TomBairdFan
12-30-2014, 12:20 PM
I always like to get a few Motown CDs in my stocking. OK, so they were presents to myself, but isn't that who the best pressies come from? Having donated my extensive Motown LP collection to charity earlier this year, I needed to fill some gaps! One of the items that I treated myself to was the ''Cooley High'' soundtrack CD, having been inspired by the Diana Ross and The Supremes 2001 U.S. Anthology which I got a few months ago. It featured the ''Cooley High Mix'' of ''Baby Love'', which reminded me of how gorgeous every track on ''Cooley High'' sounded when I used to own it on LP. There's nothing on the CD version that says who mixed or mastered the 1975 LP release, but Suha Gur did the usual sterling job on the CD re-issue, on which even the stereo mix of the Four Tops ''Reach Out I'll Be There'' sounds amazing! And Luther Allison sounds like he's doing his guitar gymnastics right there in your room!
Other Christmas goodies included a handful of the inexpensive Gordon Frewin-compiled 'Motown The History' Britannia Music CDs from Amazon's Marketplace, purchased because they sound so consistently good. At the bottom of my stocking were several of the 'Compact Command' series CDs, because they are ideal for just popping into the CD player and hearing a Motowner's very best hits within the space of an hour [[Confession: I purchased the Jr. Walker set because I wanted a direct-to-digital full-length version of ''Way Back Home'' to complete my collection!). There's just something about the sound of the Compact Command series that is often preferable to the re-mastered recordings. Being able to pick up different recordings like this is where CDs have still got downloads beat, and besides, downloads don't fit in Christmas stockings!
Top of my Christmas heap of CDs was the Japanese CD re-issue of Yvonne Fair's ''The Bitch Is Black'' - as scintillating as it gets when Norman Whitfield's in charge, plus any Motown recordings with Ed Greene on drums are an extra bonus! I enjoyed reading the quirky lyric translations into English in the booklet [[for example: 'Take a load off fanny and put it on me' from ''Stay A Little Longer''!). Speaking of Ed Greene, I think it's time to stop typing and put on the headphones to enjoy The Originals' ''California Sunset''.
So, what did you get for your Motown Christmas?
Happy Motown grooving to everyone in 2015!
Other Christmas goodies included a handful of the inexpensive Gordon Frewin-compiled 'Motown The History' Britannia Music CDs from Amazon's Marketplace, purchased because they sound so consistently good. At the bottom of my stocking were several of the 'Compact Command' series CDs, because they are ideal for just popping into the CD player and hearing a Motowner's very best hits within the space of an hour [[Confession: I purchased the Jr. Walker set because I wanted a direct-to-digital full-length version of ''Way Back Home'' to complete my collection!). There's just something about the sound of the Compact Command series that is often preferable to the re-mastered recordings. Being able to pick up different recordings like this is where CDs have still got downloads beat, and besides, downloads don't fit in Christmas stockings!
Top of my Christmas heap of CDs was the Japanese CD re-issue of Yvonne Fair's ''The Bitch Is Black'' - as scintillating as it gets when Norman Whitfield's in charge, plus any Motown recordings with Ed Greene on drums are an extra bonus! I enjoyed reading the quirky lyric translations into English in the booklet [[for example: 'Take a load off fanny and put it on me' from ''Stay A Little Longer''!). Speaking of Ed Greene, I think it's time to stop typing and put on the headphones to enjoy The Originals' ''California Sunset''.
So, what did you get for your Motown Christmas?
Happy Motown grooving to everyone in 2015!