Natural Resources

[lakeside]

Does anyone know if the Vandellas sang on any of these cuts. I thought I had read somewhere that it was almost all Andantes?

[copley]

From Wikipedia

Personnel
Martha Reeves - lead vocals; background vocals on "Everybody's Talking"
The Andantes - background vocals [[side 1, tracks 2, 4, 5; side 2, tracks 2, 5 and 6)
Lois Reeves - backing vocals [[side 1, track 1; side 2, track 5)
Sandra Tilley - background vocals [[side 1, track 1; side 2, track 5)
Valerie Simpson - background vocals [[side 2, track 4)
Nickolas Ashford - background vocals [[side 2, track 4)
The Funk Brothers - instrumentation

[Philles/Motown Gary]

One of my favorite Motown albums! The above credits are meaningless without a tracklist and audio links. Let's fix that!

Side 1:

1) "Something"
https://youtu.be/FFbqSOvu4kY?si=1mtWv1Rth5Uv2YOz

2) "Easily Persuaded"
https://youtu.be/-P-FZmDsW5s?si=oS8X6lsjV7kCjl7j

3) "Didn't We"
https://youtu.be/CYq-oj-FxeQ?si=H5MVnHD1QZUn0ogr

4) "I'm In Love"
https://youtu.be/YqbffpGryt8?si=xl01Tl9adxRytz6t

5) "Love Guess Who"
https://youtu.be/rsDUMcvH_jk?si=pXCudCcqA0gaer6-

6) "Everybody's Talking"
https://youtu.be/N2KAznkEkYQ?si=s4mwjctn10aZeqtG

Side 2:

1) "Put A Little Love In Your Heart"
https://youtu.be/C7lUWUHuhao?si=rrwnHqEARD_BRQD0

2) "The Hurt Is Over [[Since I Found You)"
https://youtu.be/FhjEdO5HqMg?si=oDEY8jS7k-v5cDz3

3) "Take A Look"
https://youtu.be/qjhbHHAzXQQ?si=de210elpQZzWeI_V

4) "Won't It Be So Wonderful"
https://youtu.be/Hm5KrOSYY7c?si=ckcu6YxXwvg-J8Yt

5) "I Should Be Proud"
https://youtu.be/u14IRce3I20?si=MKz9o45s0ShVyrkg

6) "People Gotta Be Free"
https://youtu.be/1JD47SLzeik?si=4QIEu40c2348eROr

[daviddesper]

I still remember the day I walked into my local J C Penney store [[not exactly the first place you think of for buying music) and this brand new album, along with Return of the Marvelettes, were both there on the shelf. I would not have had much money then, but I guess I had enough to grab both of them. One of those "remember where you were" memories!

[lakeside]

Thanks Gary and Copley.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Thanks Gary and Copley.

You're welcome, lakeside.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I love stories about where you were when you first discovered a new Motown release.

I remember exactly where I was when I discovered Martha Reeves & The Vandellas' new "Natural Resources" LP. I was at the Geneva Coin, Stamp & Record Shop in Geneva, NY -- looking through "Tilly's" new copy of Billboard Magazine. Imagine my uncontrollable glee when I discovered Motown's two-page ad for their massive Fall LP release schedule! Complete with no stone left unturned, the ad featured a photo of each and every album by seemingly every Motown artist imaginable. Martha's "Natural Resources" LP was among them! [[If memory serves, Motown released a slew of albums in Fall Of 1969 as well which included Martha & The Vandellas "Sugar 'N' Spice" album. Anyway, the massive release was a first for Motown, and I consider myself lucky for being a part of it as it was happening! [["Like a kid at Christmas!")

[woodward]

It's a doggone shame this was never released on a compact disc. So obviously it never will be. Sad.

[Roger Polhill]

Woodward it is available as 2 on 1 disc along with "Black Magic"

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Here you go, Woodward. This is the least expensive copy I could find on eBay for $40.00. But you're in luck! It's in NM condition! If you want it, I would grab it -- QUICKLY!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27580645105...mis&media=COPY

[lakeside]

Here you go, Woodward. This the least expensive copy I could find on eBay for $40.00. But you're in luck! It's in NM condition! If you want it, I would grab it -- QUICKLY!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27580645105...mis&media=COPY

I bought that two-fer when it first came out. I think I paid like $12.95 at the time. But I'd gladly pay $40 today if I did not already own it. Great stuff, especially Black Magic.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I bought that two-fer when it first came out. I think I paid like $12.95 at the time. But I'd gladly pay $40 today if I did not already own it. Great stuff, especially Black Magic.

Yeah, lakeside, it's the same old story. Once a CD [[or anything, for that matter) goes out of print, the greedy price gougers jack the price sky high. And, yes, it's a wonderful set! Their records may have stalled on the charts, but Motown supported Martha & The Vandellas with top-notch productions right up until the end. Same goes for The Marvelettes.

I'm still wondering why Motown released only one single from "Natural Resources". I've always loved "Easily Persuaded" and "The Hurt Is Over". In fact, I once played "Easily Persuaded" for a local college DJ. He was so impressed by it, he played it on his college radio station. Somebody called in immediately and asked him to play it again! It's just a shame that tracks from these late-'60s Motown albums got little-to-no airplay. If they had, they might have been hits.

