Speaking of Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers (and Tommy Chong), I recently picked up Wes Henderson's "In Bed/Reality" 45 on Rare Earth. A side is meh, but the B side is a nice little piece of psychedelic soul.
"Stone Soul Booster" by Buzzie (on Gordy, ca. 1970) is a good one in the psych-soul vein, despite the dumb title ("booster?"). My copy is mislabeled as a very common Temptations hit from the same year...
Some enjoyable Blood Sweat and Tears-type Jazz Rock featuring John LiVigni on lead vocals. I think this one is better than their self-titled debut, which was also released on Motown.
LiVigni would go on to change his name to John Valenti 2 years down the line and record the modern/northern/crossover soul classics "Why Don't We Fall In Love?" and "Anything You Want" for Ariola Records.
"Stone Soul Booster" by Buzzie (on Gordy, ca. 1970) is a good one in the psych-soul vein, despite the dumb title ("booster?"). My copy is mislabeled as a very common Temptations hit from the same year...
"Stone Soul Booster" by Buzzie (on Gordy, ca. 1970) is a good one in the psych-soul vein, despite the dumb title ("booster?"). My copy is mislabeled as a very common Temptations hit from the same year...
is this an LP or 45?
It's a 45 - sorry, meant to write that but forgot...
I don't think anyone's mentioned Richard "Popcorn" Wylie's "Funky Rubber Band" yet, so here ya go. Also "On The Brighter Side Of A New World" by the Fantastic Four (Soul). I've raved about P.J.'s "Tender Loving Care"/"It Takes A Man To Teach A Woman How To Love"(Tamla) here before, but it's worth a repeat appearance. "The Luney Landing" (parts 1 & 2, on Motown), by Captain Zap & the Luneyville Cut-Up, is a Dickie Goodman-ish break-in record about the then-recent (1969) moon landing. The record samples are all from Motown, as you can probably guess.
Equal time for the country fans in the house...gotta mention Dee Mullins' excellent "Love Makes The World Go 'Round But Money Greases The Wheel," from 1964, on Melody, which was a short-lived country imprint that Motown had.
Getting back to the albums...there was an excellent late-sixties (or early seventies?) album called Switched-On Blues, which collected some early Motown 45's for the big blues revival of that moment. Naturally Luther Allison wasn't on it (he wouldn't record for Motown for a few more years), but Amos Milburn, Singing Sammy Ward, and Gino Parks are. Somehow they skipped over Junior Walker (something off the all-instrumental Soul Session LP would have fit right in), but they did include an early Stevie Wonder single, "I Call It Pretty Music But The Old People Call It The Blues."
I know this shouldn't count (since it involves Motown's hitmakers), but those live Motortown Revue albums are underrated for sure...it's good to hear Mary Wells, the Miracles and all the rest live with a road band that sounds way rawer than the records. I've not yet heard the very last one from '69 (with second-stringers Bobby Taylor and Blinky), but the three that came before it are well worth hearing.
I've not yet heard the very last one from '69 (with second-stringers Bobby Taylor and Blinky), but the three that came before it are well worth hearing.
I actually picked that one up just a few months ago, and was raving about it on this very website. I am a total sucker for the late-60's Whitfield-era Motown, so I'm a little biased, but it's about all you could hope for from 1969 Motown:
1. Sing a Simple Song - The Originals 2. I Can't Turn You Loose - Blinky 3. I Wouldn't Change the Man He Is - Blinky 4. Who's Making Love? - Bobby Taylor 5. Does Your Mama Know About Me - Bobby Taylor 6. Malinda - Bobby Taylor 7. Cloud Nine - The Temptations, The Temptations 8. Ain't No Sun Since You've Been Gone - Gladys Knight & the Pips 9. I Wish It Would Rain - Gladys Knight & the Pips 10. Monologue - Gladys Knight & the Pips 11. (I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over - Gladys Knight & the Pips 12. I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Gladys Knight & the Pips 13. For Once in My Life - Stevie Wonder 14. Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day - Stevie Wonder 15. Uptight (Everything's Alright) - Stevie Wonder
Half the album is live Gladys Knight at her peak, the Bobby Taylor tracks are great, you get raw versions of "Sing a Simple Song" and "Cloud Nine" and even the Blinky tracks come off.
I've not yet heard the very last one from '69 (with second-stringers Bobby Taylor and Blinky), but the three that came before it are well worth hearing.
