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  1. #1
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    Question about CD version of "Watchout!"

    My copy of this amazing CD [[ah yes those were the glory days of Motown!) has a catalog number of MOTD-5265. But I see that other copies of it have a longer catalog number.

    Does that possibly mean that all 5265's are mono and the ones with the longer number are stereo versions?

  2. #2
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    I'm not sure about stereo vs mono. But when the album was first released on cd, it was around 1990 or 1991, maybe that's the 5265?

    It has since been released as a 2-fer with DANCE PARTY and it has a catalog #016 836-2.

  3. #3
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    The mono version of Watchout! has yet to be issued on CD. As Resse pointed out, Watchout! was issued on CD as a standalone and as a 2-fer with Dance Party.
    Last edited by Motown Eddie; 03-25-2022 at 11:45 AM.

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    MOTD-5265 [[long number 50109-5265-2) would be the first release of "Watchout" on CD - the 50109 series being distributed by MCA.

    The later re-release on CD, 3746352652, would be manufactured and marketed by Motown records. Generally these later re-issues would be straight re-releases of the MOTD series but not always by any means and there were frequent changes in the CD artwork [[amd occasionally different tracks).

    In 2002 "Watchout" was paired with "Dance Party" as 440-016-836-2 when all MR&TV albums [[bar the Live album) were released in the UK 2ON1 series.

    More recently there was a release by the Japanese Oldays series as a mini-LP style CD but with amended artwork to avoid copyright issues - this version also included as a bonus the Live album. These aren't official releases.

    As far as I know all these "Watchout" releases have been stereo.

    Happy to be corrected in any of this.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by mysterysinger View Post
    MOTD-5265 [[long number 50109-5265-2) would be the first release of "Watchout" on CD - the 50109 series being distributed by MCA.

    The later re-release on CD, 3746352652, would be manufactured and marketed by Motown records. Generally these later re-issues would be straight re-releases of the MOTD series but not always by any means and there were frequent changes in the CD artwork [[amd occasionally different tracks).

    In 2002 "Watchout" was paired with "Dance Party" as 440-016-836-2 when all MR&TV albums [[bar the Live album) were released in the UK 2ON1 series.

    More recently there was a release by the Japanese Oldays series as a mini-LP style CD but with amended artwork to avoid copyright issues - this version also included as a bonus the Live album. These aren't official releases.

    As far as I know all these "Watchout" releases have been stereo.

    Happy to be corrected in any of this.
    Nope. You are correct. MOTD-5265 is the first CD release and is in stereo. The easiest way to determine this is that "Jimmy Mack" on MOTD-5265 is the "jazzy" slower release, which was the stereo version. I have the other releases as well and none are mono. To my [OCD] collector's knowledge there has never been an official [not bootleg] mono release of Gordy 920 on CD. P.S. so glad someone is asking about Watchout!. It needs more love than it gets on this here forum.

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    The mono version of "Watchout" has been available on CD but unfortunately a bootleg.I say has as the provider has been closed down.

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    I used to pleasantly stare at the cover of Watchout at the record store, but never bought it. Teenagers had only so much money and so many things to buy.

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    It's my favorite of the early Vandellas albums. Aside from the two hit singles, most of the tracks are rather subdued and to my ears anyway, kind of jazz-influenced. Some of the songs are nearly Martha solos, like No More Tearstained Makeup, Go Ahead and Laugh, What Am I Going to Do Without Your Love. When I was young, the album wasn't enough like a "Vandellas" album so I didn't play it a lot but over the years this album has really grown on me.

  9. #9
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    Thanks guys for all this input. You have been very helpful and I will answer the inquiry I had received by telling the other party that my copy is definitely stereo.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by kenneth View Post
    It's my favorite of the early Vandellas albums. Aside from the two hit singles, most of the tracks are rather subdued and to my ears anyway, kind of jazz-influenced. Some of the songs are nearly Martha solos, like No More Tearstained Makeup, Go Ahead and Laugh, What Am I Going to Do Without Your Love. When I was young, the album wasn't enough like a "Vandellas" album so I didn't play it a lot but over the years this album has really grown on me.
    Watchout! is my 2nd favorite LP by Martha & Co. [behind Dance Party]. Aside from "I'm Ready For Love", "Jimmy Mack" & "One Way Out", the album does have a more subdued feel to it [especially on "No More Tearstained Make Up", "Let This Day Be" & "He Doesn't Love Her Any More"]. Watchout! is also notable for being the last LP the group did before H-D-H & Mikey Stevenson left Motown.

