The First Motown Compact Discs

[mysterysinger]

This is a great read about the production of the first Motown CDs. Nice insight into how it came about and the rarity of Dire Straits on Motown lol.

http://picknmixed.blogspot.co.uk/p/first-motown-on-cd.html

Enjoy - there could well be more!

[stopinthenameoflove]

That was an interesting read, thanks!

[johnny_raven]

I have the Supremes Compact Command CD that I bought back in '83 [[Even though I didn't get a CD player until '84). The back of the jewel case says "Patent Pending".

[R. Mark Desjardins]

Thank you for posting this fascinating article. I remember entering a contest in the early 80's offered by Much Music, the Canadian equivalent of MTV and winning a copy of The Motown Story CD. This format was new and of course fairly expensive, but I decided to celebrate by purchasing a CD player for my lucky win. Who knew just how quickly this new format would take over. As a side note, it is crazy just how much some of the "out of print" early Motown compact discs fetch.

[Ngroove]

Myself, I would say, I came in the Motown collecting around the time of the "Ultimate Collection" that was printing around the mid-late 90s, and was still well in stores into the early 00s - once made it a personal goal, to find, and buy all the "Ultimate Collections" - Supremes, Miracles, Jackson Five, Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Jr. Walker & the All-Stars, Four Tops, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Commodores, Rick James, DeBarge, and I notably remember how hard to find to pure luck finding and buying Marvelettes, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, and especially Mary Wells!

[soulster]

As much as those early Motown CDs are cherished by some audiophiles, the fact is that they sound terrible! It's not the mastering engineer's fault, John Matousek just made the best of the tapes he had access to at the time, and primitive converters.

The Motown CDs got much better when Diana Reid Haig and Carey Mansfield took over in the 90s, and Bill Inglot helped get the vaults in order. Harry Weinger saw getting more material out there.

[Kamasu_Jr]

They do sound terrible today. You have to turn the volume up and you still don't hear the nuances, etc.

[jbpintus]

I have to disagree with the fact the 80s CDs sound terrible. It happens some are really good and surpass all subsequent re-releases.

And they often include music unavailable elsewhere ever since their first appearance on cd

:-)

JB

[woodward]

I have 3 of these in my collection. Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and MJ and the Jackson 5. I bought all of mine through BMG Music Services. According to the jewel box all 3 were manufactured for BMG Direct Marketing, Inc under license, 6550 East 30th Street, Indianapolis, IND 46219. I recall the company publicizing these releases but I only acquired 3 of them, usually free for making another purchase. FYI.

[Ngroove]

I have to disagree with the fact the 80s CDs sound terrible. It happens some are really good and surpass all subsequent re-releases. And they often include music unavailable elsewhere ever since their first appearance on cd :-) JBYes, realize A LOT of early Motown CD releases [[80s-1995 or so) had a lot more variety, of songs, artists in their tracks - Motown Year By Year: the Sound of Young America 1966: "Do I Love You [[Indeed I Do)", Frank Wilson, "Helpless", Kim Weston, "Heaven Must Have Sent You", the Elgins, Motown Year By Year: the Sound of Young America 1968: "Does Your Mama Know About Me", Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, "I Wouldn't Change The Man He Is", Blinky Williams, "Step By Step [[Hand In Hand)", The Monitors, Motown Year By Year: The Sound of Young America 1976: "Party Down", Willie Hutch, "Come Live With Me Angel", Leon Ware [[backed by Minnie Riperton), Motown Year By Year: the Sound of Young America 1980: "Pick Up The Pieces", Mary Wilson, "Love Over And Over Again", Switch, Funkology Volume Three: Dance Divas: "Funky Music Sho' Num Turns Me On", Yvonne Fair, "I Just Keep Thinking About You Baby", Tata Vega, "Free Me From My Freedom / Tie Me To A Tree, Bonnie Pointer, Under the Influence, Vanity, He's A Pretender, High Inergy. These days, for years now, today's Motown repackaging releases, are nothing but safe, sure things, Top 40 "Same Old Songs", buy one and have them all.