I actually picked that one up just a few months ago, and was raving about it on this very website. I am a total sucker for the late-60's Whitfield-era Motown, so I'm a little biased, but it's about all you could hope for from 1969 Motown:
1. Sing a Simple Song - The Originals
The Originals! Now there's a group that stood in the other Motown acts shadows. Kinda like the Spinners when they were with that company. Only the Originals had stronger material than the Motown Spinners did. (Going by this Spinners comp I have on Motown, the move to Atlantic saved those cats because their Motown sides just SCREAM "third tier.") Anyway, the Originals' Naturally Together is good from start to finish (which is RARE for a Motown album!).
Half the album is live Gladys Knight at her peak, the Bobby Taylor tracks are great, you get raw versions of "Sing a Simple Song" and "Cloud Nine" and even the Blinky tracks come off.
"EVEN the Blinky tracks?" Why, is she mediocre the rest of the time? Seriously, though, there's this duet album she did with Edwin Starr that STILL turns up frequently at used stores - any opinions on this one?
Anyway, the Originals' Naturally Together is good from start to finish (which is RARE for a Motown album!)
This is why I like late-60's Motown - because I don't think that statement is true in that era ... I consider most Motown albums post-1968 into the Marvin/Stevie concept album era to be strong all the way through. Certainly, the Whitfield productions make for actual "albums" instead of just odds & ends thrown together.
Anyway, the Originals' Naturally Together is good from start to finish (which is RARE for a Motown album![/b])
This is why I like late-60's Motown - because I don't think that statement is true in that era ... I consider most Motown albums post-1968 into the Marvin/Stevie concept album era to be strong all the way through. Certainly, the Whitfield productions make for actual "albums" instead of just odds & ends thrown together.
Not to say that the albums from the transitional '68-'71 period were bad, but even at their best there'd always be one bummer I didn't care to hear again. And I know I'll get some disagreements, but the Supremes and the Four Tops weren't as strong after Holland-Dozier-Holland left in '67.
Anyway, the Originals' Naturally Together is good from start to finish (which is RARE for a Motown album![/b])
This is why I like late-60's Motown - because I don't think that statement is true in that era ... I consider most Motown albums post-1968 into the Marvin/Stevie concept album era to be strong all the way through. Certainly, the Whitfield productions make for actual "albums" instead of just odds & ends thrown together.
Not to say that the albums from the transitional '68-'71 period were bad, but even at their best there'd always be one bummer I didn't care to hear again. And I know I'll get some disagreements, but the Supremes and the Four Tops weren't as strong after Holland-Dozier-Holland left in '67.
Yes! The Tops still had some good songs after HDH left, but they weren't up the standard that they set with their first couple of hits.
Anyway, the Originals' Naturally Together is good from start to finish (which is RARE for a Motown album![/b])
This is why I like late-60's Motown - because I don't think that statement is true in that era ... I consider most Motown albums post-1968 into the Marvin/Stevie concept album era to be strong all the way through. Certainly, the Whitfield productions make for actual "albums" instead of just odds & ends thrown together.
Not to say that the albums from the transitional '68-'71 period were bad, but even at their best there'd always be one bummer I didn't care to hear again. And I know I'll get some disagreements, but the Supremes and the Four Tops weren't as strong after Holland-Dozier-Holland left in '67.
Yes! The Tops still had some good songs after HDH left, but they weren't up the standard that they set with their first couple of hits.
...while their last few Motown LP's were hit-or-miss, they certainly regained form when they started working with Lambert/Potter and recording for ABC.
Kinda like the Spinners when they were with that company. Only the Originals had stronger material than the Motown Spinners did. (Going by this Spinners comp I have on Motown, the move to Atlantic saved those cats because their Motown sides just SCREAM "third tier.")
There's a lot of Thom Bell studio magic in those Atlantic recordings.
Magic Disco Machine - Control Tower/Scratchin' 45 ... that's a favorite.
Does anyone know anything about the Magic Disco Machine? The LP, which contains these two songs, is sometimes listed as a record by one group, but is often listed as a compilation. Anyone know the story behind this?
The Originals! Now there's a group that stood in the other Motown acts shadows. Kinda like the Spinners when they were with that company. Only the Originals had stronger material than the Motown Spinners did. (Going by this Spinners comp I have on Motown, the move to Atlantic saved those cats because their Motown sides just SCREAM "third tier.")
Pickwick: which Motown era Spinners LP's have you heard. I have their second one on VIP (the one with "It's a Shame") and outside of the hit, which I never liked, its a rather solid album (IMHO). I've thought about going through ebay to get some of the others and I'd like to know which ones turned you off.
