Tom clay at motown/mowest

[captainjames]

I always loved the way this was done and not surprised Motown did something like this but was surprised that Tom Clay ended up at Motown.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uqNLnEzDLA

[Drew P. Nads]

And wonderful backpart vocals from Clydie King, Oma Drake and Jesse Smith!

[tamla617]

love the name drew!

[mysterysinger]

Not sure if I'm alone in this, but I enjoyed the album. What The World Needs Now is clearly a great track, but I've always liked too Whatever Happened To Love. Don't suppose the LP will see a CD release though.

[Drew P. Nads]

love the name drew!

Can I just mention that it in no way describes any part of my anatomy!

[Drew P. Nads]

Not sure if I'm alone in this, but I enjoyed the album. What The World Needs Now is clearly a great track, but I've always liked too Whatever Happened To Love. Don't suppose the LP will see a CD release though.

Are any of Tom's tracks on this new Mowest cd?

[Drew P. Nads]

Oh, I just checked and there aren't!

[RossHolloway]

I've never seen a copy of this album in my 30 years of record collecting...

[Drew P. Nads]

It's on Amazon UK for 13 quid. Another entry for a fiver! Good cover!

[1382hitsville]

This moving track [[yes, gives me the shivers everytime I hear it) can also be found on Motown salutes Bacharach.

[captainjames]

I remember "Whatever Happened To Love" as well but I never owned his album or CD only those two singles.

[robb_k]

I always loved the way this was done and not surprised Motown did something like this but was surprised that Tom Clay ended up at Motown.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uqNLnEzDLA

I'm not surprised. Clay was a friend of Berry Gordy even before Tamla Records was started up. As a DJ, he had broken many of Berry's songs in Detroit. He continued that action after Motown was going. Clay also recorded songs written by Berry before Tamla started up.

[captainjames]

I would love to get my hands on those songs he recorded of Mr. Gordy's.

I'm not surprised. Clay was a friend of Berry Gordy even before Tamla Records was started up. As a DJ, he had broken many of Berry's songs in Detroit. He continued that action after Motown was going. Clay also recorded songs written by Berry before Tamla started up.

[Jimi LaLumia]

Tom Clay's "What The World Needs...." was successful enough to make the "Super Hit Survey" on NY's 77WABC AM MusicRadio, the biggest Top 40 station in the country in the 1960's and 70's...I remember hearing it there, as I listened to the station 24/7 in my teen years[[60's into 70's)

[tomato tom]

I got the album in a garage/street market sale in the Castro, San Fransisco late 1970s. for 50 cents or so.It was a used copy, and somone, the previous owner, I presume, left a newspaper cutting inside with an inteview with Thom Clay about how the song came to fruition. I think I only ever played the album all the way through once and that was enough. Must dig it out and try again. I have the 45 also.which I like a lot..Paulo xxx

[uptight]

Cool, Paulo. Don't you love surprise clippings or photos left inside previously owned LPs?

It's funny, how you appreciate things more when you are older. It's not the greatest album, but I pulled it out last year to give it another whirl and transferred it to digital. I appreciate more now what he was trying to do.

[stephanie]

Why does this remind me of Les Crane and his rendition of Desiderata? Anyone who knows that song will know what I am talking about.

[robb_k]

Here's a Berry Gordy-written song, produced by Gordy, sung by Tom Clay, in early 1959, with The Rayber Voices [[Brian Holland, Sonny Sanders, Raynoma Gordy, Robert Bateman and Eddie Holland) backing him up:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[roger]

I've just found one of his early recordings on YouTube ..

"Never Before" by TOM CLAY AND THE RAYBER VOICES ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbfpyvXHNc

It looks to be the other side of the record that Robb_K has scanned.

Roger

[roger]

Just had a DUH moment .. both "Never Before" and "Marry Me" by TOM CLAY AND THE RAYBER VOICES were included on a C.D. issues in the U.K. in 2009 by Jasmine Records - "Berry Gordy - Motor City Roots".

This is the C.D.

http://www.amazon.com/Motor-Roots-OR.../dp/B002T4TR5E

Roger

[mysterysinger]

[captainjames]

Thanks for posting this cover and guess what I must of had a senior or bad young man moment [[hahaha) because I have this LP tucked away I am sure.

[soulmanray]

Rear cover of the Album

[jboy88]

What The World Needs Now is a masterpiece, but the B-side to that "the Victors" was the most depressing thing i've ever heard! One that killed my Motown Buzz!

[gary_james]

I picked up the Tom Clay What The World Needs Now album at a Five and Dime cut-out bin in 1973, don't think I ever played the whole album and it's still in mint condition.
I bought the single in '71.

Stephanie, Desiderata by Les Crane made the Top 10 in 1971 and got played a lot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmm3X...eature=related

[uptight]

The album is an interesting work of art, combining songs and spoken word. I believe it's The Blackberries singing background. The title of the album seems to suggest it is an uplifting, positive message. But tracks like "For Years," "The Victors," and "What's Going On" can ruin a good mood. I suppose the album reveals where his head was at the time.

Many of the Mowest LPs seemed to be experimental, one-off projects to be used as tax write-offs, not intended to be heavily marketed.