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Robbk

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Everything posted by Robbk

  1. Believe it or not, there are still Soul Music collectors in USA and Canada, who want songs on vinyl 45s (even if they were not released originally, during the vinyl period).
  2. It's a matter of personal taste. I like The Camaros' best. The instrumental is sharper, and clearer, and the vocals are really nice. It sounds more "Detroitish" because you can hear those individual Detroit musicians more clearly.
  3. That's right, and they were with Berry Gordy even before Tamla, as The Biscaines on Ridge Records (on which Gordy also recorded Don McKenzie (later with Miracle). Debbie Dean had recorded with him, previously, for Argo.
  4. I seem to remember reading that Jobettes' record was from Indiana (but it wasn't listed on The Indiana Soul website. Kevin Knox was a Canadian entertainer. His company (with Ltd. in the title), must have been a Canadian company. But the record was a US pressing.
  5. If that fabulous track were to have made a US 45, it would have been the version by one of their actual commercial artists/groups (I know I've heard one by at least one of them-Kim Weston? or Brenda Holloway?......or?). But that brings up the question of why there were literally HUNDREDS of cuts left in the can that I think would have been hits.
  6. Not surprising, as the Tamala Lewis song was written by George Clinton's crew for Motown's Jobete Music office in New York. And, "A Touch of Venus" was written by L.A. Jobete Music writers for Motown in L.A.,-and Patrice Holloway's version seems to have a Detroit backing track.
  7. The base playing and the beat are certainly reminiscent of Motown. But the remainder of the instrumentation is clearly not.
  8. THIS is the thread title: The Most Motown Sounding Records Never To {have appeared} On Motown ? That, to me is a bit different from listing songs INFLUENCED by Motown. We mentioned the songs being affiliated by ex-Motowners, NOT as evidence that they do sound like Motown recordings, but after choosing the songs, as an aside, to explain that it is not surprising that they DO sound like Motown.
  9. Doubly interesting, as I was living in Chicago at the time (South Chicago) and I worked in my father's store on The South Side (where all of my friends lived). To me, the melody and instrumentation on those Artistics cuts was more Detroit-sounding than Chicago. They sound very unlike the typical Carl Davis productions, which share more in common with The Curtis Mayfield style.
  10. Yes, several of The Funk Brothers played on "I get The Sweetest Feeling"-and Ex-Motowner Sonny Sanders had a part in arranging it. But, it sounds very "Chicago" in its writing and arrangement-not really like a Detroit or Motown song. I wouldn't say that of all Carl Davis produced songs-as "This Heart of Mine", "I'll Come Running" and "So Much Love In My Heart" all by The Artistics and handled by Barrett Strong and Sonny Sanders all sound like pure Motown (much more, to my ears, than the Jackie Wilsons, -despite their Funk Brothers rhythm sections involvement.
  11. No surprise with Don Davis' Groovesville crew (ALL had worked at Motown (including Don). Most were currently still working there (during the day and early evening).
  12. Yes, I forgot to mention this one. Mickey and Kim from Motown Detroit, and Willie Hutch from Motown L.A.-not at all surprising. Mickey's L.A. group had other ex-Motowners (Clarence Paul et. al). This is really a Motown beat, melody and arrangement, unlike a lot of the East Coast recordings listed above.
  13. Naturally,- with ex-Satintone, Sonny Sanders, arranging, ex-Motowny Barrett Strong as assistant producer and writer. Still, there was a much more heavy "Chicago Sound" element in these than in Robert Bateman's and Andre Williams 20th Century Fox Detroit made recordings on Mary.
  14. Supposedly a Martha & Vandellas -style. But sounds much more like East Coast Brill Building (with a little Chicago Soul thrown in).
  15. Can you post yours? I assume they had orders from different plants. But they may have re-issued it, as well.
  16. You may well be right. There was quite a recording session time gap between their last Cub and fisrt MGM session (unlike the Wanderers' case).
  17. It looks original to me. Eddie Thomas had pressing jobs done in a lot of different pressing plants. They had several different label designs and colours. That's one that Thomas used.
  18. The instrumentation just doesn't sound Detroit at all. It sounds like one of the weaker L.A. ( Jobete) Motown cuts (without the flute). It just sounds like a Motown copy. No way I'd mistake this for a Detroit Motown track.
  19. The words and tempo (and GENERAL) arrangement sound very like a Mary Wells Motown song. But the instrumentation sounds like Nashville. And it doesn't have a Motown bridge, which would have featured a sax solo. I could see how to convert this nicely-written song into a nice 1963-64 Motown Mary Wells (w/Love-Tones) cut. Maybe someday I'll get the software to cut and splice up a version!
  20. This sounds a LOT more like an East Coast (Philly) cut than a Detroit/Motown sound. I can't hear The marvelettes doing this (at least not produced by a Motown producer).
  21. Ady- do you need anything on The Francettes on Wolfie or Sleeper, or Challenge?
  22. He was supposedly a friend of Smokey's. smokey brought him in to record in early 1962. He only recorded a handful of songs at Motown ("Who You Gonna Run To" being the best effort -in 1964). I found a couple of unreleased in The Vaults in the 1970s. They were from 1962. "Better Late Than Never" was the best of those. Smokey wrote and produced all his cuts.
  23. There's a reason for that. It was produced by LA Motown's producers (Hal Davis and Marc Gordon) and written by LA Jobete Music's writers (Marc Gordon and Frank Wilson), and arranged by LA Motown's regular arranger, and the session players were LA Motown's regular 1963-66 players on sessions for recordings that appeared on Motown released records. To me, none of the other non-Motown cuts listed above sound really like Motown. The session players were not from Detroit, the arrangers were different from the Motown style. Many of them sound like NY or Philly cuts. To me, only Motown's LA Jobete recordings, and Detroit Soul recordings using Motown session players, arrangers and writers, sound really like Motown. Some examples: "Lucky To Be Loved By You"-Emanuel Lasky "That Was My Girl"-Parliaments "You turned My Bitter Into Sweet"-Mary Love "Let Me Know"-Mary Love "Run One Flight Of Stairs"-Gloria Jones "This Heart of Mine"-Artistics "Happiness Is Here"-Tobi Lark "My World is on Fire"-Jimmy Mack "Me Without You"-Mary Wells "Don't Lead Me On Baby"-Emanuel Laskey "No Part Time Love For Me"-Martha Starr "Poor Unfortunate Me"-J.J. Barnes "My Mama Told Me"-Barbara Lewis "Open The Door To Your Heart"/"Somebody Somewhere Needs You"-Darrell Banks "The Touch of Venus"-Sandy Wynns Don Davis recreated The Motown Sound at his Groovesviile/Groove City Records, at Golden World/Ric Tic, Solid Hit Productions, Thelma and Stax/Volt Records Joe Hunter did so at Mickay's/Ring, Golden World/Ric Tic and Pied Piper Prod. Mike Terry did, everywhere he went Bob Bateman did at Correc-Tone, and on his indie Detroit and NY Productions Mike Hanks did to some extent, as did Dave Hamilton and Ollie McGloughlin, Sonny Sanders in Detroit and Chicago (all used sometime Motown producers, arrangers and session players), Ed Cobb in LA
  24. Do you mean before that iteration (or particular lineup) of The Velours got together? I thought we established in an earlier thread about them that The MGM mid-sixties Velours were the same group (albeit with some lineup changes) as The R&B/Doo Wop Velours who had recorded with Onyx, Orbit and Cub (they were still under contract from Cub when switched to MGM (same as occurred with The Wanderers).


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