More on motorcity - 1990 eu launch and 25 volume cd series
1 – MOTORCITY 1990
The purpose of this post is to provide more information on the Motorcity project and the 25 volume CD set put together at the launch of Motorcity in the EU. I personally get confused by the plethora of Motorcity releases on several labels over the years and I think this makes a bit of sense of one of the streams of CD releases. These were issued in 1990 and the liner notes are reproduced in full below. I’m assuming that these were the same for all the volumes but I’m not 100% sure on that. I hope this will supplement the excellent work already being done by others on the Forum in providing valuable information on this project. i only have a few of these CDs.
Following the liner notes, there are track listings for each of the volumes in the series, [[with thanks to westgrandboulevard for the information on Vol 23). Apart from this, the track listings have been copied directly from Discogs and some have timings and some don’t.
The CD covers are attractive and contain photos of some of the artists on each CD. You can see them here on Discogs [[barring 23 and 24).
https://www.discogs.com/label/343098...In-The-Streets
DANCING IN THE STREETS SERIES
DOWN TOWN LABEL – EU [[Germany / Netherlands)
NUMBER OF TRACKS - 25x16 = 400
2 - Liner Notes
"The Motorcity story stems back to early 1987 when songwriter/producer Ian Levine first realised a dream – to work in the studio with an idol from the classic heyday of Motown. Ian was born and raised in Blackpool in the north of England, growing up on Motown during the Sixties to become a pioneering DJ on what became known as the Northern Soul Scene during the Seventies.
During his teenage years Ian would be packing dance venues playing Detroit’s hottest soul beats by night, while by day spending all his time and money pursuing hard to find soul discs, predominantly on Motown for his burgeoning audiences.
As he sixties progressed, so did the Motown sound, and when the Northern soul scene burst wide open, Motown themselves came of age. Many of their artists became international superstars on a scale similar to which the world has never witnessed since. Today the Motown Sound remains synonymous with classic Detroit music making from the sixties, an era which groomed a legion of fans the world over who will never forget the special place in their lives that Motown fulfilled.
Such a fan is Ian Levine who couldn’t believe his good fortune to be offered a chance to work with Kim Weston, a legendary lady whose hits at Motown included the duet with Marvin Gaye It Takes Two. Ian had actually met Kim previously when with his parents at the age of fifteen he shared a plane journey with Motown A&R executive/songwriter Mickey Stevenson, at the time married to Kim who was waiting at the airport. Little did he expect to be working with her in the years to come.
The opportunity arose through British tour agent Henry Sellars who was trying to bring Kim into the UK for a series of concert dates. Ian had just scored major success as a songwriter and producer in the dance music field, and Henry put the two of them together at a time Ian had just launched his own record company to capitalise on his success.
The record which first launched what was to become the Motorcity reunion was Kim Weston’s Signal Your Intention, written and produced by Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench. Ian and Fi had just had major success with soul singer Evelyn Thomas, Miquel Brown and Barbara Pennington, and the adrenalin to create flowed even faster as Kim stepped into the studio. The driving northern soul beat of this original song won dancefloors across the UK, topping several charts and introducing a fresh, modernised Detroit formula reflecting the atmosphere and musical values of the Sixties Motown at its peak.
The record created incredible reactions among Motown fans and sent shock waves back to Detroit where an interest and air of anticipation was born among the music fraternity. To a large extent, the city of Detroit had ground to a halt since Motown moved bases to Los Angeles in 1972, a great many of the label’s former artists becoming disillusioned and divorced from the music scene by the departure of the company they had grown to treat as their family.
Motown’s first hit artist, Mary Wells, was first to react to the response of the Kim Weston disc, and an overwhelmed Ian Levine was more than delighted to offer her a record deal with his label. As the news of this spread, so did his company roster. By the end of 1987 Ian was recording eight of his former Motown idols including Mary Wilson, Jimmy Ruffin, Marv Johnson, The Velvelettes and Brenda Holloway.
