Motown Original 2 Albums on 1 CD Series

[mysterysinger]

Two on the one for fun

[booty]

What is the first item? Was that a promo release or just a advert. Do you have a larger shot of that?

[mysterysinger]

The first item was designed by me to fill in a gap in the 8x8 matrix and provide a title frame. So nothing official I'm afraid.

The final item was official though and supplied inside the European versions - it was actually a small catalogue of releases - very handy.

[marybrewster]

Didn't seem like a lot of rhyme or reason for putting these two titles together, other than for timing purposes.

Isn't the Supremes LIVERPOOL paired with TCB? Makes no sense.

TALK OF THE TOWN should have been paired with TCB, or maybe TCB with GIT?

Would have been nice to see SAM COOKE with either CWP or LIVERPOOL.

[mysterysinger]

The 59th release was purported to have been The Supremes Sam Cooke paired with Copa but was withdrawn and never issued. So instead of 63 CDs there were only 62.

[lockhartgary]

I had some of these 2fers when they were originally released. I liked getting 2 albums on 1 cd. The only thing I didn't like was that some of the tracks were edited, presumably for time. One of my favorite J5 tracks is "Nobody", but the 2fer had a heavily edited version. IIRC, "Runaway Child, Running Wild" from "Cloud Nine" had the 45 version and not the LP version.

[mysterysinger]

Several tracks seem to have been edited to fit. The one that always springs to my mind is "You Don't Love Me No More" by GK&Pips on "Everybody Needs Love" bit of s dogs dinner that one.

By contrast, the Compact Command Performances CDs seemed to favour the longest cuts [[eg "Still" by Commodores).

[reese]

Several tracks seem to have been edited to fit. The one that always springs to my mind is "You Don't Love Me No More" by GK&Pips on "Everybody Needs Love" bit of s dogs dinner that one.

By contrast, the Compact Command Performances CDs seemed to favour the longest cuts [[eg "Still" by Commodores).

Quite a few songs on the EVERYBODY NEEDS LOVE / IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN 2 on 1 cd. Most were on the first album but I recall ONE STEP AWAY from the second album was edited as well.

A BIT OF LIVERPOOL / TCB was edited as well. I don't think any of the LIVERPOOL tracks were cut but basically the second half was cut from the title song from TCB, in addition to some small monologue/applause cuts.

[mysterysinger]

There were 3 of these original 2 albums on 1 CD that related to The Jackson 5 [[and since then at least 2 other series of 2 albums on 1 CD for J5 albums as well as individual CD albums).

MCD08000MD Michael Jackson - Got To Be There and Ben
MCD08011MD The Jackson 5 - Third Album and Maybe Tomorrow
MCD08019MD The Jackson 5 - Diana Ross Presents and ABC

In terms of track timing, we know that several releases in the series had alterations - for the Jackson 5 the last of the 3 above is the more interesting for track time comparisons. Odd things happened to the ABC album.

Original album times [[from album labels) / 2on1 times from CD booklet
Motown 700 Diana Ross Presents
side 1
01 Zip a Dee Doo Dah 3:15 / 3:11
02 Nobody 2:42 / 2:09 **
03 I Want You Back 2:58 / 2:57
04 Can You Remember 2:57 / 2:56
05 Standing In The Shadows Of Love 4:05 / 3:31 **
06 You've Changed 3:05 / 3:00
side 2
07 My Cherie Amour 3:39 / 3:39
08 Who's Lovin' You 3:57 / 3:42 **
09 Chained 2:50 / 2:43
10 [[I Know) I'm Losing You 2:13 / 2:16
11 Stand 2:34 / 2:37
12 Born To Love You 2:26 / 2:27

Motown 709 ABC
side 1
01 The Love You Save 2:42 / 3:02 ++
02 One More Chance 2:56 / 2:58
03 ABC 2:38 / 2:57 ++
04 2-4-6-8 2:48 / 2:56 ++
05 [[Come Round Here) I'm The One You Need 2:40 / 2:42
06 Don't Know Why I Love You 3:15 / 3:50 ++
side 2
07 Never Had A Dream Come True 2:52 / 2:59
08 True Love Can Be Beautiful 3:07 / 3:25 ++
09 La La Means I Love You 3:01 / 2:53
10 I'll Bet You 3:17 / 2:26 **
11 I Found That Girl 2:42 / 2:56 ++
12 The Young Folks 2:58 / 2:49 **

Where there were time reductions for the original 2fer [[**), these were restored on later releases but, in the case of the ABC album, some tracks indicated a time increase on the 2fer [[++) which seems very odd. Particularly when you consider that subsequent CD releases were more in line with the higher ratings. So the conclusion has to be that the quoted times on the original ABC vinyl album were incorrect. Does anyone disagree with that?

