Love Child [[the live version on Ed Sullivan)

[sup_fan]

In reading the stories from Deke about Martha and doing I Can't Dance To The Music You're Playing, it sheds some interesting light on the whole issue of scheduling recording dates. as he continued to work on that song, QC would issue various required edits and changes. and in doing so, he needed to quickly finish up the track if it was going to align with the release schedules. He says he begged for money to fly out to wherever MRATV were playing but was declined. So he tried using Syretta and making it work

the points i'm making are:

1. just like any business, Motown was interested in containing costs. maybe some of the problem with I Can't Dance was that Martha wasn't selling as strongly as she had a few years before. and therefore when they forecasted the potential revenue of that song, adding several $100s more to do remote recording and plane tickets just wasn't in the budget

2. it seems very clear that recording and performing operated as two totally separate divisions of the company. the groups had to bounce between them both. The record releases were most certainly NOT going to be at the whim of the recording schedules. Therefore producers had to make things work. the Deke and Martha example is an extreme, and frankly one that wasn't all that successful. But by doing the backgrounds with the Andantes, a far greater level of efficiency was achieved.

3. backgrounds are usually much more than going ooo and ahhhh. if you've ever isolated the bgs and listen to what they sing, they often quite complex. and with lots of intricate jumps and harmonies. so for something like Somethings you never get used to, the bg work complexity might have been too much for them to schedule time to rehearse M and C and coordinate when they could get into the studios.


remember - we're all fans and lovers of this music. the producers, arrangers, singers, musicians, etc were EMPLOYEES of a company that was in the business of making money. schedules, budgets, tough corporate decisions, etc are all part of that

[marybrewster]

Unrelated, but somehow I suppose related: does anyone know the general cost of an airline ticket in the 60's?

I've heard stories [[as also confirmed in posts above) about the cost of flying in Mary or Cindy or Martha or whomever for a recording; but truly, was it really that expensive for a million dollar company? Especially related to recording what could be a hit record?

[RanRan79]

Sup, I agree with your last point.

Unrelated, but somehow I suppose related: does anyone know the general cost of an airline ticket in the 60's?

I've heard stories [[as also confirmed in posts above) about the cost of flying in Mary or Cindy or Martha or whomever for a recording; but truly, was it really that expensive for a million dollar company? Especially related to recording what could be a hit record?

Good point.

[sup_fan]

Unrelated, but somehow I suppose related: does anyone know the general cost of an airline ticket in the 60's?

I've heard stories [[as also confirmed in posts above) about the cost of flying in Mary or Cindy or Martha or whomever for a recording; but truly, was it really that expensive for a million dollar company? Especially related to recording what could be a hit record?

the price of tickets in the 60s was considerably higher [[in adjusted dollars) than today. an average ticket across the country ran in the hundreds of dollars and that's in 60s money. a $400 ticket in 67 would cost over $3000 today.

remember, they bought very large and lovely homes for only $30,000. HUGE money to people then but imagine what kind of nasty-ass crack house you'd get today for only that amount lol