  11. #11

    Spot The Difference!

    As mysterysinger says, the re-releases of the MOTD series CDs frequently had changes to the artwork. Just for fun, play spot the difference with these examples of the CD insert and the tray insert. The MOTD version is on top of each image. Some differences are easy to see, some not. Somebody obviously didn't keep the original layout printing plates!

    Name:  Watchout! CD insert fronts  600 x 600.jpg
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Size:  52.4 KB


    Name:  Watchout!  insides 600 x 600.jpg
Views: 941
Size:  95.6 KB


    Name:  Watchout! backs  400 x 700.jpg
Views: 943
Size:  88.1 KB

  12. #12
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    Back in the 70s, I was lucky enough to find a copy of this album in a $.68 cutout bin at Woolworth's. It was the second Vandellas album I ever bought [[after RIDIN' HIGH) and quickly became a favorite of mine.

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    Thanks for showing us those TomBairdFan. It's always interesting to see the comparisons and differences. Nothing like a good picture to illustrate the point. The sound was a lot better, I think, on the UK 2fer.

    I did forget about the bootleg "Watchout" expanded made by Ben in Germany. I have some of his stuff but didn't buy that off him. They should have put him in charge of official releases lol.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Motown Eddie View Post
    Watchout! is my 2nd favorite LP by Martha & Co. [behind Dance Party]. Aside from "I'm Ready For Love", "Jimmy Mack" & "One Way Out", the album does have a more subdued feel to it [especially on "No More Tearstained Make Up", "Let This Day Be" & "He Doesn't Love Her Any More"]. Watchout! is also notable for being the last LP the group did before H-D-H & Mikey Stevenson left Motown.
    I completely forgot about the song “He Doesn’t Love Her Anymore.” I remember it first as a flipside which I came to like and play quite a bit. It’s a very unusual song, with a great delivery by Martha and a theme similar to her earlier “A Tear for the Girl.”

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    Another great time for me to make the plug I have made several times over the years for the song that I consider to be the best track on this album.........Tell Me I'll Never Be Alone. Love that song!!! But I also agree that He Doesn't Love Her Anymore was terrific, along with of course the two Top 10 hits.

  16. #16
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    The last time I saw Martha and her sisters in person they performed I'LL FOLLOW YOU, a track from this album.

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    Black Magic is my favorite M&V album. I would probably rank Watchout at second. It really is a good album. Sucks that there's no album between Dance Party and Watchout [[aside from the GH album), and Watchout and Ridin High [[aside from the Live album). The group recorded a lot of great stuff that sat in the can for decades.

    There isn't a bad cut on Watchout. I'm not fond of "One Way Out", but I can sit through it without skipping...if I have to. It really is an album that can be played from beginning to end without a skip. Aside from the singles, my favorite cuts are "Keep It Up", "I'll Follow You" and "Go Ahead and Laugh", the latter of which I feel is one of Martha's most killer vocals.

    Boggles my mind as to why this album was not "hugely" successful.

  18. #18
    There iare two versions of "Tearstainbed Make-up". One is slower and jazier than the other. I can't recall what CD it was on. Can anyone help?

  19. #19
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    Version 1 of "No More Tearstained Makeup" was included as a bonus track on the UK 2-fer release of the "Watchout!" and "Dance Party" albums in 2002.

  20. #20
    I much prefer the Watchout version of Jimmy Mack to the [[later?), quite different, upbeat version. I only knew of the different Watchout version about 10 years ago when I bought the album. Was the Watchout version ever released as a single?

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stax_of_Motown View Post
    I much prefer the Watchout version of Jimmy Mack to the [[later?), quite different, upbeat version. I only knew of the different Watchout version about 10 years ago when I bought the album. Was the Watchout version ever released as a single?
    I don't think so.

    I prefer the WATCHOUT! version as well. Having bought that album, I didn't even know there was another version until I bought the Vandellas' ANTHOLOGY.