[marybrewster]

This was a great series, both for the casual fan and collector. I was able to pick up all of the Supremes titles, thankfully. Unless I'm missing it, do Martha/Vandellas and The Marvelettes only have one release each? Interestingly, I do have a Martha/Vandellas 2fer, but it's BLACK MAGIC and NATURAL RESOURCES.

[gman]

TCB was a long running LP....Liverpool was the only Supremes LP with a short enough playing time to create a complete pair...Love Child/ A GO Go was another odd pairing.

[reese]

This was a great series, both for the casual fan and collector. I was able to pick up all of the Supremes titles, thankfully. Unless I'm missing it, do Martha/Vandellas and The Marvelettes only have one release each? Interestingly, I do have a Martha/Vandellas 2fer, but it's BLACK MAGIC and NATURAL RESOURCES.

It is true that the Vandellas and the Marvelettes only had one release each in the US 2-on-1 cd releases. Later both groups had some cd standalones like WATCHOUT! and PLAYBOY.

Later, all of the Vandellas studio albums were released in the updated 2-on-1 cd series. And the entire Marvelettes output was released by Motown select.

[motony]

I was always wanting the MARY WELLS LIVE on CD.

[reese]

I was always wanting the MARY WELLS LIVE on CD.

You and me both. My vinyl was mighty scratchy. But it was eventually released digitally and I burned my own cd.

[mysterysinger]

This was a great series, both for the casual fan and collector. I was able to pick up all of the Supremes titles, thankfully. Unless I'm missing it, do Martha/Vandellas and The Marvelettes only have one release each? Interestingly, I do have a Martha/Vandellas 2fer, but it's BLACK MAGIC and NATURAL RESOURCES.

Yes you're right in that Martha and The Marvelettes only have one release each in this original 2fer series which began in 1986.

GCD08049GD Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Dance Party / Heatwave
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...57637231731375

TCD08055TD The Marvelettes - Sopgisticated Soul / Marvelettes [[pink album)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...57637231731375

Later, around 2001, all of Martha's Motown studio albums were released in the UK/EU 2fer series [[each with bonus tracks) viz
440-016-835-2 Come & Get These Memories / Heat Wave
440-016-836-2 Dance Party / Watchout
440-016-837-2 Ridin' High / Sugar n' Spice
440-016-83802 Natural Resources / Black Magic

Complete series here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...ith/5955193234

In addition - there have also been a couple of Japanese 2fers - Heat Wave and Dance Party both times. The advantage of these is that you get mini LP album covers for both albums which are repros of the original covers. Still only 1 CD though. Example -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...77720326951746

[daviddesper]

To show you that some people have no appreciation for value...........I recently found the twofer CD that features The Supremes' Christmas album and Stevie's Christmas album on the same CD in a thrift store for just a dime.

[gman]

shame the 70's Supremes had none...that Greatest Hits and Rare Classics CD was a God send....even with all the Webb IMHO crap, it is my 70's go to...I just skip all the Webb cuts except IGIMTM...love the extended vers of Floy Joy, Automatically Sunshine and Let My Heart...so glad they used the single mixes of Ladder, Stoned Love and Nathan Jones...the LP mixes sound very compressed on vinyl...like they totally let the air out.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

