Motown Treasures

Oh no I love Riding High just as it is - its one of those LP's that I dont like to listen to too often for fear of over familiarisation, every few months I take it out and play it 'as new' to touch this would be a dissaster - add to it maybe but don't take away the music.

Its certainly a step in the right direction  - I may have to indulge

Just currently listening to this new 20 track comp from Ace and for once with this kind of 'tribute' CD I am not disappointed with choices - largely I guess thanks to its title and subsequent lineup.
I have to admit I was squirming a bit when I saw it announced and was convinced we would see obscure and pointless versions just for rarities sake and (I guess they couldn't avoid it) they have include Aretha's wonderful, Until You Come Back to Me instead of an unheard version by Liberace.
I AM however very disappointed with the line up of the forthcoming Smokey Songbook set (I may be the only one) with a wealth of classic material I am sure they could have found better and less noodly versions to include.

Let's Get Serious - Jermaine Jackson
Tell Me Something Good - Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
Superstition - Quincy Jones
I Was Made To Love Her - The Bar-Kays
Jesus Children Of America - The Dixie Hummingbirds
To Know You Is To Love You - Margie Joseph
What Are You Going To Do With It - Betty Wright
Bad Weather - The Supremes
What Else Is There To Do (But Think About You) - Four Tops
Uptight (Everything's Alright) - Nancy Wilson
You're The One For Me - Marvin Gaye
Open Up Your Heart - LaBelle
As - Sister Sledge
Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do) - Aretha Franklin
Superwoman - The Main Ingredient
My Cherie Amour - O.C. Smith
We Had A Love So Strong - Randy Crawford
Don't Know Why I Love You - The Persuasions
Evil - Lou Rawls


The Smokey Set

1. "The Tears Of A Clown"-The Beat
2. "Don't Look Back"-Bettye Swann
3. "Ain't That Peculiar"-Fanny
4. "First I Look At The Purse" (UK Mix)-The Contours
5. "From Head To Toe"-Elvis Costello & The Attractions
6. "You've Really Got A Hold On Me"-Sonny & Cher
7. "Who You Gonna Run To"-Shades
8. "I'll Be Doggone"-The Searchers
9. "I Want A Love I Can See"-The Temptations
10. "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game"-Blondie
11. "My Girl"-Otis Redding
12. "Get Ready"-Ella Fitzgerald
13. "Oh I Apologize"-Lonnie Mack
14. "One More Heartache"-Marvin Gaye
15. "Shop Around"-Johnny Kidd & The Pirates
16. "I'll Try Something New"-Kiki Dee
17. "What's Easy For Two Is Hard For One"-The Intruders
18. "My Guy"-Helen Shapiro
19. "The Further You Look, The Less You See"-John Holt
20. "The Way You Do The Things You Do"-Little Richard
21. "Ooo Baby Baby"-Laura Nyro
22. "More, More, More Of Your Love" (Mono Mix)-Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

Not at all I have this cast LP and it was always a standout track to me.

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 would agree with you Roger,

I lose count of the number of emails that I send to record companies as a legitimate newspaper reviewer - at least 50 per cent get ignored - I have to take that as not a slight but due to the fact that the mail never got to the right person - they could not help but were too busy to reply so - that they had no stock but would look at it again when stock became available. This is as true with companies as big as Sony or Universal as it is with smaller outfits. I cannot take it too personally...

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 LOVE Brenda I could watch this with no sound