Motown Treasures

I posted the exact same thing just a few weeks ago! 90% of my posts get less than 10 views and get even fewer responses! I can't do anymore but MT will carry on regardless. I very much doubt that we will ever see anything further released from the vaults. I'm so glad that Blinky just made it out in the nick of time six years ago.

Universal are no longer interested, not enough profit to be made. Andy Skurow has left, Harry is no longer involved. Ace don't care anymore since Keith Hughes died. Paul would love to have Motown released but is blocked at every turn!

I think that everyone is still on the dark side of the moon and can't get back! I post every day and often ask a question to make it easy to respond but usually don't get a reply! Five views is average and the other day one post didn't even get one view to see what it was about! Maybe I should post about what Diana was wearing at the Lincoln Centre in 1900 and frozen stiff! Or what if Flo had not left and who pushed who at Motown 25! I know that there has been no new product and I mean no NEW product not a rehash of what already exists! I'm not interested in vinyl, been there & done that, but am happy for those who are. I'm very disheartened that more members won't help me keep the Motown flag flying as at my age it's very heavy. All comments and suggestions are welcome.

PS. Does anyone actually read the West Grand Blog anymore as no one ever comments as the recent number of views indicates that you don't!

VERY disheartening to say the least and I'm sorry Snake that you never got a reply try messaging Neil Rushton on Facebook messenger he's always happy to send out comps when I have asked him - maybe your mail got spammed.

I think we miss the days of Ivor and Eric who were on here all the while and I have to say SDF is just as quiet unless you as you say talk about Miss Ross's panties.

Its a combination of everything I think - no new product - nearly every topic has been talked about in the past and we are all dying off - it's sad - look at the facts the repetoire owner is not interested in anything (apart from the umpteenth WGO release and its not a favourite of mine anyway) not for themselves or leasing it out - its just crazy. But if they're not interested how can you get anyone else to be.

On a brighter note despite the crits regarding COM NSLA both the LP and CD have sold well enough to request a second volume which will have some things on it that wil be worth waiting for - it  will still contain released tracks but there will be a reason for collectors to buy it and lessons have been learned the CD will be out at the same time as the vinly this time. This is assuming that Ume get off their butts and clear it.

I must admit, I felt bad when I first read this thread. I don’t want sites like this to disappear! I visit this site regularly and read and react when I feel something. However, it seems like there’s not much to discuss anymore. This site is definitely different from SDF (and I’m sure that’s the intention!), but I feel like I can express myself here without being attacked or ridiculed, which sometimes happens on SDF. I love Motown and I’m a big Supremes fan, but I don’t want to talk about Diana’s panties again with the same people. I think what I’m finding here (and on SDF) is that I don’t have much to contribute anymore. Sure, it’s occasionally interesting to read what people are saying, but maybe they’ve already said it all--twice--or maybe I just don’t feel like adding my two cents.

The biggest problem here (and on SDF) is that there’s just nothing new to discuss. New releases definitely spark conversations. If there’s nothing new out there, then the discussion turns to trivial nonsense, which is more of a problem on SDF than here.

As an aside to this topic, I'm sad to hear that Snakepit never heard back from Neil Rushton about West Grand's CFOM. I took Paul's advice and emailed him about how I could purchase the CD from here in the USA. Neil responded within a few days of my sending an email and now I have a way to purchase. I understand Snake's disappointment and frustration, but... I think not promoting releases such as West Grand's add to why there's no activity on sites such as this. The biggest mistakes Universal has made in the last 20 years since Hip-O is not promoting their product. I think Universal and West Grand need all the help they can get!

Greetings from The Sea of Tranquility ... 

I'm currently off on my travels and the sea as seen from my hotel room does look very tranquil, so I'm not in a position to post too often, but here are a few thoughts of mine.

I refuse to believe that Motown is in any way "dead", in my ordinary, everyday activities I regularly hear Motown being played in bars and on radio stations, mixed in with a whole lot of other stuff of course, and there seems to be just as much interest in people such as Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye and groups like The Supremes, The Temptations and Four Tops as ever.  The music is generally 50-60 years old so we shouldn't expect it to be regularly featured in the mainstream charts but I think it has aged very well.

With regard to MT I find that the strategy of The Boss (aka Humboldt/John etc. etc.) in posting a dozen or so new threads in weekly bursts often backfires, I find that I'm expected to watch and comment on videos that are often half an hour long (or more) and I don't always have the time to do this so I leave it for "later" only to find that it disappears as the MT Software has marked it as "read" which isn't exactly true!!