From there the idea for a full Motorcity reunion was born, fuelled by the ecstatic response from Motown fans to the new recordings on their favourite artists. Ian’s dream was to put all the great singers and groups of the Sixties and Seventies back together again.
Some of the artists were easy to trace, others proved more difficult. Others traced Ian, while some had moved away, lost touch with the music business or had fallen victim to ill-health, and the problems of a cold, deteriorating city where work was scarce and morale was low. However among the artists Motown had left behind, Ian’s dream slowly became their dream and bit by bit the dream became a reality and Detroit went back to work.
By the end of 1988 the label had recorded 20 acts, and Motorcity had extended its quest for artists to include the immeasurably talented Detroit songwriters who played such a valuable role in the development of the Motown sound. Ian Levine was now co-writing his songs with Sylvia Moy [[Stevie Wonder’s early inspiration, responsible for My Cherie Amour), Ivy Jo Hunter [[chief songwriter of Dancing In The Street), Bobby Taylor [[who brought stardom to the Jackson 5), Johnnie Bristol [[hits for Marvin Gaye, Jr. Walker & The Supremes), and cult figures including Ronnie McNeir, Renaldo Benson [[of the Four Tops who co-wrote What’s Going On), J.J. Barnes, and Billy Griffin [[lead singer of The Miracles who wrote Love Machine).
The first stage of this historic reunion culminated in a mass celebration outside the original ‘Hitsville’ recording studios on West Grand Boulevard where virtually all the classic Motown hits of the Sixties were recorded. On a cold March morning 1989 the road was sealed off, and crowds on the pavement stared in disbelief but as TV camera crews shot footage and recorded interviews with groups and artists who in some cases hadn’t seen each other for twenty years. Berry Gordy’s sister Esther [[instrumental in the smooth running of Motown prior to its sale to MCA and currently the head at ‘Hitsville’ in its new role as Motown Museum) reacquainted herself with old friends, while others were literally moved to tears on an occasion which brought a cheery note to the front pages of the Detroit press. Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops later said in an interview ‘This is a great idea, truly historic, but isn’t it strange that it took an Englishman to bring all these acts together?’
The truth is the artists would have been perhaps more wary of an American, especially those whose careers had been shattered by Motown themselves following their departure to the West Coast.
The press call at ‘Hitsville’ co-incided with a hectic two week recording schedule at Detroit’s United Sound Systems recording studio, an experience to be repeated a few months later in July at a time when ‘Kelly & Co.’ produced an hour long TV special on the reunion. Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Mary Wells, The Marvelettes, The Contours, G.C. Cameron and The Elgins performed live, and the show attracted further TV and general media coverage nationwide.
Just four months later the Motorcity label in conjunction with promoters Flying Music promoted a ‘Legends of Motorcity’ tour in the UK, selling out venues across the country and further endorsing the demand for these heroes of the Sixties and Seventies too. By now Motorcity had also moved its American recording operation to Detroit’s ‘Masterpiece Studios’, owned by Sylvia Moy, and now a second home for all the artists associated with the reunion.
As the late Eighties became the early Nineties, the industry woke up and took note of what was slowly becoming a phenomenon. As phones rang, and documents flew back and forth across the world, deals were struck in all corners to ensure that Motown fans worldwide could once again hear the optimistic, colourful, melodic sounds of the most talented family of artists the music world has found impossible to surpass. This summer sees the European launch of Motorcity’s labours through Masters Music and the American launch via Quality Records.
As of June 1990, over 400 titles have been completed on 106 former Motown artists. Exactly 400 of these songs have been completed here by Ian Levine personally over this special 25 CD volume set. It’s the definitive anthology of the reunion to date, encompassing diverse styles and themes from the Sixties throwbacks to the Nineties contemporary soul/r&b.
The artists are from the well-known to the lesser known, each as invaluable to Motorcity today as they were to the growth of the Motown sound in the Sixties. Listen and you will hear for yourself."
RALPH TEE
