Tam La Motown

The guys at ACE/KENT know how to run a music label. They are superfans with decades of experience and expertise. The quality of albums released on the label are 2nd to none, painstakingly researched and the sound is of the highest quality available. I'm currently buying up as many releases as possible, discovering so many fantastic "new" artists and lost classics in the process.

I know we're in the middle of a pandemic and everyone's wearing a mask but this is no excuse for daylight robbery! £52??? An academic study into Northern Soul. Oh dear, pretentious nonsense where academic overlay their own narrative over the facts and draw all sorts of silly conclusions on flimsy "evidence" to support their viewpoint. The truth? It was all about mainly white working class kids in the North of England having a good time dancing to and collecting rare records. Morphed into middle aged and then elderly folks waiting on hip replacements who still enjoy the music and who reminisce 'bout "good old days"

WOW! A very positive review! There is no doubt had Godin been a prominent supporter of Rock Music he would be a household name. At the very least the man deserves to be memorialised through a TV documentary that will stand as a recognition of his role as the UK's Soul Maven. This book might just be the catalyst...

Sorry but I disagree. The 3 parts jumped all over the shop and barely scratched the surface of any topic featured. Minority music? Jazz is a minority music, yet it got the full Ken Burns treatment. Soul is such a wide umbrella, 3 hours left me gagging for more!

More bad news. 2020 has been a terrible year. We've lost so many great people.

The BBC has a terrible history when it comes to playing/supporting music created by black performers, be they American or British. I wonder just how often some of the music featured during this 24 hr period was playlisted and heard on the BBC when it was originally released? Even A list black artists struggled to have their music played on Radio 1 in the late 60s through the 70s and well into the 80s.

The BBC mess it up AGAIN! A frustrating experience for this viewer, very short clips of artists performing then in comes the voiceover. An overly simplistic potted history that seemed to focus on Dr Martin Luther King, Aretha & Otis at the expense of so many other important artists who made a significant contribution to the development of Soul. Similar to the recent Motown documentary it barely scratched the surface with every topic then bounced back and forth. It resorted to the old tropes "raised in the church"- lots of clips of old ladies call & response with the pastor zzzz. There was not enough focus on the music and too much on Civil Rights. No doubt many gaps will be covered in eps 2 & 3 but the Genre is so wide it deserves a more indepth study similar to the two recent Ken Burns 10 part series on Country Music & Jazz.

It's the BBC, they'll F it up. Get ready to count the mistakes!

More mouth watering goodies. I have just received my copy of the Thom Bell disc- awesome Philly sounds- surely this is the first a series focussing on the work of Thom Bell!

Another fantastic compilation form the guys at ACE/KENT. The quality of the material is top drawer and of course the artists featured are terrific. The accompanying booklet is stuffed with bios, publicity shots, info on each track and label scans. No one comes close to these guys when compiling a disc. The sound quality is excellent too. Love it!

Always look forward to any new book about Motown,

Fascinating stuff. We are right there in the room as the magic is being made. I wonder what tracks were being recorded?

Found this, Record Mirror readers letters page from 1966. Complaints galore about James Brown's RSG special...

A BIOGRAPHY of Jan Bradley published in Billboard March 1963.

Another Billboard chart from March 1963- The R&B Singles, some interesting and surprising records included. This is due to them being bought in stores that provided data for the Billboard chart located in African American neighbourhoods.

Thanks for the info guys. I remember Channel 4 broadcasting a short run of RSG shows in 1984/5. The Morown Special being a particular hi light. Dave Clark released a couple of video compilations at the time. Videotape was expensive back in the 60s and TV stations around the world were in the habit of wiping shows after they were broadcast in order to reuse the tape for future episodes. So many great performances and iconic shows have been lost forever. There is always the hope that someone somewhere has a copy in their loft or garden shed and will be uncovered someday soon. The James Brown Show sounds electrifying!

I enjoyed the documentary but was also frustrated by it. Detail seemed to be secondary, for example no mention of when it was first broadcast. It would've been nice to know which artists appeared on the debut show and what songs did they "perform". That kind of detail does matter! Great to see the old clips of the artists in their prime- teenagers and 20 somethings. I wonder how many of them thought they would still be around and enjoying a successful career almost 60 years later? It was great to see a large section of the documentary devoted to R&B/Motown. I was surprised that the Supremes did not feature in the performances documentary that followed- Motown's biggest act!

Thanks for posting this incredible performance. WHAT A VOICE! The power, depth and such a sweet tone. A powerful combination. This gal deserved to be a major star. Yet another sad tale of an African American artist who couldn't overcome the odds stacked against them.

The UK Soul Singles Chart published in Blues & Soul/Record Mirror on 15th March 1975

The first ever UK R&B Singles chart. Published in Record Mirror July 3rd 1965

Some of the "remedies" I've seen on You Tube fill me with horror. Placing a vinyl disc in the oven. What could possibly go wrong? Cleaning with wood glue, washing up liquid or WD40? If you're daft enough to try these crazy "cures" then I have a cure for Corona Virus, only £50 + pp for a 1litre bottle!

1966 and the Four Tops make an impression on the Brits!

Interesting contemporary reviews from UK music mag Disc published in late 1966. Do you agree with the reviewer?

You can see that several of the Motown chart entries are re releases issued due to the emerging Northern scene and renewed interest in those early Motown tracks originally released a couple of years earlier.