[carole cucumber]

Ngroove,

I hope you are aware that the series you point out [[which were excellent) never reached their full potential, mainly due to the fact that they did not sell well enough with the general public.
With regards to the Year By Year Series, only 12 years out of 3 decades were pressed, even though some years of the third batch of 6 had been completed. When announced the project was to have at least 1 cd for each year and of more prolific years to have a second or 3rd cd as well. Versions utilized in the series were also somewhat different from what was available-, unique stereo mix, juke box single mix, etc. for example).
Also, note that the selections you list from the series were CD bonus tracks [[either 12' mixes, unreleased songs, or from a more obscure-lesser-known artist/group).T
The same thing happened with the Funkology [[and Love Jams) series. They were discontinued because of lack of sales.
What has been discovered is that the casual fan, walking into a Walmart or shopping online, is looking for collections of greatest hits and well- known songs/mixes rather than collections with previously unreleased songs or by more obscure artists. Hence the reason why we get the same hits over & over again .
Thanks be to God for Harry Weinger, Andy Skurow, George Solomon, Keith Hughes, Paul Nixon, and the many other names we see in the credits of the more 'specialized releases we receive.
It's been said many times before but....... in order to keep future 'specialized' reissues coming, we need to support them as they come [[even if we feel that never come as fast as we would like to receive them ) .

[no_place_like_motown]

Yes, realize A LOT of early Motown CD releases [[80s-1995 or so) had a lot more variety, of songs, artists in their tracks - Motown Year By Year: the Sound of Young America 1966: "Do I Love You [[Indeed I Do)", Frank Wilson, "Helpless", Kim Weston, "Heaven Must Have Sent You", the Elgins, Motown Year By Year: the Sound of Young America 1968: "Does Your Mama Know About Me", Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, "I Wouldn't Change The Man He Is", Blinky Williams, "Step By Step [[Hand In Hand)", The Monitors, Motown Year By Year: The Sound of Young America 1976: "Party Down", Willie Hutch, "Come Live With Me Angel", Leon Ware [[backed by Minnie Riperton), Motown Year By Year: the Sound of Young America 1980: "Pick Up The Pieces", Mary Wilson, "Love Over And Over Again", Switch, Funkology Volume Three: Dance Divas: "Funky Music Sho' Num Turns Me On", Yvonne Fair, "I Just Keep Thinking About You Baby", Tata Vega, "Free Me From My Freedom / Tie Me To A Tree, Bonnie Pointer, Under the Influence, Vanity, He's A Pretender, High Inergy. These days, for years now, today's Motown repackaging releases, are nothing but safe, sure things, Top 40 "Same Old Songs", buy one and have them all.

Also on the Funkology, Vol. 3 Dance Divas CD there's an alternate version of "Bless You" by Martha & The Vandellas.

[BayouMotownMan]

I've often wondered why the intro to Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart was clipped on these early productions?

[Ngroove]

Ngroove,

I hope you are aware that the series you point out [[which were excellent) never reached their full potential, mainly due to the fact that they did not sell well enough with the general public.
With regards to the Year By Year Series, only 12 years out of 3 decades were pressed, even though some years of the third batch of 6 had been completed. When announced the project was to have at least 1 cd for each year and of more prolific years to have a second or 3rd cd as well. Versions utilized in the series were also somewhat different from what was available-, unique stereo mix, juke box single mix, etc. for example).
Also, note that the selections you list from the series were CD bonus tracks [[either 12' mixes, unreleased songs, or from a more obscure-lesser-known artist/group).T
The same thing happened with the Funkology [[and Love Jams) series. They were discontinued because of lack of sales.
What has been discovered is that the casual fan, walking into a Walmart or shopping online, is looking for collections of greatest hits and well- known songs/mixes rather than collections with previously unreleased songs or by more obscure artists. Hence the reason why we get the same hits over & over again .
Thanks be to God for Harry Weinger, Andy Skurow, George Solomon, Keith Hughes, Paul Nixon, and the many other names we see in the credits of the more 'specialized releases we receive.
It's been said many times before but....... in order to keep future 'specialized' reissues coming, we need to support them as they come [[even if we feel that never come as fast as we would like to receive them ) .

