Motown Unreleased MP3's are NOW available!

[theboyfromxtown]

Yippee-e-e-e-e

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motown-Unrel...5741146&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motown-Unrel...5741146&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motown-Unrel...5741146&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motown-Unrel...5741146&sr=8-4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motown-Unrel...5741146&sr=8-6

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motown-Unrel...5741146&sr=8-5

[RossHolloway]

This is great news!

[RossHolloway]

Just finished listening to the Unreleased Guys sound clips. Has anyone else noticed a hitch on track 18 Out of this World by Marvin Gaye bleeds with another song The Day That She Needed Me by the Contours. I hope it's just with the sound clips and not the actual song.

[R. Mark Desjardins]

i am very happy to see the Motown jazz Album Vol. 1 and 2 cuts being available but after many frustsrating efforts it has become apparent that I am unable to purchse the mp3 copies of these two albums because I live in Canada. Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

[RossHolloway]

I just downloaded all the albums onto my Cloud Player! Can't wait to listen to all the songs, and I've got a cloud player on my iPhone and all the albums are on my phone too! How cool is that?!

Any one know who is singing lead on the Miracles track A Friend of Mine?

[soulwally]

The Mysterions? I'd never heard of them.

[mr_postman]

R. Mark Desjardins, seconded! I live in Sweden and can't get a hold of these MP3's either, no matter how badly I want them.

[robb_k]

i am very happy to see the Motown jazz Album Vol. 1 and 2 cuts being available but after many frustsrating efforts it has become apparent that I am unable to purchase the mp3 copies of these two albums because I live in Canada. Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

Have someone in USA buy them for you and have them put them on a CD and post it to you.

Many of the Jazz cuts are very nice. But, overall, the recordings are very muddy. It's a shame. I like the Johnny Griffith cuts very much, but it's disturbing not to hear the nice blend of instruments clearly. Beans Bowls flute playing is very nice. Reminiscent of The Johnny Pate Quintet.

[robb_k]

The Mysterions? I'd never heard of them.

They seem to have been a "garage band". Twangy guitars and base in the mold of Dick Dale and The Deltones. Nothing special, but okay.

[RossHolloway]

R. Mark Desjardins, seconded! I live in Sweden and can't get a hold of these MP3's either, no matter how badly I want them.

what type of email account do you have? try to get an american based email account for amazon.com and see if that will make a difference.

[kenneth]

Many of the Jazz cuts are very nice. But, overall, the recordings are very muddy. It's a shame. I like the Johnny Griffith cuts very much, but it's disturbing not to hear the nice blend of instruments clearly. Beans Bowls flute playing is very nice. Reminiscent of The Johnny Pate Quintet.

I only downloaded the two Jazz collections, and just listened to the first one, but I agree the sound is rather muted. I wouldn't call it muddy, but it's definitely not sharp and clear, unfortunately. I wonder if this is due to the original source material or merely the capabilities of the downloads from Amazon.

I downloaded mine from the Amazon Cloud to a CD in MP3 format. Not sure I had a choice to select another format or not. I'll have to play with it more later and see if there's any better option available. If anyone has a suggestion, I'm open. Thanks.

[robb_k]

I would wonder why the master tapes in The Motown vault would be that muted. The Jazz tapes I listened to in The Vault [[Earl Washington, Johnny Griffith, Dave Hamilton, were much crisper than that [[and so were the recordings on the Jazz 45s). It must have something to do with the transfer to Amazon.

[robb_k]

Interesting that there were enough songs recorded by The Creations [[including those in this set, their 2 released Mel-o-dy cuts, and their unreleased cuts released on CD [["In The Dark", etc.) to fill out an album. Some of the Freddie Gorman cuts were also interesting. I'm disappointed, however, that none of the Edward Earling cuts came available. Maybe they'll all come out with the 1963 cuts[[but, I distinstly remember some of them having been recorded in 1962). Some of those Gospel cuts are great. But there were several more cuts by The Pronouns recorded in 1962 [[as far as I remember).

For Harry or Keith: In what year were The Sons of Zion's Motown recordings made?

[theboyfromxtown]

Robb_K
Don't you think there's enough for us to enjoy without weighing us down with more! I like to play my tracks and enjoy them and there's more than enough to keep me busy for quite a while. I'm more than happy....I'm satisfied!

LOL

[justanothermotownfan]

They are available via iTunes as well and i think the quality is much better than that of Amazon's cloud. The jazz recordings do not sound muddy or distorted to me at all. Johnny Griffith's is quite clear and vibrant.

[kenneth]

They are available via iTunes as well and i think the quality is much better than that of Amazon's cloud. The jazz recordings do not sound muddy or distorted to me at all. Johnny Griffith's is quite clear and vibrant.