The Motown 2-Fer CD Series which I discovered in 1987 was a very special time for me. It offered the thrill of collecting Motown all over again! The mini Motown CD catalogs were as exciting as the Sears and Montgomery Wards Christmas catalogs from the 1960's. Thanks to Mastercard and Visa, I bought each and every Motown CD I could get my hands on of which there were many -- many of which were bought before I even had a CD player! Another exciting chapter to come along was Hippo/Motown Select which produced some of the most magnificent Motown 5- and 6-disc CD box sets imaginable -- especially the 14 "Complete Motown Singles" volumes. Can't forget the Diana Ross & The Supremes Expanded CD series which offered countless previously-unreleased tracks on each set. If only Motown could have released similar CD packages on each of their artists.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Also, years ago, I remember reading that Berry Gordy walked into a department store and was disgusted to see a display of Motown CDs featuring 2 albums on one CD. He felt that the 2-fers [[at least psychologically) cheapened the worth of Motown albums. I'm personally grateful for the Motown 2-fers. They cut the cost in half for obtaining ALL of the Motown CDs of which there were many.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Two on the one for fun

Kevin, I've always admired the way you cleverly managed to crop ALL of the Motown 2-fer CD series into one glorious ad!

NOTE: I love Al Green's HI albums, and I bought each and every one of them as they were released back in the '70s. However, it never ceases to bug me whenever I see his HI albums reissued on Motown CDs. How did that ever come to be? He was never a Motown artist. He was on the HI label in Memphis. Has anyone ever heard how that came to be?

[Motown Eddie]

NOTE: I love Al Green's HI albums, and I bought each and every one of them as they were released back in the '70s. However, it never ceases to bug me whenever I see his HI albums reissued on Motown CDs. How did that ever come to be? He was never a Motown artist. He was on the HI label in Memphis. Has anyone ever heard how that came to be?

Yes; Motown Records had a distribution deal with Hi Records during the '80s. They had reissued Al Green's albums as part of their line of 'budget LPs' in the early '80s prior to putting them out on CD later in the decade. Motown even had a 'Best Of' [14 Greatest Hits from 1984] for Green as part of their Compact Command Performances series. On a related note, Motown had a similar deal with guitar player Duane Eddy's label, Jamie Records, so he had his CDs released by them at the same time as Al Green's were.

[reese]

Yes; Motown Records had a distribution deal with Hi Records during the '80s. They had reissued Al Green's albums as part of their line of 'budget LPs' in the early '80s prior to putting them out on CD later in the decade. Motown even had a 'Best Of' [14 Greatest Hits from 1984] for Green as part of their Compact Command Performances series. On a related note, Motown had a similar deal with guitar player Duane Eddy's label, Jamie Records, so he had his CDs released by them at the same time as Al Green's were.

There were releases of some Vee Jay material [including Little Richard] on Motown cds as well.

[gman]

I was always wanting the MARY WELLS LIVE on CD.

I believe I saw a pirate Euro issue of both Marvelettes and Mary Wells live on 1 CD in a pricey NYC Greenwich Village collectors shop... I am kinda remembering a pink checkerboard type background cover with 2 small B&W photos..they were also the only 2 of the series of early Live vinyl LPS I owned....I was contemplating collecting the entire series of them, but most were pretty pricey in the collectors market and my Fun Spend $ ran out when I lost my job in 2008....I actually sold my 2 LPS on Ebay...they were enjoyable and really unpolished performances of talent in its early stages.

[Motown Eddie]

There were releases of some Vee Jay material [including Little Richard] on Motown cds as well.

Yep; Little Richard & Jimmy Reed had 'Best Of' CDs from their Vee-Jay catalog issued by Motown. Also from Motown was the Hits from the Legendary Vee-Jay Records CD offering a 26 track overview of that company's best known work that came out during that time.

[marybrewster]

shame the 70's Supremes had none...that Greatest Hits and Rare Classics CD was a God send....even with all the Webb IMHO crap, it is my 70's go to...I just skip all the Webb cuts except IGIMTM...love the extended vers of Floy Joy, Automatically Sunshine and Let My Heart...so glad they used the single mixes of Ladder, Stoned Love and Nathan Jones...the LP mixes sound very compressed on vinyl...like they totally let the air out.

I've often thought of that 70's set as my favorite release. For sure in the top 5. In the DRATS Forum, Mr. George Solomon talks about this release in detail; which songs were picked and why, and the difference between the cassette version and the CD version. It's fascinating.

