Calling All Motown Fans

[jobeterob]

*CALLING ALL MOTOWN FANS*

We’re super excited to announce our upcoming Motown reissue collection, where we’ll be releasing 27 titles throughout 2024/2025!

What better way to kick off the series than with the insatiable ‘Temptations – Wish it Would Rain’, available on May 10th!

Released on the Gordy imprint of Motown, ‘Wish it Would Rain’ marks the end of the ‘Classic Five’ line up with David Ruffins’ departure during these sessions. ‘Wish it Would Rain’ would also be the last Temptations album that Smokey Robinson, formally of The Miracles, would produce. The band would pivot away from the traditional ‘Motown Sound’ shortly after, working extensively with Norman Whitfield, the innovator of ‘Psychedelic soul’.

A lesser known gem of the Motown catalogue, the album features two hits penned by Motown songwriter Rodger Penzabene; title track “I Wish It Would Rain” and “I Could Never Love Another [[After Loving You)” where Ruffin delivers a commanding [[final) vocal performance backed by Motown’s in house band ‘The Funk Brothers’.

We’ll be reissuing titles from Motown’s incredibly rich catalogue throughout the year with more titles from; The Supremes, Four Tops, The Jackson Five, Eddie Kendricks, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and Diana Ross!

The Temptations – Wish it Would Rain will be available on vinyl on May 10th!

#thetemptations #temptations #temptintemptations #sinsceilostmybaby #limitededition #funk #soultrain #lp #reissue #vinyl #discofunk #music #soul #groove #record #funkmusic #soulband #soultown #gordy #berrygordy #gordyrecords #elementalmusicrecords

[Ollie9]

Vinyl only i’m guessing.

[marybrewster]

Vinyl only i’m guessing.

Yes, this is the Essential Music thread I posted a few days ago.

[Ollie9]

Yes, this is the Essential Music thread I posted a few days ago.

Apologies. I seem to have missed that one and don’t have me a record player as yet.

[floyjoy678]

I thought maybe we'd get lucky and it would the Expanded Edition of Live At London's Talk of the Town! With rare unreleased versions of "Somewhere" and "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You". Disc Two being an unreleased recorded show with Cindy's microphone at more appropriate levels.

[jobeterob]

Sorry Mary if I double posted.

I had to get a new truck in 2022 and it had no CD player anymore but it had a 6 month free subscription to Sirius and I hate to admit, they sucked me in.

Today on Smokey’s Soultown he said when he and Diana were kids, he told her if you are ever famous, people will know it’s you singing after a few notes because your voice is so distinctive

[marybrewster]

Apologies. I seem to have missed that one and don’t have me a record player as yet.

No worries!

I don't have a record player either, so while it's exciting to see some reissues, unfortunately I don't have an interest in purchasing.

I'm still holding out hope for a REFLECTIONS EE in 2074, lol.

[marybrewster]

Sorry Mary if I double posted.

I had to get a new truck in 2022 and it had no CD player anymore but it had a 6 month free subscription to Sirius and I hate to admit, they sucked me in.

Today on Smokey’s Soultown he said when he and Diana were kids, he told her if you are ever famous, people will know it’s you singing after a few notes because your voice is so distinctive

No worries!

Smoke likes to dig up a lot. Did he also mention their roll in the kip? Lol.

[jobeterob]

No worries!

Smoke likes to dig up a lot. Did he also mention their roll in the kip? Lol.

Nope - just a constant refrain of how he loves her. But I think he loves them all.

There’s something so stereotypical about all of this. If you end up with multi millions of dollars like Berry Diana Smokey Stevie and Lionel - you love everyone. And if you had to scrape for every nickel, fight to protect or keep your group name, fight for bookings, fight for song writing credit - then there is lots of complaining and unhappiness.

And there’s very little in between.

[lucky2012]

Today on Smokey’s Soultown he said when he and Diana were kids, he told her if you are ever famous, people will know it’s you singing after a few notes because your voice is so distinctive

Truth!! What a great story! It's new to me, but I remember reading or hearing an account about the early no-hits Supremes days with Smokey & Berry discussing "what to do with/about Diana's voice." I had to laugh because we all know Diana's voice in those early days was untrained and inconsistent and could be off-putting and irritating. Yet, even then they both seemed to know her voice was distinctive and could be very special.
[Another amusing anecdote was about Berry, after listening to her, asked/told her "You sing through your nose?" and she replied "I can do that!"]

[Ollie9]

There’s something so stereotypical about all of this. If you end up with multi millions of dollars like Berry Diana Smokey Stevie and Lionel - you love everyone.

