What about "MOTOWN UNRELEASED 1967" ?

[aarondillon2011@gmail.com]

Is Motown the only record company that has such a vast vault of unreleased recordings? I have never seen other record companies release nearly this much unreleased recordings on their artists, or am I wrong?

[RanRan79]

Is Motown the only record company that has such a vast vault of unreleased recordings? I have never seen other record companies release nearly this much unreleased recordings on their artists, or am I wrong?

I doubt it, especially for labels that had been around for years and years. There is no way that even half the stuff cut at a label through a large chunk of time saw the light of day at the time. In the case of Atlantic Records it makes me sick to think about the fire that destroyed so much. My stomach literally does a wave at the thought.

[Quinn]

I doubt it, especially for labels that had been around for years and years. There is no way that even half the stuff cut at a label through a large chunk of time saw the light of day at the time. In the case of Atlantic Records it makes me sick to think about the fire that destroyed so much. My stomach literally does a wave at the thought.

It has the right to do a wave Ran.It destroyed an entire unreleased album by Aretha Franklin.It also ruined some Mary Wells tracks produced by the great Carl Davis.

[RanRan79]

It has the right to do a wave Ran.It destroyed an entire unreleased album by Aretha Franklin.

That's what really makes me sick. I am a Queen Ree aficionado, so to know that there's stuff that- barring some kind of miracle discovery- she did that we'll never get to hear, I get nauseous. I hate that the original version of "Aint No Way" was one of the casualties. There's a snippet of it in an old studio footage. Looks like that's as close as I'll get to it.

[Quinn]

That's what really makes me sick. I am a Queen Ree aficionado, so to know that there's stuff that- barring some kind of miracle discovery- she did that we'll never get to hear, I get nauseous. I hate that the original version of "Aint No Way" was one of the casualties. There's a snippet of it in an old studio footage. Looks like that's as close as I'll get to it.

I agree,unless Atlantic allowed Aretha the privilege of having a copy of that album master.Even though the original multi tracks are history,a copy would be better than nothing.I know at Motown the producers got copies of their sessions, but the tapes would be useless if the originals got lost because there is a beep on them.The company wanted to protect it's investment in case a producer got funny ideas with the duplicate.

[RanRan79]

I agree,unless Atlantic allowed Aretha the privilege of having a copy of that album master.Even though the original multi tracks are history,a copy would be better than nothing.I know at Motown the producers got copies of their sessions, but the tapes would be useless if the originals got lost because there is a beep on them.The company wanted to protect it's investment in case a producer got funny ideas with the duplicate.

That's interesting information about the beep. I didn't know that. Thanks Quinn.

[sansradio]

I agree,unless Atlantic allowed Aretha the privilege of having a copy of that album master.Even though the original multi tracks are history,a copy would be better than nothing.I know at Motown the producers got copies of their sessions, but the tapes would be useless if the originals got lost because there is a beep on them.The company wanted to protect it's investment in case a producer got funny ideas with the duplicate.

It's my understanding that Aretha does own her Atlantic masters. That's the reason we have not as yet seen US re-issues/remasters of underperforming albums like With Everything I Feel in Me, You, Sweet Passion, Almighty Fire, and La Diva, albums that, IMHO, contain some of her most intense and satisfying vocal work. Being a Ree digital completist in America is sorely frustrating!

[reese]

It's my understanding that Aretha does own her Atlantic masters. That's the reason we have not as yet seen US re-issues/remasters of underperforming albums like With Everything I Feel in Me, You, Sweet Passion, Almighty Fire, and La Diva, albums that, IMHO, contain some of her most intense and satisfying vocal work. Being a Ree digital completist in America is sorely frustrating!

She only owns the masters of the five albums that you named. A few years back, supposedly a deal was reached with Aretha and they were going to be released on cd, with bonus material, but it never happened.

Re some of her unreleased material, I think Jerry Wexler had tapes, some which ended up being used for her RARE AND UNRELEASED collection from a while back. That collection also contained a bunch of unreleased songs from her sessions with Quincy Jones. I think David Nathan actually found tape cases with unreleased material. So the fire might not have destroyed everything.