A Motown Song Numbering System?

[mysterysinger]

Looking at a German/EU issue CD from 2009, there seems to be a Universal Motown song numbering system going on. It's not something I've seen before and I wondered whether anyone else has seen it on other CDs. Maybe there's a full list somewhere.

The CD itself doesn't seem that remarkable in terms of the tracks on it, seemingly just another compilation of hits but I am very intrigued by the information on the inside CD cover. You can see the CD here -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...77720310065881

The sequence is US based and has a year inserted which, in most cases, matches the year of publishing[[?). The reasons for the exceptions may become obvious If I think hard enough. Then there is a reference number which I'm assuming is the number allocated to the song for the year in question - probably by Universal. I'm not sure how this number would be allocated - by date released probably because alphabetically doesn't work from the limited examples seen.

Here's the song list in brief:

01 The Supremes Stop! In The Name Of Love 02:52 US-M01-65-82625

02 Marvin Gaye I Heard It Through The Grapevine [[album version) 03:14 US-M01-95-82697

03 Thelma Houston Don't Leave Me This Way [[single version) 03:38 US-M01-76-00547

04 Commodores Easy 04:16 US-M01-77-00543

05 Martha Reeves & The Vandellas Dancing In The Street 02:38 US-M01-64-00446

06 Diana Ross I'm Coming Out [[album version) 05:24
US-M01-80-00073

07 Rare Earth Get Ready [[single version) 02:49 US-M01-00-00237

08 Edwin Starr War [[album version) 03:22 US-M01-70-00050

09 Four Tops Reach Out, I'll Be There [[album version) 02:59 US-M01-01-19990

10 Stevie Wonder I Was Made To Love Her 02:40 US-M01-67-82628

11 The Contours Do You Love Me 02:53 US-M01-62-00263

12 The Temptations The Way You Do The Things You Do [[album version) 02:39 US-M01-64-00258

13 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles I Second That Emotion [[single version) 02:41 US-M01-67-82659

14 The Marvelettes Please Mr. Postman 02:29 US-M01-61-00266

15 Gladys Knight & The Pips If I Were Your Woman [[single version) 03:12 US-M01-70-82654

16 Jimmy Ruffin What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted [[album version) 02:58 US-M01-04-00416

I'd be grateful for all sensible ideas.

[TomBairdFan]

Mysterysinger,

I noticed the same catalogue numbers on another unfocused German compilation: 'Nighthawk 2 - Finest Midnight Music', itself a bit of an oddity since ''Heatwave'', ''I Want You Back'', ''Love Child'' etc. aren't songs that share a 'late night' theme! The CD is dated 2007 and was issued by Universal Music, Strategic Marketing, using the Motown, Brunswick News and Universal logos. There is no compiler credit, but I can only assume that whoever put this together was copying the information from a file source, and while there seems to be some consistency with the recording year, as you say, it's not across the board [[''I Want You Back'' has a 'US-MO1-94...' code. The number following the year could indicate a recording sequence for that year, except that 82625 for ''Stop In The Name Of Love'' doesn't hold. It's possible the code numbers are from a legal or copyright document, as the ℗ sound recording copyright dates distinguish between 'Motown Records, a Division of UMG Recordings Inc' and 'UMG Recordings'. You can bet that the German compiler was meant to be copying exactly the information in their files - but did they? Oddly, The Miracles' ''You Really Got A Hold On Me'' is credited to 'Motown Records and Taurus Productions', which is Stevie Wonder's umbrella company. Also, it doesn't have a 'US-M01' prefix. Maybe not everything is factually correct, or can be relied upon. Perhaps this one was overseen by some junior at Universal Music GmbH who didn't get things quite right. My deduction? It's a German thing - but still a mystery!

[mysterysinger]

Thanks for that TomBairdFan - great info there and I like your train of thought. The numbering does seem a bit erratic. The Brunswick connection seems to be an oddity [[to me at least). So there could well be more like these. All very interesting - I like this kind of mystery - at least until such time that I know it leads absolutely nowhere.

[mysterysinger]

As it turns out, there is also a Nighthawk [[Volume 1) and this also has the same numbering sequences quoted - but here the tracks are not all from Motown so you can see other variations for other companies. The Motown tracks are:

1/02 Marvin Gaye Yesterday [[album version) 3:25 US-M01-70-00477
1/04 Commodores Nightshift [[album version) 5:04 US-M01-84-00528
1/06 India Arie Promises [[album version) 4:41 US-M01-01-00956
1/15 Boyz-II-Men I'll Make Love To You [[album version) 3:56 US-M01-94-00340
2/01 Gladys Knight & The Pips Neither One Of Us [[album version) 4:20 US-M01-73-00505
2/02 Johnny Gill Just Another Lonely Night [[album version) 4:14 US-M01-00-00129
2/06 Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye Stop, Look, Listen [[album version) 2:52 US-M01-73-00534
2/08 Billy Preston & Syreeta With You I'm Born Again [[album version) 3:38 US-M01-79-00482


You can see it on Discogs here-
https://www.discogs.com/release/1435...Midnight-Music