Thanks for letting me know. I haven't purchased the other sets yet. I may try the Gospel set via iTunes to see how it sounds. Have you purchased all of them, or just the Jazz?

If I do find them much better, I think I would probably ask Amazon for my money back on the first 2 Jazz collections I already paid for.

[justanothermotownfan]

Thanks for letting me know. I haven't purchased the other sets yet. I may try the Gospel set via iTunes to see how it sounds. Have you purchased all of them, or just the Jazz?

If I do find them much better, I think I would probably ask Amazon for my money back on the first 2 Jazz collections I already paid for.

I bought both jazz collections, the girls collection and a few of the single cuts by Marvin and the Contours and I couldn't be happier with the sound quality. I didn't buy the gospel set but the sound bytes sound excellent.

[robb_k]

My experience has been that the quality of I-Tunes downloads has always been very good. So, I'll be curious to hear whether or not the same item for sale has a better quality downloaded from I-Tunes than when downloaded from Amazon.

[Roger Polhill]

I`ve just downloaded the lot from 7 Digital which has a New Zealand branch as I couldn`t get Amazon.Now the hard part - getting them onto disc. This is sooo exciting all this wonderful unreleased magic. Thanks to everyone involved. Next the annotations.

[762rob]

What is the best way to search these on iTunes? What keyword?

[kenneth]

What is the best way to search these on iTunes? What keyword?

You'll find them all if you search for "Motown Unreleased."

[762rob]

Found them ! Thanks Kenneth, listened to previews and will DL tomorrow.

[lakedistrictlad1]

Review for 'Guys Vol 1' on Amazon Uk does not bode well - and supports my concern with mp3 download only option. I'd much rather have the T.L.C that Hip-O and ACE bring to physical releases.

"Apart from no attempt at mastering, the tracks have been carelessly copied to the CD with little attention to quality control. Track 13, The Creations "Remember Me" has the sound of tape jamming at around the 2 minute mark and then pausing for a time and then freeing itself. I heard funny glitches in some of the other songs too. Posted this so that others can be aware when downloading. As to the content of the actual songs - they are variable that's why they were canned - but some treasures among them."

[booty]

We have over 120 previously unreleased tracks here of which 12 orv so have faults on the playback. These are tracks that probably wouldn't see the light of day in any other format. I doubt whether even ACE would see these as a viable release on CD. These are going to be downloaded by hard-core Motown fans only. I'm afraid that even on download these sales will be slow. As for Hip-O giving these some T.L.C. as Lake District Lad calls it, well that costs money, money that can be put to use on other more viable projects, so I for one, am happy to have downloaded these, warts and all, and would like to thank Harry Weinger for putting these up. I hope that further downloads wil be made available from further years and as far as I am concerned Christmas 2012 has certainly come early for me. Much more of the same please Harry!

[kenneth]

My experience has been that the quality of I-Tunes downloads has always been very good. So, I'll be curious to hear whether or not the same item for sale has a better quality downloaded from I-Tunes than when downloaded from Amazon.

Was going to start with downloading the Gospel set via iTunes, but Apple kept insisting I already had an ID under my email address. After resetting my password multiple times, and still getting errors, I lost my patience so will try again later. Considering how innovative Apple is known to be, their security screening seems awfully full of glitches! Anyway, will try again later.

If the Gospel set sounds clear and less dense than the Jazz sets I downloaded from Amazon, I will download one of the Jazz sets so have a real side-by-side comparison, and let you know how it sounds.

[justanothermotownfan]

We have over 120 previously unreleased tracks here of which 12 orv so have faults on the playback. These are tracks that probably wouldn't see the light of day in any other format. I doubt whether even ACE would see these as a viable release on CD. These are going to be downloaded by hard-core Motown fans only. I'm afraid that even on download these sales will be slow. As for Hip-O giving these some T.L.C. as Lake District Lad calls it, well that costs money, money that can be put to use on other more viable projects, so I for one, am happy to have downloaded these, warts and all, and would like to thank Harry Weinger for putting these up. I hope that further downloads wil be made available from further years and as far as I am concerned Christmas 2012 has certainly come early for me. Much more of the same please Harry!

Ditto that!

[mr soul]

I'm afraid like Comet & Cupid they are too dear.

