Don't You Wish Our Beloved Motown Stars Had This Kind of Grace, Class & Elegance?

Musical performance or toilet paper ad? Attachment 19724

I read all the show biz memoirs, even those about artists I'm not particularly into, and thanks to recommendations by several of you on this forum, I am now reading Fairytale: The Pointer Sisters' Family Story. I have to say this is one of the best memoirs I've ever read and that is saying something. I had no idea any of this stuff happened!! Spoiler alert: the girls got their first really momentous gig opening in Vegas for Paul Anka. The Pointers were already exploding in popularity at that time in the early 70's, having put out Yes We Can Can, which got them the dates with Anka. Unfortunately, Paul Anka's fans were not Pointer Sisters' fans. They hated the Pointer Sisters, which was crazy since at all their previous gigs they had gotten rave, ecstatic reviews--they were the "next big thing." To make things worse, June, who had suffered an extremely violent group rape when she was in her teens, had a nervous breakdown before the shows with Anka, and wouldn't speak to anybody nor would she come out of her hotel room. So on top of all the stress, the group had to perform most of the shows without June, they had to rearrange everything, shuffle vocals around, and even change what songs they performed. Ugh. I'll write more as I read more, but man keeping a group together through all this garbage must have been stressful as hell. Even the smaller stuff, like hiring roadies and other personnel was always volatile, especially when you're on a strict schedule with touring, recording dates etc. It is a miracle any group like the Pointers ever stayed together as long as they did.

So this has got me thinking, over the years both men have been credited for pioneering Soul music over the years. In their box set releases, Ray Charles box set is called "Birth Of Soul' and Sam Cooke's box set is called "The Man Who Invented Soul." The media have given them nick names regarding this.

So who actually invented it or can both claim the title?

To no_place_like_motown: I want to personally thank you for the Rare Earth-label thread that you started a few weeks ago. I had no idea that so many Motown album titles on the Rare Earth label were available on CD. I checked them all out and bought every one that I could find on Amazon. Thanks to you, I was able to find a total of 11 [[not counting the group Rare Earth, whose albums I already have on CD). Not being a hard-rock fan, I was amazed at how many of these albums I actually like -- or, in some cases, I even LOVE! I would have to say that my favorites are Xit – the Native American group who Ralph Terrana raved about in his excellent autobiography, "The Road Through Motown". [[You were so right, Ralph – these guys are fantastic! Their sound is a unique combination of Indian, Motown, and at times, given the heavy use of shakers in two tracks, even 1965-era Phil Spector!) I was especially pleasantly surprised to discover how much I like the group Toe Fat! Those guys can really rock – but in a good way! The group Love Sculpture is a bluesy white group who I also found myself enjoying a lot. Crystal Mansion is a soft rock group which has some decent songs on their album. Other Rare Earth-label CD’s that I bought were by the Pretty Things, Power Of Zeus, and Sunday Funnies. Unfortunately, those groups/titles are out-of-my-league psychedelic rock which I can’t identify with to save me; nevertheless, it’s great to have all of these Motown/Rare Earth-label albums in my CD collection.

Here are the links in case anyone else is interested in making a purchase. If not, it’s still cool to see these album/CD covers for the first time, as I had never seen most of them before. Hope you enjoy!

XIT - "Plight Of The Red Man"
http://www.amazon.com/Plight-Redman-...the+red+man+cd

XIT - "Silent Warrior"
http://www.amazon.com/XIT-Silent-War...ent+warrior+cd

TOE FAT - "Toe Fat"
http://www.amazon.com/Toe-Fat/dp/B00...rds=toe+fat+cd

TOE FAT - "Two"
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Toe-Fat/dp...toe+fat+two+cd

CRYSTAL MANSION - Crystal Mansion [[Golden Classics Edition)
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Classic...tal+mansion+cd

LOVE SCULPTURE - "Blues Helping"
http://www.amazon.com/Blues-Helping-...e+Sculpture+cd

POWER OF ZEUS - "The Gospel According To Zeus"
http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Accordi...wer+of+zeus+cd

R. DEAN TAYLOR - "Essential Collection" [[A collection – NOT a reissued album)
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Coll...+collection+cd

SUNDAY FUNNIES - "Sunday Funnies"
http://www.amazon.com/Sunday-Funnies...day+funnies+cd

PRETTY THINGS - "S.F. Sorrow"
http://www.amazon.com/S-F-Sorrow-Pre...s.f.+sorrow+cd

PRETTY THINGS - "Parachute"
http://www.amazon.com/Parachute-Pret...s+parachute+cd

There ya are! That pretty much covers all of them. As Motown fans, I hope you have as much fun discovering these as I have. - Gary

Hey all!
As George Clinton & Co. used to say back inaday: "Here's something to put in your ear hole!"
Follow me on this one -
With the 3rd or 4th resurgence of New Edition in their Culture Tour w/Uncle Charlie obliterating all kinds of records and such; what, if any, was Joe's take on NE when they burst on the scene? Especially when he heard Candy Girl and Popcorn Love?! Serious competition? Healthy rivals like the Ohio funk bands at the time?

Add to the mix, NE outlasted J5, The Jacksons, MJ and Jermaine's solo megastardom. [[Not factoring those weird forays with the Rebbie, Randy and Tito AND later his sons' efforts.)With the exception of Janet, who's still hungry in her 50's! What's her take in 2022?

Any SDF senior members/Admin.; Ralph, RanRan79, Motown Eddie, Robb like to weigh in?

Let's go!

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