[reese]

I believe I saw a pirate Euro issue of both Marvelettes and Mary Wells live on 1 CD in a pricey NYC Greenwich Village collectors shop... I am kinda remembering a pink checkerboard type background cover with 2 small B&W photos..they were also the only 2 of the series of early Live vinyl LPS I owned....I was contemplating collecting the entire series of them, but most were pretty pricey in the collectors market and my Fun Spend $ ran out when I lost my job in 2008....I actually sold my 2 LPS on Ebay...they were enjoyable and really unpolished performances of talent in its early stages.

I bought two of these cds: one had the Marvelettes and Mary Wells live lps on one disc. The other had the live lps of the Miracles and Marvin Gaye. They were released on a label called Motorcity Records [not to be confused with Ian Levine's label].

Back in the 70s, I was lucky enough to get a great copy of the Marvelettes' live album for only $8.00, which was a fortune to me at the time. Years later, I spent $25 for Marvin Gaye's, which was also in great shape. I spent $30 for Mary's but it was full of surface noise.

[mysterysinger]

[QUOTE=
NOTE: I love Al Green's HI albums, and I bought each and every one of them as they were released back in the '70s. However, it never ceases to bug me whenever I see his HI albums reissued on Motown CDs. How did that ever come to be? He was never a Motown artist. He was on the HI label in Memphis. Has anyone ever heard how that came to be?[/QUOTE]

Not just Al Green - other Hi stuff included the following albums on Motown [[but not on CD sadly):

Ann Peebles - "I Can't Stand The Rain" [[5288)
https://www.discogs.com/release/7371...Stand-The-Rain


Willie Mitchell - "The Best Of" [[5289)
https://www.discogs.com/release/2893...illie-Mitchell

And Ace Cannon - "Memphis Golden Hits" [[5300)
https://www.discogs.com/release/3146...is-Golden-Hits

[mysterysinger]

The track "In Our Small Way" appeared on both the "Got To Be There" and "Ben" albums [[one wonders why?). There was a difference in that the one on "Ben" had a producers count in at the start. So for the 2fer [[MCD08000MD), to save on time, they excluded the track from the "Ben" release so missed out the count in. This was re-instated on individual CD album issues and included on later 2 on 1 releases.

[mysterysinger]

Kevin, I've always admired the way you cleverly managed to crop ALL of the Motown 2-fer CD series into one glorious ad!

It's a labour of love Gary. I've done it for other series too because I like to see sets together. Sadly I ran out of bandwidth a long time ago on this forum so can't post any more photos on here [[that's why I often post links to my Flickr site to illustrate things).

[stupidactingsmart]

I got the first two Jackson Five albums on one of those twofer CDs and when I eventually realised the songs were edited for length, I felt so cheated! I already had ABC on its own but I had to rebuy 'Diana Ross Presents...'. Luckily I found a cheap vinyl copy （in the days before LPs became luxury ornaments）.

[mysterysinger]

Not all the songs were edited for length - but there were a few.

I think these tracks should have their own category - in the same way that we see the legend "16 Big Hits version" against many tracks, maybe we should have "Edited 2on1 version" where appropriate.

[Sotosound]

Editing album tracks for single release makes sense. I can also understand how album tracks got edited or removed for vinyl release due to space constraints, but editing album tracks on a format that accommodates longer rather than shorter running times makes no sense at all to me. That's the worst of all worlds.

Baby and bath water time IMO.

Personally, I'd have been happier to pay a little more for two discs in order to get all of the tracks in their original lengths.

[lockhartgary]

I got the first two Jackson Five albums on one of those twofer CDs and when I eventually realised the songs were edited for length, I felt so cheated! I already had ABC on its own but I had to rebuy 'Diana Ross Presents...'. Luckily I found a cheap vinyl copy （in the days before LPs became luxury ornaments）.

Yes, that irked me too. I clearly remember a whole verse being cut from "Nobody"; not sure of other affected tracks since I no longer have the cd. Years later I purchased the same 2FER that was a different reissue that had "Nobody" intact.

The Temptations "Cloud Nine" 2FER had the truncated version of "Runaway Child, Running Wild".