I also have issues with the "show unread posts" facility as I find that it only lists threads for three or four times before the MT software assumes that I'm not interested in them and stops displaying them ... so if 10 new threads are started and I look at three or four of them the system makes the others disappear ... Yes I know that there is always the "show all unread threads" facility but it is irritating that I should need to look there.

Personally I think that there are too many "minor" threads on here ... I don't think we need individual threads for each "Live" performance of a song by Gladys Knight as an example, just one "Live Performances" thread in the Gladys Knight section where people can post anything they have found ... same for The Supremes,  Marvin Gaye, Marvelettes, Elgins, Stevie Wonder etc. etc. etc. of course.  I'm thinking of creating something like the "Ed Sullivan" thread or the "Motown Not On Motown" thread, lots of great stuff following the same theme and all in one place  ... sometimes less really is more and rather than having 20 threads with 10 views each we would have one thread with 200+ views which would look a whole lot better.  Over the past few years I've posted a few "New Music" threads featuring recently recorded music that I think will appeal to fans of "Classic Motown", in retrospect it would have been better if I'd created one "New Music" thread and put them all in one place.

As I'm typing this I'm listening to Mr Snakepit's Motown show via the NMFM "play again" facility  ... I'd ask Mr Snakepit to reconsider his position regarding WestGrand ... new releases do need to be supported, even if the people behind them appear to be imperfect and, who knows, maybe the EMails got directed into their recipient's Spam Folder ... I occasionally look in my Spam folder and find all manner of "Legitimate" EMails in there!!

Anyway, must dash, it's approaching time for me to lift off again.   

Roger 

Greetings from The Sea of Tranquility ... 

I'm currently off on my travels and the sea as seen from my hotel room does look very tranquil, so I'm not in a position to post too often, but here are a few thoughts of mine.

I refuse to believe that Motown is in any way "dead", in my ordinary, everyday activities I regularly hear Motown being played in bars and on radio stations, mixed in with a whole lot of other stuff of course, and there seems to be just as much interest in people such as Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye and groups like The Supremes, The Temptations and Four Tops as ever.  The music is generally 50-60 years old so we shouldn't expect it to be regularly featured in the mainstream charts but I think it has aged very well.

With regard to MT I find that the strategy of The Boss (aka Humboldt/John etc. etc.) in posting a dozen or so new threads in weekly bursts often backfires, I find that I'm expected to watch and comment on videos that are often half an hour long (or more) and I don't always have the time to do this so I leave it for "later" only to find that it disappears as the MT Software has marked it as "read" which isn't exactly true!!

I also have issues with the "show unread posts" facility as I find that it only lists threads for three or four times before the MT software assumes that I'm not interested in them and stops displaying them ... so if 10 new threads are started and I look at three or four of them the system makes the others disappear ... Yes I know that there is always the "show all unread threads" facility but it is irritating that I should need to look there.

Personally I think that there are too many "minor" threads on here ... I don't think we need individual threads for each "Live" performance of a song by Gladys Knight as an example, just one "Live Performances" thread in the Gladys Knight section where people can post anything they have found ... same for The Supremes,  Marvin Gaye, Marvelettes, Elgins, Stevie Wonder etc. etc. etc. of course.  I'm thinking of creating something like the "Ed Sullivan" thread or the "Motown Not On Motown" thread, lots of great stuff following the same theme and all in one place  ... sometimes less really is more and rather than having 20 threads with 10 views each we would have one thread with 200+ views which would look a whole lot better.  Over the past few years I've posted a few "New Music" threads featuring recently recorded music that I think will appeal to fans of "Classic Motown", in retrospect it would have been better if I'd created one "New Music" thread and put them all in one place.

As I'm typing this I'm listening to Mr Snakepit's Motown show via the NMFM "play again" facility  ... I'd ask Mr Snakepit to reconsider his position regarding WestGrand ... new releases do need to be supported, even if the people behind them appear to be imperfect and, who knows, maybe the EMails got directed into their recipient's Spam Folder ... I occasionally look in my Spam folder and find all manner of "Legitimate" EMails in there!!

Anyway, must dash, it's approaching time for me to lift off again.   

Roger

I have no control over MT software Roger which appears to work for me. At least on MT you don't have to search through posts to find an artist as 90% have their own dedicated forum. No one has to look at anything that they are not interested in but it appears that not many people are interested. That's a problem that I can't fix. MT is here to stay and I will continue to post as best as I can for better or worse.