marvin Gaye" LP but wasn't. The song is "I'll Take Care Of You", released as the B-side of the "Your Unchanging Love" single. It's graced with some of the most beautiful harmonies ever sung by The Andantes, and it's a perfect example of why I love their harmonies so much.. Unfortunately, it got left off the "Moods Of" album in favor of "One For My Baby [[And One More For The Road)", which would have been better-suited for one of Marvin's MOR albums, i.e., "When I'm Alone I Cry".

"I'll Take Care Of You"
https://youtu.be/OsaDbtxeQkk?si=9p82DoDBf0e_RDRc

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Poor old Clarence Paul missing out here as well. He produced You’re the one for me, not HDH!

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Originally Posted by WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance

It's interesting that "Little Darling [I Need You]" charted low, but apparently scored well enough with someone because the Doobie Brothers went with it for one of their singles.

Ever since we've been getting collections of vaulted material, now, more than ever, I start wondering why Quality Control would reach back to pull older material when there were plenty of newer recordings just gathering dust. Except that maybe nobody heard anything even close to a hit in the newer recordings. I don't want to say "Your Unchanging Love" sounded dated, but honestly, I was just 12 when I heard it around '78 and even then I believed it was from the "How Sweet It Is" era of a couple years earlier. The honky-tonk piano for one thing- I wasn't really hearing that in the Motown records from '66/'67. But QC apparently made a good call because the record gave Marvin another Top 40 hit.

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"Little Darling" certainly deserved more push - either Motown failed on getting the stations to play it or the public went deaf during the time of its release. It's one of my favorite Marvin singles and it runs on all cylinders. It's a top 10 hit to me. In fact, I have soft spots for those three low performing singles of 1966 - "Take This Heart of Mine," "One More Heartache" and "Darling." All of them deserved better.

In regards to vaulted material, I don't know what could have been issued from the can on Marvin from 1967 that would have made a good A-side in place of "Your Unchanging Love" other than "Grapevine." If Quality Control wanted another HDH cut, they should have gone with "It Don't Take Much To Keep Me." It was recorded that spring and definitely fresher and current. A different sound from his previous singles, more mature and showed what was ahead in 1968 and 1969. "This Love Starved Heart Of Mine" wasn't completed yet so it couldn't have been in the running. "Baby I'm Glad That Things Worked Out So Well" could have worked if "Take This Heart Of Mine" had done better as it sounds like a follow-up.

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Originally Posted by soulwally

Poor old Clarence Paul missing out here as well. He produced You’re the one for me, not HDH!

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Hey, you're right, Wally. I stand corrected.

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Originally Posted by Philles/Motown Gary

Hey, you're right, Wally. I stand corrected.

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And I stand corrected on Paul producing Pretty Little Baby. Gaye was the primary writer of the song with Paul.

The instrumental as I recall went on to become a Christmas song for another artist, Stevie maybe?

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Originally Posted by BayouMotownMan

And I stand corrected on Paul producing Pretty Little Baby. Gaye was the primary writer of the song with Paul.

The instrumental as I recall went on to become a Christmas song for another artist, Stevie maybe?

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Marvin used the same track for his Xmas recording PURPLE SNOWFLAKES.

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Originally Posted by BayouMotownMan

And I stand corrected on Paul producing Pretty Little Baby. Gaye was the primary writer of the song with Paul.

The instrumental as I recall went on to become a Christmas song for another artist, Stevie maybe?

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No; Marvin Gaye used the same track as "Pretty Little Baby" for his own Christmas Song, "Purple Snowflakes" [unreleased until October 1993].

https://youtu.be/xpVBJ6lRSf4?si=5TbHi7sdXtsjI2XC

Stevie Wonder did have a song called with no relationship to Christmas called "Purple Raindrops" [released as the B-Side of "Uptight"- Nov. 1965].

https://youtu.be/AM8f8JiUiC4?si=959n2ytRYO8hcIkB.

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Originally Posted by Motown Eddie

No; Marvin Gaye used the same track as "Pretty Little Baby" for his own Christmas Song, "Purple Snowflakes" [unreleased until October 1993].

https://youtu.be/xpVBJ6lRSf4?si=5TbHi7sdXtsjI2XC

Stevie Wonder did have a song called with no relationship to Christmas called "Purple Raindrops" [released as the B-Side of "Uptight"- Nov. 1965].

https://youtu.be/AM8f8JiUiC4?si=959n2ytRYO8hcIkB.

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I like Purple Snowflakes as much as, maybe more, than Pretty Little Baby! Marvin is my favorite male vocalist.