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Yes; Motown Records had a distribution deal with Hi Records during the '80s. They had reissued Al Green's albums as part of their line of 'budget LPs' in the early '80s prior to putting them out on CD later in the decade. Motown even had a 'Best Of' [14 Greatest Hits from 1984] for Green as part of their Compact Command Performances series. On a related note, Motown had a similar deal with guitar player Duane Eddy's label, Jamie Records, so he had his CDs released by them at the same time as Al Green's were.

Thanks for clarifying that, Eddie. [[I just discovered your explanation now.)

[Philles/Motown Gary]

There is [[or, at least, was) a store in Henrietta, NY [[near Rochester) called House Of Guitars. Their main room was CDs; the back room was LPs [[both new releases and used oldies titles); and upstairs was musical instruments. The main floor of CDs was incredible! They stocked each and every title of Motown's 2-fer CDs. You would have sworn they were a one-stop distributor for the area's record stores, although they weren't. They just had a fantastic selection of artists and CD titles. [[Just to show you how impressive they were, back in 1976, it was House Of Guitars who made me aware of the new Philles LPs reissue series on the Phil Spector International label, of which all were imports from the U.K. And, even more exciting, they had them all in stock! Needless to say, I left for home a penniless pauper but rich musically! Anyway, back to my point -- they stocked all of the Motown 2-fer titles which made my journey easy and highly successful.

[Motown Eddie]

The Temptations "Cloud Nine" 2FER had the truncated version of "Runaway Child, Running Wild".

The UK 2Fer of Cloud Nine/Puzzle People from 2001 had the full 9 minute version of "Run Away Child, Running Wild". However, another collection that had a song cut short in Motown's initial 2Fer CD rollout in 1986 was Rare Earth's 2Fer of Get Ready/Ecology which had the single version of "[I Know] I'm Losing You" [instead of the full 10 minute LP version].

[jack020]

Here in Amsterdam big department store De Bijenkorf [[Beehive) used to have a large music department and one or two yearly sales. One year they had a lot of the twofers as cut-outs on sale so I bought a lot of them. I have most of them now but still missing a few.

[mysterysinger]

[[Just to show you how impressive they were, back in 1976, it was House Of Guitars who made me aware of the new Philles LPs reissue series on the Phil Spector International label, of which all were imports from the U.K. And, even more exciting, they had them all in stock! Needless to say, I left for home a penniless pauper but rich musically!

Yes i bought them all but I really preferred the design of the Warner-Spector label. It was short lived yet they still released some oldies.

[1382hitsville]

Here in Amsterdam big department store De Bijenkorf [[Beehive) used to have a large music department and one or two yearly sales. One year they had a lot of the twofers as cut-outs on sale so I bought a lot of them. I have most of them now but still missing a few.

oh yes Jack, I remember those. 5th floor. In the early 90's bought a lot of 2fers. Not my introduction to Motown, but learned me to get away from the single hits and deep cuts. Also learning about the Funks and Andantes [[sound wise). Loved it.

[1382hitsville]

10 years ago I was in Japan, and as we know, still a big CD country. Once I entered a store....walked out with two arms full of CD's. Owning music, despite the current streaming era, is still important to me

[1382hitsville]

Ahhh, travelling and entering a foreign record store. In Prague I found the vinyl of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas at the Copa, in Malaysia Live Wire and and Dubai the pink Supremes CD set.

[daviddesper]

I agree about the annoyance of cutting any song for CD purposes. If I recall, the average Motown album back in the day ran about 34-35 minutes. If I am not mistaken the average CD has about an 80 minute capability, so why wouldn't two complete albums fit?

[reese]

I agree about the annoyance of cutting any song for CD purposes. If I recall, the average Motown album back in the day ran about 34-35 minutes. If I am not mistaken the average CD has about an 80 minute capability, so why wouldn't two complete albums fit?

I think it depended on how albums were paired up.

For some pairings like DIANA ROSS [1970] and SURRENDER, they actually dropped two recordings from the first album, and even included a note saying they could be found on another of her cds.

On the flipside, when they paired the Pips' EVERYBODY NEEDS LOVE and IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN, they kept all of the songs, but many were edited, frustratingly so.