[RossHolloway]

We have over 120 previously unreleased tracks here of which 12 orv so have faults on the playback. These are tracks that probably wouldn't see the light of day in any other format. I doubt whether even ACE would see these as a viable release on CD. These are going to be downloaded by hard-core Motown fans only. I'm afraid that even on download these sales will be slow. As for Hip-O giving these some T.L.C. as Lake District Lad calls it, well that costs money, money that can be put to use on other more viable projects, so I for one, am happy to have downloaded these, warts and all, and would like to thank Harry Weinger for putting these up. I hope that further downloads wil be made available from further years and as far as I am concerned Christmas 2012 has certainly come early for me. Much more of the same please Harry!

We fans just got 10 albums worth of unreleased Motown tracks for under $60 and I couldn't be happier!

[booty]

With a bit of work I managed to get my copies for £5.61 a set working Amazon's discount offers which worked out at 26 pence per track!

A bargain.

[copley]

We fans just got 10 albums worth of unreleased Motown tracks for under $60 and I couldn't be happier!

10? I think that you mean 6 albums. UK cost £45

[RossHolloway]

10? I think that you mean 6 albums. UK cost £45

120 tracks, and a typical 60s album contained 12 tracks which = 10 albums.

[copley]

I guessed that's what you meant but it's still only 6 albums

[robb_k]

Review for 'Guys Vol 1' on Amazon Uk does not bode well - and supports my concern with mp3 download only option. I'd much rather have the T.L.C that Hip-O and ACE bring to physical releases.

"Apart from no attempt at mastering, the tracks have been carelessly copied to the CD with little attention to quality control. Track 13, The Creations "Remember Me" has the sound of tape jamming at around the 2 minute mark and then pausing for a time and then freeing itself. I heard funny glitches in some of the other songs too. Posted this so that others can be aware when downloading. As to the content of the actual songs - they are variable that's why they were canned - but some treasures among them."

I've never heard "Remember Me" run straight through. The acetate we found has a pop in it that makes the needle jump and land in the same groove twice. The best taping of it we made has that single jump [[sticking in the same spot). We didn't find the master tape. Maybe they took that recording from our tape? I don't know if Harry found the master tape. But, if he did, I wonder why there's a sticking part in it.

Remember, these are all the cuts that WEREN'T chosen for "Cellarful of Motown" and "Lost and Found" CD releases. So, for the most part, these are the "dregs" that are a lot less desirable to the general public. So, we are probably lucky they are available in any form. CDs with most of these cuts would not likely sell enough to break even. Only the very best of these might make their cost back in multi-artist limited issue by pre-order CDs.

[kenneth]

I've really enjoyed the two Workshop Jazz collections. Pleasant and mellow, interesting tracks. I haven't yet figured out the "MP3 vs. Itunes" issue, but the material is very listenable.

[robb_k]

They are certainly enjoyable to listen to. They just seem "muted" or "fuzzy", just not as sharp as when I heard them on tape or acetate. I just wonder if that occurred in the transforming into MP3 file.

[RossHolloway]

@Robb K - What are you using to listen to these tracks? The tracks I've heard all the way thru don't sound "muted" or "fuzzy". I don't think these were dreg tracks or any less desirable than those found on the Cellarful or Lost and Found Series. I'm sure all these tracks have a back story. I would love to get Berry Gordy in a room to play these songs for him and see if he remembers the origins and history of these vaulted tracks and why he shelved them. These tracks are all 50 years old!! I What other record label has done this for their fans? I can only imagine the unreleased tracks from 1963-1972 the classic Motown period.

[jboy88]

I've heard some of the tracks on Spotify and the jazz sides are fantastic. Though I would have to agree with Robb. There are quite a few tracks I thought could of stayed in the vault, especially the Mysterions. I can't help but wonder if the vaults are being liquidated through this. But I'm sure the tracks will be better in quality sound and material in later editions if it continues.

[robb_k]

I didn't mean that the Jazz or Gospel cuts were "dregs". Motown never attempted to release the mass of vaulted jazz or Gospel. So, these cuts include some of Motown's best vaulted material in those genres. I was only referring to the songs by their major artists on these lists [[Marvin Gaye, Martha & Vandellas, Contours, Temptations, Miracles, etc. If any of these cuts had been outstanding, it would have been released on CD already. Even "Remember Me" by The Creations would have already been released on "Cellarful" had it not had that "skipping" or "sticking" defect. It was their best Motown recording. We had it slated for release on a later "From The Vaults" album, hoping that someone could locate a clean tape of it [[without a defect). Maybe the fact that they have uploaded the defective recording of it indicates they haven't found a non-defective recording of it. But, because they know that the hard-core fans will want to hear it regardless of defects, they can afford to put it on MP# download, but would not "taint" a commercial CD with it, as there would be too many complaints, and not enough people would want it that way?

