Missing Marvelettes LP?

[marybrewster]

THREE YEARS pass between "The Marvelous Marvelettes" [[1963) and their "Greatest Hits" [[1966) [[with a "live" LP thrown in between).

Yet the group has hits in 1964 and 1965 with "Too Many Fish" and "Don't Mess With Bill".

Why no album releases to cash in on the success of either [[or both?) I can theorize that perhaps attention had shifted from the Marvelettes to the Supremes, but certainly there had to still be some value to a group that just a few years prior brought Motown a #1 hit? Yet still even the Vandellas had a release in 1965.

Was something planned and later withdrawn? Just seems like an awfully long time without anything.

[reese]

More than likely, their album sales didn't warrant a release during those years. Many of their singles didn't do well [[at least on the pop chart) and none of their albums even charted until GREATEST HITS. DON'T MESS WITH BILL was featured on that album, and it became their biggest seller.

[Motown Eddie]

THREE YEARS pass between "The Marvelous Marvelettes" [[1963) and their "Greatest Hits" [[1966) [[with a "live" LP thrown in between).

Yet the group has hits in 1964 and 1965 with "Too Many Fish" and "Don't Mess With Bill".

Why no album releases to cash in on the success of either [[or both?) I can theorize that perhaps attention had shifted from the Marvelettes to the Supremes, but certainly there had to still be some value to a group that just a few years prior brought Motown a #1 hit? Yet still even the Vandellas had a release in 1965.

Was something planned and later withdrawn? Just seems like an awfully long time without anything.

Good question! They certainly had the songs to make a great LP in 1965 [[many of these songs finally were released on the Forever More collection).

[sup_fan]

it's surprising how so many of the groups had non-lp singles. Martha had quite a few. the Marvelettes had a lot. Sometimes the singles were shoe-horned onto a Greatest Hits lp. the Sups really only did that with The Happening. otherwise every single [[both A and B side) were included on lps

The decision to release albums at motown has always been a bit curious to me. Brenda got on, Barbara McNair did. but Kim Weston didn't. Chris Clark got 2!! The Elgins and Monitors both got one. and then there was this dry period for the Marvelettes. just odd. The Marvelettes were doing not as well as they had but their songs charted MUCH higher than most of these i mentioned.

Perhaps it was politics. perhaps there really just wasn't a executive champion for them until Don't Mess with smokey. and from the stories, sounds like he had to pull nails to get that released. Also motown was absolutely focused on cross over and "copa-like" touring. Maybe motown had just totally dismissed them by this point now that they had M&the Vandellas, Temps, Four Tops, Gladys Knight, Jr Walker, Sups, marvin, Stevie all doing very well. these groups had strong singers that also grew and developed as their careers progressed. perhaps the marvelettes were still [[unfairly) thought of as just a "girl group" which was passe by 64. Gladys is a wonderful lead singer but she too has said they were a chittlin circuit group. not a copa group.

[sup_fan]

i pulled together a playlist of their tracks from this time and made my own album. for the most part i think it works really well. to fill out 12 tracks, i had to use some unreleased ones that are a bit too girly-group but i think it holds up pretty well

Side 1
Danger Heartbreak
your Cheating ways
No time for tears
Learning to forget you
I should have known beter
Too many fish in the sea

side 2
I'll keep holding on
The Train that's bringing my baby
maybe i dried my ears
anything you wanna do
You're my remedy
i just can't let him down

[Motown Eddie]

Another curious thing about The Marvelettes' LP releases; they had album releases every year after 1967's The Marvelettes thru the breakup of the group [[as we know the last Marvelettes LP was really a Wanda Rogers solo disc).

[copley]

Wanda, Georgeanna & Gladys were getting married and/or pregnant. Georgeanna became ill. Recording would have been a problem under these conditions. Promoting new product would have been impossible. Musically the Marvelettes also had to change direction as all their early hits were old school Motown and not in-keeping with the new Hitsville sound. 'Too Many Fish In The Sea' marked the sound of the new Marvelettes.

[sup_fan]

seems that after smokey fought to get Bill and Hunter released there finally seemed to be some agreement that the group had some commercial viability left. So out comes the Pink album. Thing continue to hold on with Magician but then Gladys leaves and Wanda continued to decline. that seemed to really let the air out of their comeback. the remaining Soph Soul singles didn't do well - although i thought they were all wonderful and should have charted MUCH higher. especially coming off of the strength of Magician.