[mysterysinger]

I think it depended on how albums were paired up.

For some pairings like DIANA ROSS [1970] and SURRENDER, they actually dropped two recordings from the first album, and even included a note saying they could be found on another of her cds.

That's true, they omitted "You're All I Need To Get By" and "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You" but then "Reach Out I'll Be There" was a longer 5:27 version [[as opposed to 4:30).

[Motown Eddie]

I agree about the annoyance of cutting any song for CD purposes. If I recall, the average Motown album back in the day ran about 34-35 minutes. If I am not mistaken the average CD has about an 80 minute capability, so why wouldn't two complete albums fit?

Reason for that is back when Motown was preparing these collections in 1986, they wanted to keep their CDs below the 74 minute capacity limit used at that time. While CDs could store up to 80 minutes of music, not all CD players could play them without tracking errors. CDs would start going for the 80 minute limit during the 90's and CD players were equipped to play them properly. Also, many of Motown's albums started to go over the 35 minute mark in the late 60's & early '70s making them harder to fit 2 on one CD without editing.

PS: I Agree with you about the annoyance of editing songs for some of these collections and Motown should've avoided that by pairing two albums that fit on one disc without cutting anything.

[Sotosound]

Reason for that is back when Motown was preparing these collections in 1986, they wanted to keep their CDs below the 74 minute capacity limit used at that time. While CDs could store up to 80 minutes of music, not all CD players could play them without tracking errors. CDs would start going for the 80 minute limit during the 90's and CD players were equipped to play them properly. Also, many of Motown's albums started to go over the 35 minute mark in the late 60's & early '70s making them harder to fit 2 on one CD without editing.

PS: I Agree with you about the annoyance of editing songs for some of these collections and Motown should've avoided that by pairing two albums that fit on one disc without cutting anything.

And that's the music industry for you.

It isn't music, it's product.

I got out of record wholesaling because, for all of the interest that the industry had in music, i.e. next to none, I might as well have been selling shoes.

[masterblaster]

I bought quite a few of these 2fers when released in the UK. The Temptations pairing of ‘With a Lot O Soul’ with ‘Live At The Copa’ had the studio version of ‘You’re My Everything’ cut from the WALOS album as it also appear on the Live album! This always irked me.
Just noticed that in the US, ‘With A lot Of Soul’ was paired with the 1967 ‘Live’ album and not the ‘Copa’ album.

[mysterysinger]

I bought quite a few of these 2fers when released in the UK. The Temptations pairing of ‘With a Lot O Soul’ with ‘Live At The Copa’ had the studio version of ‘You’re My Everything’ cut from the WALOS album as it also appear on the Live album! This always irked me.
Just noticed that in the US, ‘With A lot Of Soul’ was paired with the 1967 ‘Live’ album and not the ‘Copa’ album.

1) The USA 2fer from 1986 simply used the wrong artwork - it used the cover from the "Live!" album but the tracks were from "Live At The Copa".

2) The above also included both live and studio versions of "You're My Everything" but left off the live version of "[[I Know) I'm Losing You".

3) The EU/UK twofer from 2000 omitted both the live version of "[[I Know) I'm Losing You" and the studio version of "You're My Everything". What a cheat [[but at least it used the Copa artwork)!

4) The single CD issue of "Live At The Copa" [[MOTD-5306) also used the wrong artwork from the "Live!" album but did include the live versions of both "You're My Everything" and "[[I Know) I'm Losing You".

[paul_nixon]

Reason for that is back when Motown was preparing these collections in 1986, they wanted to keep their CDs below the 74 minute capacity limit used at that time. While CDs could store up to 80 minutes of music, not all CD players could play them without tracking errors. CDs would start going for the 80 minute limit during the 90's and CD players were equipped to play them properly. Also, many of Motown's albums started to go over the 35 minute mark in the late 60's & early '70s making them harder to fit 2 on one CD without editing.

PS: I Agree with you about the annoyance of editing songs for some of these collections and Motown should've avoided that by pairing two albums that fit on one disc without cutting anything.

You need 82 and a half minutes to pair those two LPs with all tracks present - I believe nowadays you can overburn - not sure to what extent though