Bobby Darin - Motown Years 1970 to 1973

In the late 60s and early 70s Motown signed several well established acts but then sort of took their eye off the ball resulting in frustration. True that a lot was happening at once with the move to LA and entering the film industry with "Lady Sings The Blues". Nevertheless there were some fantastic tracks from artists such as Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Bobby Darin and to a lesser extent Sammy Davis Jr and Lesley Gore.

Thankfully, in the case of Bobby Darin, material that had long been vaulted has been made available over the years - mainly thanks to Joe Marchesse & co [[e.g. Andy Skurrow) who've made it possible for these tracks to see release on CD. The Real Gone CDs have wonderful liner notes as well and are well worth looking up. In particular, "Another Song On My Mind" includes a great resume of Darin's Motown career - much of this can still be seen on the Real Gone website -

https://theseconddisc.com/2011/02/16...-motown-years/

You can see the full CD artwork here -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...57668721459480

And here are the covers for Darin's Motown albums / CDs

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...in/dateposted/

Please advise of any errors

BOBBY DARIN MOTOWN DISCOGRAPHY

Recorded - 6 February 1971 Live at The Desert Inn [[Renamed “Finally” but still unreleased at the time)

M1183 – 17 April 1971
A Melodie
B Someday We'll Be Together

M1193 – November 1971
A Simple Song Of Freedom
B I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

M1203 – 2 June 1972
A Sail Away
B Hard Headed Woman

M753 ALBUM AUGUST 1972 – Bobby Darin

M1212 – Promo 3 November 1972 [[withdrawn)
A Average People [[mono)
B Average People [[stereo)

M1212 – 3 November 1972 [[probably a bootleg)
A Average People
B Something In Her Love

M1217 – 20 November 1972
A Happy [[Love Theme From "Lady Sings The Blues")
B Something In Her Love

Bobby Darin died 20 December 1973

M813 ALBUM February 1974 – Darin 1936-1973

PR4 [[PROMO EP) - 1974
A1 If I Were A Carpenter
A2 Moritat [[Mack The Knife)
B1 Blue Monday
B2 Happy [[Love Theme From "Lady Sings The Blues")

MW3014 – 1974 [[UK & EU)
A Blue Monday
B Moritat [[Mack The Knife)

M5185 ALBUM July 1981 – Darin 1936–1973 re-issued with 5 tracks having different mixes.

MCD09070MD CD 1987 – Live At The Desert Inn [[first ever issue)

MOTD -5185 CD 1989 – Darin 1936–1973 first issue on CD.

3746351852 CD 1991 – Darin 1936-1973 CD re-issue

NTD-6509-2 CD 2005 – Live At The Desert Inn [[re-issue / remaster / 2 extra tracks “Work Song” and “Beyond The Sea”.

RGM-0440 2xCD 6 May 2016 – Another Song On My Mind [[Real Gone Music)

RGM-0714 CD 13 July 2018 – Go Ahead And Back Up [[Real one Music)

Hi!

Chazz Dixon, a Smokey-soundalike, has released his 16th album, and one song on there is his cover of "You Can't Hurry Love."
Below Chazz tells more about the album:

https://www.soulexpress.net/chazzdixon2023.htm

Best regards
Heikki

I'd like to compile a list of cover variations within the US Motown album catalog. The list I have so far only covers Detroit-era Motown, but I would welcome additions from after 1972 as well. I only included Mono/Stereo variations if "Mono" is actually printed on the cover.

Here's what I have so far:

Motown
606 - The Supremes - Meet The Supremes

• Stool cover
• Blue/white cover with photo
• Back cover with “The Boy That Got Away” listed
• Back cover with “Let Me Go The Right Way” and “Time Changes Things” listed

614 - Various Artists - A Package of 16 Big Hits

• Package cover
• Song title grid cover

616 - Mary Wells - Mary Wells Greatest Hits

• No Motown logo on front cover
• Rectangular Motown logo on front cover
• Square Motown logo on front cover

636 - The Supremes - The Supremes At The Copa

• Back cover with drawing of the Supremes
• Back cover without drawing

642 - Various Artists - In Loving Memory

• Front cover without song titles
• Front cover with song titles

659 - The Supremes - Sing Rodgers & Hart

• Back cover with live photo of The Supremes w/ black background
• Back cover with live photo of The Supremes w/ bright background

665 - Diana Ross & The Supremes - Reflections

• Stereo printed cover
• Mono printed cover

669 - Four Tops - Yesterday’s Dreams

• Stereo printed cover
• Mono printed cover

675 - Four Tops - Four Tops Now / MacArthur Park

• “Four Tops Now” cover
• “MacArthur Park” cover

679 - Diana Ross & The Supremes & The Temptations - Diana Ross & The Supremes Join The Temptations

• Stereo printed cover
• Mono printed cover

724 - Diana Ross - Everything Is Everything

• Blue & Yellow album title text on front cover
• Blue album title text on front cover and negative image of Diana on back cover