[booty]

I can remember 20 odd years ago buying 20th generation home cassettes of bootlegged vaulted material, the sound quality of which was absolute crap! Yet I bought them all the same, no moans just wishing that I could hear a better version of the poorly copied tracks . Well that time is now! My wish is quite simple. That the vaulted material that is deemed unviable to be remastered and remixed onto commercial CD's is released, warts and all, on digital download.

[fatmaninthethirdrow]

I didn't mean that the Jazz or Gospel cuts were "dregs". Motown never attempted to release the mass of vaulted jazz or Gospel. So, these cuts include some of Motown's best vaulted material in those genres. I was only referring to the songs by their major artists on these lists [[Marvin Gaye, Martha & Vandellas, Contours, Temptations, Miracles, etc. If any of these cuts had been outstanding, it would have been released on CD already. Even "Remember Me" by The Creations would have already been released on "Cellarful" had it not had that "skipping" or "sticking" defect. It was their best Motown recording. We had it slated for release on a later "From The Vaults" album, hoping that someone could locate a clean tape of it [[without a defect). Maybe the fact that they have uploaded the defective recording of it indicates they haven't found a non-defective recording of it. But, because they know that the hard-core fans will want to hear it regardless of defects, they can afford to put it on MP# download, but would not "taint" a commercial CD with it, as there would be too many complaints, and not enough people would want it that way?

I can assure you 'Remember Me' has NEVER been on the Cellarful shortlist and that has nothing to do with any technical fault.

[paul_nixon]

I can assure you 'Remember Me' has NEVER been on the Cellarful shortlist and that has nothing to do with any technical fault.

And I can add my penneth to this track has never been considered for any COM edition

[soulster]

I'd love to get the jazz volumes, but i'm in the U.S., and I do not want lossy files, if I can avoid them.

[robb_k]

I can assure you 'Remember Me' has NEVER been on the Cellarful shortlist and that has nothing to do with any technical fault.

I think it's BY FAR The Creations' best recording. Why would they release "In The Dark" and not this one? They've released several weaker songs in that series, in my judgement.

[lakedistrictlad1]

Can anyone tell me if these download sets come with any kind of track details - or is it simply a cover as shown on Amazon? Thanks.

[booty]

Just the cover from Amazon. Not sure about i-tunes though. However I dare say that it won't be long before the track annotations appear either on SDF or MT.

[fatmaninthethirdrow]

I think it's BY FAR The Creations' best recording. Why would they release "In The Dark" and not this one? They've released several weaker songs in that series, in my judgement.

That's why compiling Motown VA releases is such fun. For COM where we could issue about 50 tracks a volume, we would put a wide variety of material in so that Motown fans could make their own minds up. There were precious few other routes by which Motown fans would ever get to hear the more esoteric stuff. Take Little Miss Soul for example or the Utopians. We never believed in telling people how wonderful [[or not) these were merely that here they were for others to experience.

Put 4 motown fans round a table and tell them to select 50 tracks for a compilation and you'll end up with 200 different tracks.

Not all tracks on any compilation can ever suit everyone. I can name a couple on the From the Vaults Albums that, in my judgement, were weaker than others chosen. But that's not pejorative nor to say I did not appreciate the opportunity to make that judgement for myself. I am happy to report I still regularly play all the tracks off the From The Vaults Albums and I also regularly play all the Cellarful discs.

And who knows, perhaps many of those recordings that presently remain in the vaults unreleased that many people on this Board [[including you) have been privileged to hear will soon see the light of day through releases like '1963 Unreleased' et seq.

Undoubtedly some of those will be weaker too, in your judgement. And in the judgement of others also.

[calvin]

Well... I was too busy during the week so I didn't buy these releases until late Friday evening. I bought them all except "Guys, Vol. 1" - which was no longer available on amazon.co.uk! The link to it is dead and it seems that all traces of it have disappeared, at least as far as I can tell.

I emailed amazon.co.uk and got a response that yes, indeed, it is no longer available. They didn't say why it was deleted, but it has been and they will look into it. I'm hoping that this is just a mistake - it is still available on amazon.com. I hope they didn't delete it because of complaints about the quality, as there was a review for that one [[quoted above from amazon.co.uk) which mentions the "tape jamming" and "little attention to quality control". Maybe too many people asked for their money back?

[copley]

Well there are a few problems with it Calvin.

‘Guys Vol 1’

Track 13 ‘Remember Me’ jumps at 2:01

Track 18 ‘Out Of This World’ jumps/other track bleeds in from 0:50 – 1:01

[calvin]

Ok, thanks for the info. I hope this will be fixed and made available again?

[booty]

Try 7-digital http://www.7digital.com/artist/vario...rc=live-search

They are also 320kbps. Up for £7.99