Katherine of the Marvelettes

It's being reported on Facebook that Kat has passed. :[[

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M1212 – Promo 3 November 1972 [[withdrawn)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)

Had to share this:

"In the interview with the Times’ David Marchese, Wenner was asked about the exclusion of people of color or female artists.

“It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses. It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni [Mitchell] was not a philosopher of rock ’n’ roll,” Wenner said. “She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock. Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level."


For the full article:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...ts-1234826701/

This morning, as I was listening to the Four Tops' "Bernadette" with not only the Andante's "Ahhhhssss" between each section and Levi coming back in with his "Bernadette" after what seemed to be the final 'ahhhh', I began to reflect on those slight little effects/innovations that Motown was adding to some of the output. I am focusing more on the output prior to 1968 or so because after that year, it was not uncommon to find very innovative effects being used such as on the Four Tops' Changing Times lp.

Other innovative effects come to mind:

"Reflections"; Supremes ...with that introduction and those spattered 'beep beeps' throughout the song.

"My Baby Must be a Magician";Marvelettes...using Melvin Franklin's "You are under my power...it is the power of love" along with the swooshing guitar.

"Your Wonderful Sweet Love"; Supremes...Sounds like a spoken voice through an old fashioned megaphone

"Papa Was a Rolling Stone"; Temptations...maybe not the same kind of innovation as the others; however that introduction is a masterpiece!

"Nathan Jones"; Supremes...the phasing effect

Honorable mentioned:
"Tears of a Clown"; Smokey Robinson & the Miracles...the introduction using an arrangement and instruments that mimic a circus

"Shotgun"; Jr. Walker & the All Stars"...the gun shot

"My Girl"; Temptations...man, that classic introduction and the string arrangement throughout the song

Do any others stand out to you that demonstrate just how creative and innovative the writers and the arrangers at Motown were?

BG set his plans out ahead of time; Detroit was ending & LA was to be the new home.
Of course, Motown already had it's LA base and team of producers [[Frank Wilson, etc.), acts [[Brenda Holloway, etc.) and musicians.
But it would be summer 71 that the MoWest label was instigated.
It seems that things went awry from the start.
In all, 9 albums were released on the label [[2 on the label in the UK), but
many more were planned.
Numbers were allotted for 50 US singles on the label but not all of them actually made it into the pressing plant.
JUST WHAT HAPPENED & WHY WAS THE LABEL DISPENSED WITH ?
Attachment 21016

Who knew that this child star of the '30s was once signed to Motown?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/mo...e=sectionfront