Tamla Special No 1 LP Question

[BayouMotownMan]

I only have the reissue of this early Tamla lp, it lists one of the cuts as Shop Around by the Miracles but it is the Mary Wells version instead. Did the original issue have this same faux pas?

[DWSheffer]

My original presses contain the Miracles version.....
Darin

[kenneth]

Yes. The reissue has Mary Wells‘s version which was obviously an error when they did the re-release of the album. I have both editions of the album and I remember how surprised I was when I played the reissue and heard Mary Wells on it. As I recall, the album contains five singles including their B-Sides, and now I’m wondering if they included the Mary Wells B side instead of the one for the Miracles. I imagine the error was just in the A side, but now I have to dig out my copies and check to be sure!

[kenneth]

Apparently, I no longer have the reissue...just the original LP. Will someone, if they can, satisfy my curiosity? Is it only the "Shop Around" track which was remastered from the wrong single side?

[luckyluckyme]

[Peter G]

I can confirm that the Mary Well's version of 'Shop Around' is the only pressing error on the re-issue. I only purchased this at the time in order to get the Sammy & Sheri tracks and when I heard 'Shop Around' was initially excited as I thought an unissued track had been put on by mistake but I was soon corrected by a fellow fan.

[mysterysinger]

What is strange is that it's the Mary Wells version of "Shop Around" on the UK Hallmark CD releaseof this album.

[kenneth]

I can confirm that the Mary Well's version of 'Shop Around' is the only pressing error on the re-issue. I only purchased this at the time in order to get the Sammy & Sheri tracks and when I heard 'Shop Around' was initially excited as I thought an unissued track had been put on by mistake but I was soon corrected by a fellow fan.

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. I too love the Sammy and Sheri tracks. I wish some of those early artists would be highlighted on a compilation CD. I love the tracks I’ve heard by Gino Parks too. Listening to those artists today, they sound more like they might’ve recorded for Atlantic Records, and maybe that’s why Berry Gordy saw them as unessential to the direction he wanted to go in.

[kenneth]

What is strange is that it's the Mary Wells version of "Shop Around" on the UK Hallmark CD releaseof this album.

Not so strange really. I imagine those Hallmark releases are generally from needle drops on an LP, and likely they only had access to the reissue.

I didn’t buy that one but I have bought a few of the Hallmark releases such as the Gospel Stars and Columbus Mann issues. The sound is decent. I think they’re a great alternative to seeking out the original albums which would be very expensive.

[SatansBlues]

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. I too love the Sammy and Sheri tracks. I wish some of those early artists would be highlighted on a compilation CD. I love the tracks I’ve heard by Gino Parks too. Listening to those artists today, they sound more like they might’ve recorded for Atlantic Records, and maybe that’s why Berry Gordy saw them as unessential to the direction he wanted to go in.

I believe it was Hattie Little who spoke about Motown's change in direction away from straight up R&B in the book the Women of Motown. It's very enlightening. I too bought the reissue in the early 80's of this album and loved the Sammy & Sheri track Oh, Lover. Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells also did version of the song in 63 that is even better than the original. I personally think it's the best track that they did together.

[mysterysinger]

Not so strange really. I imagine those Hallmark releases are generally from needle drops on an LP, and likely they only had access to the reissue.

I didn’t buy that one but I have bought a few of the Hallmark releases such as the Gospel Stars and Columbus Mann issues. The sound is decent. I think they’re a great alternative to seeking out the original albums which would be very expensive.

Yes that's what they would have done, but strange in the sense that the 1961 version of the LP would have been out of copyright in 2012 wheras the 1982 re-issue version wouldn't.

[kenneth]

Yes that's what they would have done, but strange in the sense that the 1961 version of the LP would have been out of copyright in 2012 wheras the 1982 re-issue version wouldn't.

Ah so true. I imagine they were unaware that they had a different track than on the original, and likely thought no one would ever be the wiser that they dubbed the reissue. That's what I meant in a different thread, when I said it's sometimes the mistakes getting replicated that actually tells the story of where they found the source material, although I always so wonder how these decisions get made.