Universal Music Special Markets - REEL MUSIC

I have a unique CD in my collection Jimmy Ruffin - Ruff'N Ready which was released in 2009. The booklet included in the CD is really great. It is 20 pages long. The back cover of the booklet inlucde the original liner notes. The other 19 pages include great pictures of JR; scans of jukebox title strips; scans of US and UK releases; sheet music; trade publications. The booklet is very similar to what one would find in an expanded edition. Image, a 20 page booklet for one CD including 12 songs. It was distributed [?] by Reel Music.

This is the one and only CD I have ever seen in this fashion. The UPC is 67487-80152 in stereo mode.

Does anyone know of others that were manufactured and sold this way? It is really a great CD in my opinion and the booklet makes it over the top.

I have 2 others:
"Strung Out" by Gordon Staples & The String Thing and "Soul Sounds" by Chris Clark.
They are superb and similar to Ace`s releases. Chris Clark`s has an alt. stereo mix of "Do Right Baby Do Right" as a bonus.

Here is a listing of the now-defunct Reel Music's releases on Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/label/163205-Reel-Music

This was indeed a great reissue label, founded by producer Paul Williams. I regrettably gave away the Gloria Jones and Freda Payne releases I had, but still have the ones by Gloria Scott, Chris Clark, LaBelle, Phyllis Hyman, Mary Wells and Bettye LaVette. I remember pre-ordering the Chris Clark Soul Sounds release from their website and it came with a bonus signed booklet.

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Originally Posted by Roger Polhill

I have 2 others:
"Strung Out" by Gordon Staples & The String Thing and "Soul Sounds" by Chris Clark.
They are superb and similar to Ace`s releases. Chris Clark`s has an alt. stereo mix of "Do Right Baby Do Right" as a bonus.

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I just ordered the Strung Out CD. I am considering some others. The Ruff N Ready booklet was over the top. I saw in the listing some of the information about the CD. Thanks for your recommendation.

Check out Dusty Groove. www.dustygroove.com I was able to order the cds I have through them.

Can see my Motown covers here for the Reel issues. https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...7714456367826/

I have all of the Reel Music Motown CDs, as well as some of the non-Motown releases. Reel Music was a great label while it lasted. Unfortunately, it didn't exist all that long.

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Originally Posted by woodward

I just ordered the Strung Out CD. I am considering some others. The Ruff N Ready booklet was over the top. I saw in the listing some of the information about the CD. Thanks for your recommendation.

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Thank you for your original posting which led to some useful replies. From those, I realised that I had a gap in my collection, now successfully filled. I hope you received your copy of Strung Out. I found a copy in Sweden and had it sent over to the UK, only took three days, so clearly one Motown fan didn't want to keep another Motown fan waiting! Only downside was having to pay VAT on a secondhand CD. Hope you like listening to your copy as much as I do. I have had mine playing repeatedly while working on the computer.

When I had the Gordon Staples vinyl album I remember I kept returning to the track "Toonie" - a cute little thing. But the album owes so much to the genius of Paul Riser.

Attachment 21308

Out of all the essays/liner notes from any of the Motown re-released packages, I consider the written content of Reel Music's 'Gordon Staples & The String Thing's 'Strung Out' to be the very best. A.Scott Galloway's in-depth story of the album's recording includes detailed contributions from Paul Riser and Beatriz/Mrs. Staples, along with personal observations from son Greg Staples, and the story behind the album cover shot. Especially touching are the comments from a young female freelance harpist who explained how she was inspired by seeing DSO member Pat Terry in the photo standing in front of her harp alongside the other musicians 'playing it up' for the camera on the front lawn at 9090 Dwight Street. It was also fun to learn who played the part of Johnny Bristol on 'Someday We'll Be Together'! The insert is as perfect as the music on this CD.

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Originally Posted by mysterysinger

Can see my Motown covers here for the Reel issues. https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...7714456367826/

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Thank you very much for displaying the photos that you did. I was especially surprised to see the Bettye Lavette actual CD that showed Barnstable and Yarmouth vs. Detroit in the upper half of the CD. A really neat UK presentation. First I had ever seen this masthead before.

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Originally Posted by woodward

Thank you very much for displaying the photos that you did. I was especially surprised to see the Bettye Lavette actual CD that showed Barnstable and Yarmouth vs. Detroit in the upper half of the CD. A really neat UK presentation. First I had ever seen this masthead before.

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The map on the label for Reel Music CDs was not a representation of those towns in the UK. It was of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, where REEL Music was located.

To the left of the red star at Barnstable is the symbol for Route 6, which is the mid-Cape highway running from the Sagamore Bridge at the Cape Cod Canal to Provincetown. The blank space above the word Provincetown is Cape Cod Bay. To the right of the word REEL is the Atlantic Ocean, aka in this area as Nantucket Sound.

My family's summer home is in South Yarmouth. On this map, hidden just under the top of the letter "L" in REEL.

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Originally Posted by johnjeb

The map on the label for Reel Music CDs was not a representation of those towns in the UK. It was of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, where REEL Music was located.

To the left of the red star at Barnstable is the symbol for Route 6, which is the mid-Cape highway running from the Sagamore Bridge at the Cape Cod Canal to Provincetown. The blank space above the word Provincetown is Cape Cod Bay. To the right of the word REEL is the Atlantic Ocean, aka in this area as Nantucket Sound.

My family's summer home is in South Yarmouth. On this map, hidden just under the top of the letter "L" in REEL.

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Wow, thank you. I learned something today. The UK has SO SO SO many towns and cities, etc. that I am unfamiliar with them. I have only been to Massachusetts only via Amtrak and never gave that a thought. See one learns something new every day. That is still neat though IMO.

Like you, woodward, my first impression of the map on Reel Music's CDs was that it was UK based. However, when I took a closer look, I recognized certain landmarks as from my own backyard on Cape Cod. A pleasant surprise.

Johnjeb: I just had an interesting thought in how the map was changed.

When Motown moved from Detroit to Los Angeles, did they ever consider changing the map to show California outlying areas of Los Angeles to replace the Detroit outlying areas? I never heard that they did, but it is quite possible it was proposed and someone shot it down. Who knows? That would have been interesting. It could only be done for the Motown label.