  22. #22
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    Got to be this version for me [[though I think there's a slightly extended version of this as well). First Tamla Motown single I bought when re-issued in the UK 1970 but with the original catalogue number TMG599. Perfect disco tune, and a double A sider as well really with "Third Finger, Left Hand" on flip. Flipping marvellous.

    Last edited by mysterysinger; 12-18-2022 at 01:10 PM.

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Stax_of_Motown View Post
    I much prefer the Watchout version of Jimmy Mack to the [[later?), quite different, upbeat version. I only knew of the different Watchout version about 10 years ago when I bought the album. Was the Watchout version ever released as a single?
    Hold on...when you say "the Watchout version ", I gotta ask if you have both the stereo and mono albums, because the stereo version has the jazzy, "Baby Love"- style recording BUT the mono album features the re-done, harder-stomping version. AND... the Motown Big 16 Original Hits Volume 8 album features yet ANOTHER version; the "Baby Love" version with footstomps dubbed in. Also, the mix is such that all the vocals are panned to one channel so that the other channel is practically an instrumental but with the "ghost" echoes of the vocals. I'd like to find the mono version of this Big 16 and see just how much more confusing the saga of "Jimmy Mack" really can get.

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance View Post
    Hold on...when you say "the Watchout version ", I gotta ask if you have both the stereo and mono albums, because the stereo version has the jazzy, "Baby Love"- style recording BUT the mono album features the re-done, harder-stomping version. AND... the Motown Big 16 Original Hits Volume 8 album features yet ANOTHER version; the "Baby Love" version with footstomps dubbed in. Also, the mix is such that all the vocals are panned to one channel so that the other channel is practically an instrumental but with the "ghost" echoes of the vocals. I'd like to find the mono version of this Big 16 and see just how much more confusing the saga of "Jimmy Mack" really can get.
    I just have the Watchout stereo version vinyl and the 2xCd with Dance Party as well as on a few compilation Cd's. Don't have Original Hits 8.
    All these different versions is confusing but also interesting!

    Regards.

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by kenneth View Post
    It's my favorite of the early Vandellas albums. Aside from the two hit singles, most of the tracks are rather subdued and to my ears anyway, kind of jazz-influenced. Some of the songs are nearly Martha solos, like No More Tearstained Makeup, Go Ahead and Laugh, What Am I Going to Do Without Your Love. When I was young, the album wasn't enough like a "Vandellas" album so I didn't play it a lot but over the years this album has really grown on me.
    That lp grew on me too. It's probably tied with Black Magic as my fav Vandellas lp. Several tracks had single potential, particularly One Way Out. The mono mix is explosive like Itching In My Heart. Also No More Tearstained Makeup and Tell Me I'll Never Be Alone could be singles. He Doesn't Love Her Anymore is hypnotic. I love the differences between the stereo and mono takes of Go Ahead And Laugh. The stereo master is far more orchestrated with soaring strings.

    Also, on one of the Motown unreleased sets is what sounds like a demo version of Keep It Up, which Smokey later recut for this lp.

  26. #26

  27. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stax_of_Motown View Post
    I guess Berry Gordy didn’t/couldn’t hear everything in the quality control meetings. I’m glad he knew to rush it out for a hit single when he did hear it. I always thought Jimmy Mack had the same sound/vibe as Baby Love. Even so, it sounded like a Hit. What a parlay for Martha & the Vandellas if Jimmy Mack had followed Dancing, Wild One and Nowhere to Run! [Wild One was a minor hit, but should have been bigger, imo]

  28. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by lucky2012 View Post
    I guess Berry Gordy didn’t/couldn’t hear everything in the quality control meetings. I’m glad he knew to rush it out for a hit single when he did hear it. I always thought Jimmy Mack had the same sound/vibe as Baby Love. Even so, it sounded like a Hit. What a parlay for Martha & the Vandellas if Jimmy Mack had followed Dancing, Wild One and Nowhere to Run! [Wild One was a minor hit, but should have been bigger, imo]
    My question is would it have been as big a hit in it's original "Baby Love" form if it had been released after "Dancing In The Street"? I know both versions of the song have their fans but I've always wondered how that original first version would have fared

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