[mysterysinger]

It's a doggone shame this was never released on a compact disc. So obviously it never will be. Sad.

All Martha's studio albums have been released on the UK 2fers from around 2001.

You can see all the series here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...7626901923108/

[BayouMotownMan]

I am not convinced Lois and Sandy are on I Should Be Proud

Martha started doing some of the backing vocals herself around this time. She told me that is her and Sherlie Matthews on In And Out Of My Life

[daviddesper]

Thanks mysterysinger for that cool presentation. But I see that there are no Marvelettes on there. I know that the Pink album and Sophisticated Soul were put on a twofer somewhere, so was that perhaps an American release? If so, do you or someone have a list of those?

[mysterysinger]

Thanks mysterysinger for that cool presentation. But I see that there are no Marvelettes on there. I know that the Pink album and Sophisticated Soul were put on a twofer somewhere, so was that perhaps an American release? If so, do you or someone have a list of those?

That was the Motown 8000 series - you can see them all here -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...7637231731375/

[thommg]

The UK two-fers had bonus tracks so I bought a few repeats from the original Motown 8000 series. The Natural Resources / Black Magic duo was fantastic. I always question, though, why did they repeat Something on the Black Magic album? They certainly had plenty of options rather than repeating a song that was already released. IMO, Black Magic is an exceptional album - one of my favorite Motown recordings. Not a mediocre track in the bunch.

[Boogiedown]

It's a curious album title.

I would think using other people to sing your music would come under the heading of UNNATURAL RESOURCES

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I've always found it odd that Motown titled Martha's album "Natural Resources" which guaranteed confusion with Motown's short-lived Natural Resources reissue label. I mean, considering all the titles they could have titled Martha's new album.....

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Kevin, excellent presentations [[above) on Motown's UK 2-fer series and Motown's original U.S. 2-fer series from the 1980's. It brought back many, MANY precious memories of when I originally bought them all.

BTW, those U.K. 2-fers sounded outstanding at the time! The only disappointment came later when I discovered that some of the longer tracks from the '70s had been edited down to make them fit on the 2-fer disc.

I also remember reading that when Berry Gordy walked into an LA record store in the '80s and discovered the newly-released Motown 2-fer CD selections, he was shocked and disgusted that his Motown product was being treated as cheap discount material.

Ah, the Motown memories.....!

[Philles/Motown Gary]

The UK two-fers had bonus tracks so I bought a few repeats from the original Motown 8000 series. The Natural Resources / Black Magic duo was fantastic. I always question, though, why did they repeat Something on the Black Magic album? They certainly had plenty of options rather than repeating a song that was already released. IMO, Black Magic is an exceptional album - one of my favorite Motown recordings. Not a mediocre track in the bunch.

Thom, they also repeated not one but TWO tracks from The Marvelettes "In Full Bloom" [["That's How Heartaches Are Made" and "Uptown") on the "Return Of The Marvelettes" album. It made no sense, now that we're aware of all the vaulted tracks they could have... and should have... used.

[floyjoy678]

The UK two-fers had bonus tracks so I bought a few repeats from the original Motown 8000 series. The Natural Resources / Black Magic duo was fantastic. I always question, though, why did they repeat Something on the Black Magic album? They certainly had plenty of options rather than repeating a song that was already released. IMO, Black Magic is an exceptional album - one of my favorite Motown recordings. Not a mediocre track in the bunch.

I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that it actually features the Vandellas on the track. I might be misremembering but I think the groups had it in their contracts that there had to be at least one song per album that featured the actual group. It would also explain why there was a repeat track on "The Return of the Marvelettes" which featured Katherine and Ann.

[Boogiedown]

I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that it actually features the Vandellas on the track. I might be misremembering but I think the groups had it in their contracts that there had to be at least one song per album that featured the actual group.

"10% of our songs have to actually be us."
that's putting your foot down hee haw!!

[daviddesper]

Between those two series, that is an AWESOME array of CDs. If you can find any of them today, they are quite pricey. I am sure it would never happen, but wouldn't it be cool if some or all of them could be re-issued as one final hurrah before the CD era dies its apparently impending death?

[mysterysinger]

Some other Motown related 2on1 oddities in my collection. With the Japanese mini LPs you tend to get 2 complete replica mini album covers even though there's only one actual CD. In the case of Michael Jackson's "Got To Be There" and "Ben" there are 3 covers as they included the rat cover as well.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...7720298158997/

[BayouMotownMan]

The UK two-fers had bonus tracks so I bought a few repeats from the original Motown 8000 series. The Natural Resources / Black Magic duo was fantastic. I always question, though, why did they repeat Something on the Black Magic album? They certainly had plenty of options rather than repeating a song that was already released. IMO, Black Magic is an exceptional album - one of my favorite Motown recordings. Not a mediocre track in the bunch.

I wondered about this too. But Motown did this often. In some cases [[Supremes Ask Any Girl) a song was repeated on a future lp because it was still being considered for single release. The Bill Griffin Miracles's 2d and 3d lps all featured a track from a previous lp. Jermaine Jackson's Let Me Tickle Your Fancy lp repeated a previous track. I can only assume Quality Control didn't think what was in the vault was worthy of release. But I really think in most cases it was a rushed decision to get an album out so as not to have to listen to a multitude of old tapes trying to find a filler cut.