steve Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I was wondering about the motown yesteryear lable, and what was the reasoning behind it, why didn't motown just use their mainstream lables (motown, tamla etc) at the time, and do they hold any great value, Many thanks in advance Steve Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Pete S Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I was wondering about the motown yesteryear lable, and what was the reasoning behind it, why didn't motown just use their mainstream lables (motown, tamla etc) at the time, and do they hold any great value, Many thanks in advance Steve The clue is in the name Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
steve Posted May 5, 2009 Author Share Posted May 5, 2009 The clue is in the name Yes I understand that Pete, but why not just re-issue them on their main lables? Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Pete S Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Yes I understand that Pete, but why not just re-issue them on their main lables? Because the main labels were always for new product? Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Tabs Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Yesteryear was just Motowns re - issue label. Simple as that As Pete states the main labels were for new product only. From memory Yeteryear started in the mid 70's for all back catalogue Motown considered worth reissuing. Probably no value in any of them as they were all big hits previously, but arguably they would be rarer that the original release. Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
michael-j Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 also some releases on the label are non-Motown material, like the Al Green reissues. Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest TONY ROUNCE Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I know there are a few anomalies, but I would imagine that one of the main reasons - if not THE main reason - that MY was incorporated by Motown was to to give jukebox operators two Motown hits on one single. The company had deleted most of its original 45s by the time that MY was incorporated, so this was the only way that jukebox operators could restock worn out copies Al Green is on MY because Motown had picked up distribution of the old Hi catalogue for a while. The only way you can get his version of "Take Me To The River" is on an MY single, in fact... Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Yesteryear was just Motowns re - issue label. Simple as that As Pete states the main labels were for new product only. From memory Yeteryear started in the mid 70's for all back catalogue Motown considered worth reissuing. Probably no value in any of them as they were all big hits previously, but arguably they would be rarer that the original release. I got a copy of "thrill a moment" kim weston on motown yesteryear - i did not realize that was re-issued by motown in the 70s until last year Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest TONY ROUNCE Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I got a copy of "thrill a moment" kim weston on motown yesteryear - i did not realize that was re-issued by motown in the 70s until last year I would imagine that would be a hard one to find, possibly more so than a Gordy copy given how often it turns up! The Velvelettes "A Bird In the Hand"/"Lonely Lonely Girl Am I" probably didn't fly out, either... One thing that seems to be a constant among the many MY 45s I've seen is that they are invariably pressed from the same stampers that were used to make the original 45s. Unless - as with Al Green - there wasn't an original 45, of course... Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 It says 1973 release of 1965 production - And yes some idiot has marked out yesteryear All good for 3 quid tho ! Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
paup-ine Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I always thought they looked a bit bootish P Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
pikeys dog Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I thought that Motown were still having these pressed during the 80s and 90s - purely for jukebox owners - like the 'collectables' label. Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest TONY ROUNCE Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I thought that Motown were still having these pressed during the 80s and 90s - purely for jukebox owners - like the 'collectables' label. I think they stopped in the early 80s. Collectables themselves issued a bunch of licensed Motown bac-to-backers in the 1990s, inclding the only legitimate 7 inch issue of the Temptations fantastic 'Born To Love You'... Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I always thought they looked a bit bootish P Motown booting there own stuff !!! Like Tony mentioned, they were produced off the original stamper so the plastic is exactley the same as the original ! but with a different label ! Would I play it on this label if i was DJ ing ? Personally No ! It is a rare legit re - issue but definatley not an original ! But it is a nice odd one to own IMO Mossy Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
paup-ine Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Motown booting there own stuff !!! Like Tony mentioned, they were produced off the original stamper so the plastic is exactley the same as the original ! but with a different label ! Would I play it on this label if i was DJ ing ? Personally No ! It is a rare legit re - issue but definatley not an original ! But it is a nice odd one to own IMO Mossy I wasn't meaning that they were boots Mossy, just that they always looked like that (to me). P Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Sebastian Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Al Green is on MY because Motown had picked up distribution of the old Hi catalogue for a while. The only way you can get his version of "Take Me To The River" is on an MY single, in fact... Tony, do you know when they issued the Al Green 45? It just hit me that they might've issued it to cash in on Talking Heads hit version of it from 1978. Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest TONY ROUNCE Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Tony, do you know when they issued the Al Green 45? It just hit me that they might've issued it to cash in on Talking Heads hit version of it from 1978. ...no, it's definitely later than that - Motown didn't pick up Cream/Hi's distribution till the mid 80s, when it had ceased to function as a 'frony line' record label. The Al Green 2-On-1 CDs that came out on Motown all have 1985 and 1986 P dates, so the single would have come out at about that time. They did some other Al 45s, too, but I think that this one was the only one with material that had not been out on CD before. Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Sebastian Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 ...no, it's definitely later than that - Motown didn't pick up Cream/Hi's distribution till the mid 80s, when it had ceased to function as a 'frony line' record label. The Al Green 2-On-1 CDs that came out on Motown all have 1985 and 1986 P dates, so the single would have come out at about that time. They did some other Al 45s, too, but I think that this one was the only one with material that had not been out on CD before. Ah OK, thanks for clearing that up. It did give me the pleasure of having an image of Berry Gordy listening to "More Songs About Buildings And Food" in my head for a while... Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
michael-j Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Motown supposedly were going to sign The Fall at one point! presumably it was for one of the sub labels they'd started, think there was a rock one Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest TONY ROUNCE Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Motown supposedly were going to sign The Fall at one point! presumably it was for one of the sub labels they'd started, think there was a rock one They signed Chris Rea instead... Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
steve Posted May 6, 2009 Author Share Posted May 6, 2009 I was wondering about the motown yesteryear lable, and what was the reasoning behind it, why didn't motown just use their mainstream lables (motown, tamla etc) at the time, and do they hold any great value, Many thanks in advance Steve Thanks to everyone for information on this Steve Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest TONY ROUNCE Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 The MY seris seems to have ground to a halt around 1982. The last number I can find is 674, which offers Lionel Richie's "Truly" and "You Are" for anyone daft enough to want it (actually I rather like "You Are", but let's not go there...) I've got a pretty full listing in front of me now. Everything from 401 -647 is recycled Motown product. Of the remaining 27 numbers, 648 thru' 656 are all drawn from Hi and are a mixture of Ann Peebles, Al Green and Ace Cannon titles. 657-663 are Motown 664-669 are also from Hi (More Al Green/Ace Cannon/Willie Mitchell, 670-674 are Motown except 671 which doesn't seem to have been released. The only one of the Hi's that offers material that wasn't released on a Hi 45 originally is 653: Take Me To The River/Have A Good Time. All of the Motown MY's paired two sides that were previously released on a Motown group 45. I Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Sebastian Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) The MY seris seems to have ground to a halt around 1982. The last number I can find is 674 653: Take Me To The River/Have A Good Time. With 653 being 20 numbers before the 1982 release of 674...doesn't that at least put "Take Me To The River" as being released in 1980-ish? I'm trying to come up with why they decided to put an otherwise LP-only track out as a 7", apart from the fact that Talking Heads had a high charting version of it in 1978/1979. Edited May 6, 2009 by Sebastian Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
The Yank Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 With 653 being 20 numbers before the 1982 release of 674...doesn't that at least put "Take Me To The River" as being released in 1980-ish? I'm trying to come up with why they decided to put an otherwise LP-only track out as a 7", apart from the fact that Talking Heads had a high charting version of it in 1978/1979. "Take Me To The River " was released as a 45 on Hi. It was Hi #2285- b side is "Could I Be Falling In Love". Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest TONY ROUNCE Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 With 653 being 20 numbers before the 1982 release of 674...doesn't that at least put "Take Me To The River" as being released in 1980-ish? I'm trying to come up with why they decided to put an otherwise LP-only track out as a 7", apart from the fact that Talking Heads had a high charting version of it in 1978/1979. No it's definitely not that early. 647 is Stevie Wonder's "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It"/"Lately" - both '81 657 is Stevie Wonder's "Do I Do"/"That Girl" - both '82 ...which means that the first batch of Hi's must have come out in early-mid '82, allowing for the fact that the Stevie's would not have come out on MY until they had been off the charts for a while. I remember the first lot coming in as imports in 1973 (or thereabouts) - they released about 150 in one go. I think that the releases thereafter came in batches, but IO wouldn't like to say how many constitutes a 'batch'! Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest TONY ROUNCE Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 "Take Me To The River " was released as a 45 on Hi. It was Hi #2285- b side is "Could I Be Falling In Love". ...yes, Hi 2285 did feature "Take Me To The River"/"Could I Be falling In Love" - by Syl Johnson. As I said, the only time Al Green's TMTTR was released on 45 was on Motown Yesteryear. Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Sunnysoul Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 I have a copy of Willie Hutch "Brother's Gonna Work It Out" b/w "Slick"on Motown Yesteryear Y558F ... only thing is, instead of playing "Slick" it actually plays The Shangri Las "Leader of The Pack" !!!!!!! Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 I have a copy of Willie Hutch "Brother's Gonna Work It Out" b/w "Slick"on Motown Yesteryear Y558F ... only thing is, instead of playing "Slick" it actually plays The Shangri Las "Leader of The Pack" !!!!!!! Send it back Link to comment Social source share More sharing options...
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