Loving everyone huh!!. Tell that to Diana’s long suffering staff team who she unceremoniously sacked and tried to prevent seeking further employment. Perhaps also the RCA execs who were pleased to see the back of her or the group of small children i witnessed her screaming at in a London park.
It would seem those multi millions really are no guarantee of a loving temperament.

[jobeterob]

Loving everyone huh!!. Tell that to Diana’s long suffering staff team who she unceremoniously sacked and tried to prevent seeking further employment. Perhaps also the RCA execs who were pleased to see the back of her or the group of small children i witnessed her screaming at in a London park.
It would seem those multi millions really are no guarantee of a loving temperament.

She didn’t have $250 m then or kids with their own millions lol

[Ollie9]

She didn’t have $250 m then or kids with their own millions lol

As this was the 80’s and early 90’s, I’m guessing she was fairly comfortable. Not really quite sure what her kids inheriting their millions has to do with her loving everyone, but hey ho lol.

[helga]

Loving everyone huh!!. Tell that to Diana’s long suffering staff team who she unceremoniously sacked and tried to prevent seeking further employment. Perhaps also the RCA execs who were pleased to see the back of her or the group of small children i witnessed her screaming at in a London park.
It would seem those multi millions really are no guarantee of a loving temperament.

I've seen you reference these stories several times now. Sorry to read that her behaviour had such an impact on you. Hopefully the children have healed from this experience.

[jobeterob]

I’m sure Diana Ross required certain standards to be met as she became more and more successful and some of that was labelled a bitch.

But she is a target because she was so successful and had money - to quote Janie Bradford. Beyonce Jay Z Cher Lady Gaga etc are all targeted

These employee stories - I treat them as a lot of BS that Randy wishes he’d never bothered with. When your Beyonce Adele Diana etc., this is newsworthy junk. When your a Marvelette or an Original or Mary or Flo, there’s no interest

I have a photocopy of Diana’s address book that one of these employees copied and circulated. I can’t recall who passed it on but it has Berry and Flo’s phone numbers - but not Mary’s.

I’m assuming that employee got yelled at or fired or both.

[RanRan79]

Ollie's references were a long time ago. I'm guessing Diana has mellowed a lot over the years.

What's interesting to me is that we're in 2024 and people still believe money buys happiness, or equals happiness, or is a sign of happiness. It isn't, but the masses still buy into it. [[Probably hoping to find out first hand if it's true or not.) I've known wealthy people and poor people and happy times and horrible times find them all. The only difference is that wealthy people typically have home and health security, but all that means is that they don't worry about bills.

Diana Ross has been an extremely wealthy woman for a long time now, and her wealth didn't do a thing for her when her husband dropped her for someone else, triggering Diana to turn to booze and getting behind the wheel of a car, putting not only her life in danger but that of the public, as well as not caring what it would do to her children if something had happened to her. [[I want to be selfish and add that she didn't care what it would do to us fans either, but I'll stick to the most important people to her.)

Wealthy people are doing sick and sad things behind closed doors every day. Berry Gordy cheated a lot of people out of money that he is currently sitting on. Being happy about that isn't the flex some might think it is. And when people complain about having been done wrong, why is it the complainer who gets the negative tag rather than the one they are complaining about? And while I guess it's a funny vision of all these broke Motowners sitting around all day cursing the names of Berry, Diana, Smokey and Stevie, never having fallen in love, not having friends or good times, not gathering with family, not enjoying watching their children grow up- all things that make people happy- I'm guessing that this is wishful thinking, not reality.

When will we realize that we don't know these people? We know their work. We know what they want us to think about them, but we do not know them or the reality of their day to day lives.

[jobeterob]

Berry treated his artists much better than most record companies of the time and especially those before him. I don’t think there has been any legal proceedings where he was found to have cheated anyone - the artist pays their costs was always the standard.

Money has nothing to do with happiness but it’s a bitch when you have none and are scrambling. I think most Motown artists would agree.

[Ollie9]

I've seen you reference these stories several times now. Sorry to read that her behaviour had such an impact on you. Hopefully the children have healed from this experience.

Not quite seven dear, but was only mentioned in reference to someone posting that having plenty of dosh is a blueprint for loving everyone. In Diana’s case, i think those incidents best demonstrate otherwise, although i would like to think she’s mellowed over the years and only screams at young children when having a particularly bad day.

[floyjoy678]

Maybe he didn't cheat anyone but he sure took advantage of them. And then when anyone questioned him about it, it seemed like he always threw a fit [[Flo, Martha, Eddie). Let's not forget several Motown artists sued him later on.

Other record companies at that time did not have their groups putting out 5 consecutive number 1s in a year and rivaling the Beatles on the charts. The fact that the Supremes [[including Diana) left Motown with not even half a million is mind boggling to me.