"I Remember Motown" 2nd kick at the can!

[Mark Desjardines]

Back in 2009, Frances [[Fran Heard) Maclin published her memoirs "I Remember Motown, recalling her days as the Motown tape vault librarian. Although the book was quite short, she shared some delightful stories that made me laugh out loud on several occasions. One of the major complaints of readers was the slimness of her original manuscript. Mrs. Maclin has just emailed me to share that a 2nd edition is now available via Amazon and as soon as I am able to obtain a copy will gladly share my thoughts with readers of this thread.

[jobeterob]

Would love to read this and know more about it!

[greg jones]

What I would love to learn is why the stereo album master of I Hear A Symphony never found it's way being released and the master with only 4 songs in stereo is the one that did get a release. Was this in error ? or Was there some reason they chose not to release the complete stereo mixes ?

Ms. Herd seems like a great one to ask as well as the lady who worked in Quality Control. Just can't remember the name of the quality control person that i've heard about

greg jones
los angeles, ca

[ralpht]

You're thinking of Billie Jean Brown, Greg.

[midnight johnny]

Back in 2009, Frances [[Fran Heard) Maclin published her memoirs "I Remember Motown, recalling her days as the Motown tape vault librarian. Although the book was quite short, she shared some delightful stories that made me laugh out loud on several occasions. One of the major complaints of readers was the slimness of her original manuscript. Mrs. Maclin has just emailed me to share that a 2nd edition is now available via Amazon and as soon as I am able to obtain a copy will gladly share my thoughts with readers of this thread.

I would love to get HER for an interview, Mark!!! Thanks for posting this!!!

[Mark Desjardines]

In case anyone is interested in my original thoughts on Fran's book, here is my original review.


Come And Get These Memories!
By R. Mark
Desjardins on April 15, 2010

In this age of independent book stores closing down and major publishers cutting back on new releases, an author appealing to a niche market will often have to turn to a small independent press to have their voice heard. Thankfully, Frances [[Fran Heard) Maclin's memoir, I Remember Motown has found its way to print. Initially hired as a Tape Librarian, over a twenty-five year association with Motown Records she became Library Director, having oversight to thousands of recording tapes at the Detroit based studios, and later for the one located in Los Angeles. Her duties entailed cataloguing and storing the session reels, dispensing them back and forth to the engineer and producer for final mixing, and if being released, to ensure the right tapes were sent for mastering before being delivered to the pressing plant.

Problems and mixups invariably happened and Maclin relates a particular incident that occurred during her tenure. The wrong master of a song had been pressed and by sheer good luck, the error was discovered at the last possible moment. Berry Gordy called all the employees in the chain of command on the carpet and asked Maclin who was responsible for the tape mixup. She declined to name the culprit and Gordy fired her. As she was packing her belongings, Gordy's first wife, Raynoma, referred throughout this books as simply "Miss Ray," approached her and told her to get back to work. Later that day, Gordy came upon Maclin in the Tape Library and stated, "I thought I fired you!", to which Maclin retorted, "You did, but I went back to work instead." "Oh!" replied Gordy as he went along his business. Later, it filtered back to Maclin that Gordy was secretly impressed that she wasn't a stool pigeon.

Though I Remember Motown is a slim volume, several amusing anecdotes are revealed, and this reviewer found himself laughing out loud many times at the delightful insider stories Maclin shares here. While Diana Ross may have seen herself as "The Boss," in the pecking order of the roster, Berry Gordy is clearly depicted here as being in the driver's seat of this operation with both hands firmly on the steering wheel. Those expecting dirt to be dished on ego inflated divas will be disappointed.

According to Maclin, Berry Gordy treated his early employees well. They in turn respected him for the opportunities he gave them, and their loyalty to the fledging label helped launch what was to became the soundtrack of the sixties and beyond. One gets the sense that in the early days, Motown really had a close knit family vibe. Maclin's describes how the first annual Motown staff picnic was planned with a $1,000 budget from Berry Gordy. As Raynoma and Frances were shopping for food for the picnic, they were stopped by the Detroit police as Gordy's license plate had expired. The ensuing arrest and finger printing with overtones of racial profiling threatened to ruin the planned event. This revelation, among several others, make for very interesting and eye opening reading of the political climate in Detroit in the early sixties.

This memoir would certainly have benefited from being more expansive. Hopefully Maclin returns with a second volume of her treasure trove of stories pertaining to the early years of the label before it became known as "The Sound of Young America," introducing the Motown Sound to a world eager for a brand new beat. The original Gordy record label boasted, "It's What's In the Grooves That Counts" and it's what to be found within the pages of this small gem of a book that will delight devotees of the Motown Sound. A fun read and highly recommended!

[greg jones]

You're thinking of Billie Jean Brown, Greg.

Thanx Ralph! That's exactly who i was thinking of. Her name came up when George Solomon & Andy Skurow were discussing I Hear A Symphony on Nightflight, Johnny Perrone's Radio Show. Though I had heard of her before.

greg jones
los angeles, ca

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Mark, I LOVE this book. As you said, the only problem is that it's just too darned short! I can hardly wait to read the newly-improved and enlarged 2nd edition. Thanks for the heads up. [[I just checked Amazon U.S. The new 2nd edition isn't mentioned yet. In fact, all that's listed at this time is a cheap kindle edition left over from.before.)