Understood. Probably sadly the very same reason why, despite awareness of the existence of the budget "20th Century Masters" CDs of Kim Weston, Brenda Holloway, Contours, Edwin Starr, Jimmy Ruffin, and Thelma Houston, never really seen them in stores, not even in Best Buys / Sam Goodys / FYEs *sigh*.

[Kamasu_Jr]

Ngroove,

I hope you are aware that the series you point out [[which were excellent) never reached their full potential, mainly due to the fact that they did not sell well enough with the general public.
With regards to the Year By Year Series, only 12 years out of 3 decades were pressed, even though some years of the third batch of 6 had been completed. When announced the project was to have at least 1 cd for each year and of more prolific years to have a second or 3rd cd as well. Versions utilized in the series were also somewhat different from what was available-, unique stereo mix, juke box single mix, etc. for example).
Also, note that the selections you list from the series were CD bonus tracks [[either 12' mixes, unreleased songs, or from a more obscure-lesser-known artist/group).T
The same thing happened with the Funkology [[and Love Jams) series. They were discontinued because of lack of sales.
What has been discovered is that the casual fan, walking into a Walmart or shopping online, is looking for collections of greatest hits and well- known songs/mixes rather than collections with previously unreleased songs or by more obscure artists. Hence the reason why we get the same hits over & over again .
Thanks be to God for Harry Weinger, Andy Skurow, George Solomon, Keith Hughes, Paul Nixon, and the many other names we see in the credits of the more 'specialized releases we receive.
It's been said many times before but....... in order to keep future 'specialized' reissues coming, we need to support them as they come [[even if we feel that never come as fast as we would like to receive them ) .

Thank you Carole. Expertly explained as usual.

[carole cucumber]

Understood. Probably sadly the very same reason why, despite awareness of the existence of the budget "20th Century Masters" CDs of Kim Weston, Brenda Holloway, Contours, Edwin Starr, Jimmy Ruffin, and Thelma Houston, never really seen them in stores, not even in Best Buys / Sam Goodys / FYEs *sigh*.

Ngroove,

When those cd's were first released, they were available at Best Buy in abundance. And the 20th Century Master Series was deeply discounted at their stores on Black Friday for about a 2-3 year period. But in a few years, they were moved from the front page of the ad to the last, and the selection available continued to dwindle.
When Best Buy began to phase out large cd sections [[and boy are they small nowadays) largely due to the rise of downloading, they seem to have only retained what they perceive as sure-sellers.

[soulster]

I have to disagree with the fact the 80s CDs sound terrible. It happens some are really good and surpass all subsequent re-releases.

And they often include music unavailable elsewhere ever since their first appearance on cd

:-)

JB
Can you cite some examples? I seriously have to disagree with you on most counts. The one exception is that one older Commodores Love Songs comp has an extended version of "Easy", which I like.

Other than that, the sound is seriously lacking. Again, the difference between then and now is that they didn't use limiting.

[jbpintus]

Just to mention the Commodores CDs, the old European cd version of their 1977 lp, retooled ZOOM had the whole unedited lp master that would be reissued ten years later as something never released before.
In Europe, the Commodores live album was released on cd in the late 80's too.

Talking about worldwide releases, the 2fer HOT ON THE TRACKS / IN THE POCKET contains the longer ever version of "Just to be close to you". That version in unavailable elsewhere. Same goes on the same cd for the singles versions of "High on sunshine", "Fancy Dancer", "Saturday night" and "Why you wanna try me". The worldwide version of another 2fer gave us the song "Zoom" live.

I can assure you the old 80s CDs contain for nearly each Motown act a cd was made something unique making that old cd something not to pass by.

As for the sound, as I said, sometimes the old cd sounds better. Take Stevie Wonder's 1972-80 remasters from 2000. The 80s CDs are far better sounding, especially ORIGINAL MUSIQUARIUM I.

Same goes for the JACKSON 5 LIVE IN JAPAN cd whose 1988 original cd sounds better than the hip oselect remaster.

Granted most of the time the remaster is superior to the 80s cd. But not always.
Plus add that the Tamla Motown CDs are better than the US Motown ones very often.

:-)

JB