Author Topic: Motorcity Recordings produced by Ian Levine - Saundra Edwards (Read 6094 times)

Bill · « **on:** September 02, 2022, 06:20:26 pm »

I recently purchased Marv Johnson - The Very Best on Motorcity Records. The CD is HTCD-7709. I was looking at the booklet included in the CD that detailed the 7700 series of Motorcity Records. It shows the following:

Cat. No. HTCD 7723 - Best of Saundra Edwards

As a result of my interest in Saundra, I had hopes on obtaining this CD. I was never aware of its publication.

However, and sad to say, I cannot locate any listing of this CD on Discogs.

Does anyone know if this was in fact released? Or is this an error on their part?

Unfortunately, my knowledge of Ian Levine and his Motorcity Record releases is largely unknown. You rarely see any discussion or enthusiasm on these latter day recordings.

Roger · « **Reply #1 on:** September 03, 2022, 04:27:32 am »

Amazon.co.uk do have a listing for it, though there are no details of tracks etc. and it is "currently unavailable", so it looks like it was issued.

Unfortunately, back in the early '90s Mr. Levine decided to flood the market with his "Motown Revival" material and very little of it sold very well at the time (maybe he should have recruited Motown's "Quality Control" department as well as their former artists for his ill-fated venture).

Amazon

amazon.co.uk

Roger

humboldt · « **Reply #2 on:** September 03, 2022, 12:34:10 pm »

Levine is my pet hate Bill! Awful production and it's alleged that none of the artist were paid! I would not touch any of his stuff with a barge pole. That's be being kind!

humboldt · « **Reply #3 on:** September 03, 2022, 03:25:47 pm »

If you put her name into Spotify you will find 10 songs by her - all bloody awful!

Roger · « **Reply #4 on:** September 03, 2022, 04:50:41 pm »

Quote from: humboldt on September 03, 2022, 03:25:47 pm

If you put her name into Spotify you will find 10 songs by her - all bloody awful!

This remake of "Darling Baby" sounds OK vocally to me. Interestingly Ian Levine, in the notes for the YT video states "I recorded more than an album's worth of material on her, much of which has never been released to this day", which suggests that the legendary "Best Of" CD may not have been released after all.

Roger

humboldt · « **Reply #5 on:** September 03, 2022, 06:01:43 pm »

But Roger, it did not need to be remade!

Roger · « **Reply #6 on:** September 04, 2022, 06:42:52 am »

Quote from: humboldt on September 03, 2022, 06:01:43 pm

But Roger, it did not need to be remade!

Quite possibly, but then there could be some who thought it shouldn't have been made in the first place.

There is nothing unusual in recording artists "revisiting" their previous recordings and I suspect that Ms Edwards was quite thrilled to be given the opportunity to do so.

The whole Motorcity project occurred at roughly the same time as new "specialist/niche" radio stations started going on air in 1990/91. I remember one Sunday night tuning in to listen to the two hour "Soul" show on (I think) Jazz FM in London and found that one hour was totally taken over by Mr Levine with his latest "masterpieces" ... each one was introduced by him as being "ultra-soulful", having "incredible vocals", "superlative backing" etc. etc. etc. In reality one or two were OK and in general there was nothing wrong with the vocals but most suffered from very cliched backing and those oh-so predictable drum-rolls that Mr Levine thought were essential to create an "authentic" sound. Most of the remakes of '60s hits paled totally in comparison with the originals and after a half hour or so I started to get bored with it all. Unfortunately, a week or two later and much to the surprise of all (including those at the radio station) Mr Levine turned up again and we had to endure the same thing for a second time!!

I have to admire the man for his enthusiasm but he really did need some kind of "quality control" filter!!

Roger

humboldt · « **Reply #7 on:** September 04, 2022, 01:00:47 pm »

The sad thing is he gave false hope to all former Motown artists of the day that he could restart their careers and that they would get a hit. Hit - they never even got paid according to Martha & others.

Edwin & Blinky even got caught up in this mess and recorded some tracks. Their voices are of course excellent but the backing track is pure Woolies bargain basement!

Bill · « **Reply #8 on:** September 10, 2022, 10:06:24 am »

Quote from: Roger on September 03, 2022, 04:50:41 pm

Quote from: humboldt on September 03, 2022, 03:25:47 pm
If you put her name into Spotify you will find 10 songs by her - all bloody awful!

This remake of "Darling Baby" sounds OK vocally to me. Interestingly Ian Levine, in the notes for the YT video states "I recorded more than an album's worth of material on her, much of which has never been released to this day", which suggests that the legendary "Best Of" CD may not have been released after all.

I just got around to listening to Darling Baby by Saundra. I personally don't think it is as great as the Elgins version [*****] 5 star, but it isn't dreadful either. I would give it a [****] 4 star rating. I absolutely love this song and she did justice to it. For a solo act it was a pleasure to listen to her version.

I wonder if she is still alive and with us.

Thanks for posting.

Bill

Roger · « **Reply #9 on:** September 10, 2022, 05:31:14 pm »

Bill ....

According to the Motown Junkies website Saundra left us in 2002 ...

Mallett, Saundra

** This is just a short biographical summary – for the full story, check out this artist’s reviews! ** Singer Saundra Mallett (Edwards) was yet another of Motown’s early-Sixties s…

Motown Junkies · motownjunkies.co.uk

Roger

Paul Nixon · « **Reply #10 on:** September 11, 2022, 03:20:17 am »

Quote from: Bill on September 10, 2022, 10:06:24 am

Quote from: Roger on September 03, 2022, 04:50:41 pm
Quote from: humboldt on September 03, 2022, 03:25:47 pm
If you put her name into Spotify you will find 10 songs by her - all bloody awful!

This remake of "Darling Baby" sounds OK vocally to me. Interestingly Ian Levine, in the notes for the YT video states "I recorded more than an album's worth of material on her, much of which has never been released to this day", which suggests that the legendary "Best Of" CD may not have been released after all.

I just got around to listening to Darling Baby by Saundra. I personally don't think it is as great as the Elgins version [*****] 5 star, but it isn't dreadful either. I would give it a [****] 4 star rating. I absolutely love this song and she did justice to it. For a solo act it was a pleasure to listen to her version.

I wonder if she is still alive and with us.

Thanks for posting.

Bill

From what I gathered Mable was one of the only acts to actually see any form of cash - she refused to go into the studio unless it was cash up front - I believe in the latter part of her life that became her mantra - and why not?

Roger · « **Reply #11 on:** September 11, 2022, 03:52:34 am »

A handful of artists were "wise" enough to the business to always ask for money up-front, I believe that Chuck Berry always insisted that he was paid before he went on stage.

Unfortunately for Mr Levine his Motorcity recordings seldom sold well. His only real commercial success with Motorcity was with Frances Nero's "Footsteps" (#17 UK in 1991) and even with that it took a reissue via Debut for the record to chart. He seemed to sink all of his assets (presumably including any royalty cheques) into producing and recording anyone and anything connected with Motown that he could get his hands on. I can't help but think that there is a film script out there somewhere (obviously with the names changed to protect the innocent).

Roger

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