Full bloom is a solid effort but seems to be something motown had 0 interest in it. most likely everything was tied up in Diana's solo launch. plus you had the temps breaking new ground with their hits. the four tops and martha were both struggling and both probably attracted more company attention trying to solve than dealing with Wanda at this point. Although martha wasn't in a much better state, which could also explain the poor performance of Sugar and Natural Resources.

[motony]

please remember that prior to 1964, LPs were a big afterthought as far as Rock & Soul goes.45's were KING. Motown was the Number One Record Company for singles in the 1960's.

[daviddesper]

I never understood the popularity of singles in the 60s and I CERTAINLY never understood the pricing. To the best of my recollection, a 45 cost in the neighborhood of 98 cents, but you could buy an album with 10-12 songs for about $2.98. It seemed like a no-brainer to me to buy albums, especially if they contained the songs you liked.

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

I used to wonder about why the Marvelettes went so long too without an album release, but then I found something very interesting when I was checking out a Wikipedia page showing Motown's 1964 album releases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motown_discography#1964 I did sort of a "write up" for a Flickr post about how 1964 was a kind of strange year for Motown as quite a few artists didn't really get an album release, including the Miracles and Martha & The Vandellas. Here is the Flickr post:

1964 was sort of an odd year for Motown album releases. Looking at this page on Wikepedia [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motown_discography#1964) is fascinating if only because it highlights that many of the artists who started out strong at Motown suddenly were floundering in the album department. Also, there were quite a few planned albums that were cancelled. On the other hand, 1964 was unique at Motown as being the year the "weak" became strong and a couple new signings took off stronger than the "stronger" established artists.


The Miracles and The Marvelettes, two of Motown's most popular acts early on were in a sort of slump. The Miracles' album "I LIke It Like That" was released, then withdrawn in the U.S. The Marvelettes weren't even granted an album release this year [[or the next year.) Despite the hit status of Martha & The Vandellas' "Quicksand," this and their other singles weren't compiled onto an album that year either.


Stevie Wonder had cooled off after the heat of "Fingertips" but Motown admirably kept trying to regain some traction by releasing a slew of thematic albums. In 1964, Stevie gained an album release but it was another sort of theme album built around the sort-of-a-hit, "Harmonica Man." It seems even Marvin Gaye was hitting a dry spell. Yes, he got an album with Mary Wells, but his solo albums were MOR-themed albums and a Greatest Hits package.


Speaking of Mary Wells, she really seemed to be one of the few established artists who was gaining traction with "My Guy" connecting with the public in a huge way. She was rewarded with an album based on that hit and also a Greatest Hits package loaded with strong material.


Contrasting with the "stong" artists cooling off, suddenly a few "weak" or back-burner artists came to the fore tremendously: The Temptations hitting with "The Way You Do The Things You Do" were rewarded with the album, "Meet The Temptations." Brenda Holloway came on strong with "Every Little Bit Hurts." The breakout success of The Four Tops' "Baby I Need Your Loving," spurred the release of their eponymously-titled album, "Four Tops." The previously nicknamed "No-Hit Supremes" was another group with weak sales who suddenly had INSANE breakout success with "Where Did Our Love Go" which spurred an album of the same name.


Really, 1964 was a transitional year for Motown. Along with the success of The Tempts, and Brenda Holloway, it really was The Year of The Supremes and Four Tops and the flourishing of what would become known as the Motown Sound.


The Weak Became Strong...and made everyone else strong again.

[sup_fan]

wasn't motown near bankrupt at some point? and only due to the efforts of gordy's sister Loucye that the company was saved? was that around 64?

maybe the initial costs to assembling and releasing an album were just too high to risk on under-performing groups. sure if the album was a mega hit like WDOLG they'd more than make up for it. but if it wasn't or if it took a long time to break even, then perhaps motown just couldn't afford to risk it

[theboyfromxtown]

wasn't motown near bankrupt at some point? and only due to the efforts of gordy's sister Loucye that the company was saved? was that around 64?

maybe the initial costs to assembling and releasing an album were just too high to risk on under-performing groups. sure if the album was a mega hit like WDOLG they'd more than make up for it. but if it wasn't or if it took a long time to break even, then perhaps motown just couldn't afford to risk it

Mr Gordy told the story at the HAL Awards that it was the Velvelettes track that saved the company from bankruptcy in 1964. The monies earned enabled him to meet the costs of the company payroll.