726 - Various Artists - The Motown Story: The First Decade

• Textured box cover with embossed gold record on front
• Smooth box cover with printed gold record on front

755 - Michael Jackson - Ben

• Rat cover
• Non-rat cover

861 - Diana Ross - Diana Ross

• Album title/artist name above portrait
• Album title/artist name below portrait

Rare Earth
507 - Rare Earth - Get Ready

• Die-cut/tombstone cover
• Standard cover

Soul
704 - Jimmy Ruffin - Sings Top Ten

• Monochromatic photo on left side of cover
• Color photo of Jimmy in red jacket on right side of cover

716 - The Originals - Green Grow The Lilacs

• “Green Grow The Lilacs” cover
• “Baby I’m For Real” cover

721 - Jr. Walker & The All Stars - Gotta Hold Onto This Feeling

• “Gotta Hold On To This Feeling” cover
• “What Does It Take To Win Your Love” cover

861 - Diana Ross - Diana Ross


Tamla
223 - The Miracles - Cookin’ With The Miracles

• Yellow hype text for “Everybody’s Gotta Pay Some Dues”
• No yellow hype text

224 - Various Artists - Tamla Special #1

• Tamla Special #1
• Tamla/Motown Special #1

228 - The Marvlettes - Please Mr. Postman

• Back cover with “I Know How It Feels” listed twice instead of “Whisper” as S2.T5
• Back cover with “Whipser” correctly listed

229 - The Marvelettes - Marvelettes Smash Hits of 62'

• Big M/62’ cover
• All black misspelled “Marveletts” cover with no info on spine
• All black misspelled “Marveletts” cover with info on spine

240 - Little Stevie Wonder - The 12 Year Old Genius

• No white hype bubble
• White hype bubble

252 - Marvin Gaye - Greatest Hits

• No Tamla logo on front cover
• Stacked-globes Tamla logo on front cover
• Square Tamla logo on front cover

253 - The Marvelettes - Greatest Hits

• Orange cover
• Green cover

254 - The Miracles - The Miracles' Greatest Hits from the Beginning

• No white hype bubble and stacked-globes Tamla logo on bottom-right corner
• White hype bubble and square Tamla logo on bottom-right corner

258 - Marvin Gaye - How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You

• Back cover with full album title banner and correct tracklisting
• Back cover with shortened album title [[“How Sweet It Is”) banner and HWISTBLBY listed as Track 4 instead of Track 2

276 - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Make It Happen

• “Make It Happen” cover
• “The Tears Of A Clown” cover

279 - Stevie Wonder - I Was Made To Love Her

• Album title text goes across image of Stevie
• Album title text aligned to left side of cover

285 - Marvin Gaye - In The Groove

• “In The Groove” cover
• “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” cover

290 - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Special Occasion

• Stereo printed cover with small photo
• Stereo printed cover with large photo
• Mono printed cover with large photo

319 - Stevie Wonder - Talking Book

• Braille cover
• Non-braille cover

Description
Widely and rightly regarded as one of the best ever soul and funk bands, the now legendary Average White Band tore-up the rule book and conquered the US, UK & International charts with a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. • AWB's repertoire has been a source of inspiration and influence for many R&B acts and they are one of the most sampled bands in history, remaining relevant today, continuing to reach new generations of younger audiences.

• Snoop Dogg, Fatboy Slim, Ice Cube, Puff Daddy, TLC, Rick Ross, will. i. am and Mark Ronson amongst countless others, have all borrowed sections of their grooves.
• '50' is a 133 track/15 Disc 50th anniversary celebration of the Band's classic studio albums from 1973's debut 'Show Your Hand', up to 1982's 'Cupid's In Fashion'. The set also includes their Live album 'Person To Person', which was also a US Top 30 Album, the 'spoiler' album 'Volume VIII', the reconfigured 'Shine' - aka 'On The Strip' - and an 8 track disc with selected 12" mixes, two of which make their CD debut, early versions, live and later discovered tracks.
• '50' includes an Introductory note from Onnie McIntyre with his personal recollections, although the framework of these 10,000 word notes have appeared in previous collections or releases. However, as they were such indepth interviews both Alan Gorrie and Hamish Stuart felt that there wasn't anything further that could be written about those early days.
• Average White Band are touring the UK in April and May 2024, taking their iconic album 'AWB' on the road.

Tracklist
TBA

Amazon USA
Available for pre-order soon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CH3PVBHX/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CH3PVBHX/?tag=imwan-21

Harry has been gone for a few years now but not a day goes by that he doesn't cross my mind. Harry is one of the most interesting people I have had the pleasure to know and I was most fortunate to be involved with the guy, in one way or another in the music business. I learned much from Harry. Not just music business things, but life in general. Harry was a true philosopher and I miss the guy. Happy birthday Harry wherever you are.

So hard to believe but numbers don't lie. We have rolled into our 23rd year and still kicking. Many thanks to our many members making this anniversary possible. It would never happen without you