Motorcity Records

Hi everyone! :D

I’ve not started a thread in a while but I’ve had this one in the works for years! So, following on from our discussion here https://soulfuldetroit.com/showthrea...827#post742827, let’s go!

This is a topic that has always fascinated me. In many ways, Ian Levine's Motorcity Records project was a truly amazing thing, giving over 100 ex-Motowners a well-deserved career revival, and allowing us fans to hear their voices once again.

The music, however, is not always considered so amazing. Personally, I’m not a fan of the typically very synthesised, cheap-sounding backing tracks, some of which are particularly ill-fitting for ex-Motown artists… whose own vocals weren’t always at their best anymore.

I also think it’s fair to say that sometimes the label favoured quantity over quality…

HOWEVER! I am a firm believer that the label put out some great music and this thread is here to celebrate just that. So, please join me in posting and discussing your favourite Motorcity songs!

I'll start off with an utterly fantastic tune, a classic, and quite possibly the best Motorcity song EVER! It's certainly my personal favourite anyway... and a hit in the UK to boot…

It was a rare 60s occasion when a female Motown artist got to write their own songs. A Mavelette here, a Mary Wells there. This 1967 classic written by Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Berry Gordy and Frank Wilson is another legendary Motown song and story.


Of course Brenda Holloway’s original is up there as the best for me, but there were numerous Motown follow up interpretations - which had several producers have a go.

What’s your favourite recorded or live Motown version - or decent non-Motown cover - of the gem that is…

‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’?

I love this live 1970 version by The Temptations, with Paul Williams in full emotion, and the additional background harmonies in their unique arrangement that make The Temptaions the kings of their craft..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwwA2k3JsF0

From BestClassicBands.com-

Barrett Strong, whose recording of “Money [That’s What I Want]” became the first hit single for the new Motown Records complex in 1960, has died, according to multiple sources. The song was at first credited to Strong, then, three years later, authorship was changed to that of label founder Berry Gordy Jr. and Janie Bradford [Berry’s secretary at the time].

“Money” was later covered by the Beatles in 1963, and many other artists in subsequent years. Recorded in late 1959, it actually appeared first on Gordy’s Tamla label and was re-released on his Anna label, named after Anna Gordy [Berry’s sister]. The single’s brisk sales gave the businessman the impetus [and capital] he needed to continue releasing recordings from the company’s headquarters in Detroit.

Strong was 81. Details on cause and place of death have not been announced.

“Money” reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 but jumped to #2 on the trade magazine’s R&B chart. Strong never placed another single on the pop chart but he did place two further singles on the R&B chart in his post-Motown career, 1973’s “Stand Up and Cheer for the Preacher,” on Epic Records [#78] and ’75’s “Is It True,” on Capitol [#41].


Although Strong was a one-hit wonder under his own name, he subsequently maintained a substantial career as a lyricist for the Motown empire. Teamed with Norman Whitfield, Strong co-wrote such enduring classics as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” a massive hit for both Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips; Edwin Starr’s “War”; the Undisputed Truth’s “Smiling Faces Sometimes”; and a string of classic soul hits cut by the Temptations, including “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” [which won the Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1973], “Cloud Nine,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Ball of Confusion,” “Psychedelic Shack” and “Just My Imagination.” The latter became a #1 hit for the Temptations and was later covered by the Rolling Stones.

Barrett Strong was born Feb. 5, 1941, in West Point, Miss. He left the Motown operation in 1971 when the company shifted its base of operations to Los Angeles. He continued writing and recording into the 1980s, but met with little success. Strong was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004.

A re-enactment of a Tommy Good fan protest from 1964; his fans wanted his record released!
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/en...m/69589966007/

It was streamed live

Another dud