Speaking about the VIP label, the King Floyd album "heart of the Matter" is probably the best thing I've heard on that subsidiary
Magic Disco Machine - Control Tower/Scratchin' 45 ... that's a favorite.
Does anyone know anything about the Magic Disco Machine? The LP, which contains these two songs, is sometimes listed as a record by one group, but is often listed as a compilation. Anyone know the story behind this?
It came out as part of a multivolume series Motown had called Disco Tech. Everything else in that series was a various-artists compilation. The Magic Disco Machine obviously wasn't, but because it was part of a series, people tend to list it as if it were a various-artists thing.
Comments
Wow, the gratuitous anal sex reference of the
album title/cover art combo is really kind of disgusting!
Speaking of Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers (and Tommy Chong), I recently picked up Wes Henderson's "In Bed/Reality" 45 on Rare Earth. A side is meh, but the B side is a nice little piece of psychedelic soul.
THIS RECORD SUCKS.
except for the 2 tracks that are really really hot. "Our Live Are Shaped" is all buttery like and "Battened Ships" is my treadmill anthem
with that said, i never do seem to keep one around.
but as soon as it leaves, i hope to find another.
Puzzle - The Second Album (1973)
Some enjoyable Blood Sweat and Tears-type Jazz Rock featuring John LiVigni on lead vocals. I think this one is better than their self-titled debut, which was also released on Motown.
LiVigni would go on to change his name to John Valenti 2 years down the line and record the modern/northern/crossover soul classics "Why Don't We Fall In Love?" and "Anything You Want" for Ariola Records.
SG
is this an LP or 45?
It's a 45 - sorry, meant to write that but forgot...
I don't think anyone's mentioned Richard "Popcorn" Wylie's "Funky Rubber Band" yet, so here ya go. Also "On The Brighter Side Of A New World" by the Fantastic Four (Soul). I've raved about P.J.'s "Tender Loving Care"/"It Takes A Man To Teach A Woman How To Love"(Tamla) here before, but it's worth a repeat appearance. "The Luney Landing" (parts 1 & 2, on Motown), by Captain Zap & the Luneyville Cut-Up, is a Dickie Goodman-ish break-in record about the then-recent (1969) moon landing. The record samples are all from Motown, as you can probably guess.
Equal time for the country fans in the house...gotta mention Dee Mullins' excellent "Love Makes The World Go 'Round But Money Greases The Wheel," from 1964, on Melody, which was a short-lived country imprint that Motown had.
Getting back to the albums...there was an excellent late-sixties (or early seventies?) album called Switched-On Blues, which collected some early Motown 45's for the big blues revival of that moment. Naturally Luther Allison wasn't on it (he wouldn't record for Motown for a few more years), but Amos Milburn, Singing Sammy Ward, and Gino Parks are. Somehow they skipped over Junior Walker (something off the all-instrumental Soul Session LP would have fit right in), but they did include an early Stevie Wonder single, "I Call It Pretty Music But The Old People Call It The Blues."
I know this shouldn't count (since it involves Motown's hitmakers), but those live Motortown Revue albums are underrated for sure...it's good to hear Mary Wells, the Miracles and all the rest live with a road band that sounds way rawer than the records. I've not yet heard the very last one from '69 (with second-stringers Bobby Taylor and Blinky), but the three that came before it are well worth hearing.
I actually picked that one up just a few months ago,
and was raving about it on this very website. I am
a total sucker for the late-60's Whitfield-era Motown,
so I'm a little biased, but it's about all you could
hope for from 1969 Motown:
1. Sing a Simple Song - The Originals
2. I Can't Turn You Loose - Blinky
3. I Wouldn't Change the Man He Is - Blinky
4. Who's Making Love? - Bobby Taylor
5. Does Your Mama Know About Me - Bobby Taylor
6. Malinda - Bobby Taylor
7. Cloud Nine - The Temptations, The Temptations
8. Ain't No Sun Since You've Been Gone - Gladys Knight & the Pips
9. I Wish It Would Rain - Gladys Knight & the Pips
10. Monologue - Gladys Knight & the Pips
11. (I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over - Gladys Knight & the Pips
12. I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Gladys Knight & the Pips
13. For Once in My Life - Stevie Wonder
14. Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day - Stevie Wonder
15. Uptight (Everything's Alright) - Stevie Wonder
Half the album is live Gladys Knight at her peak, the Bobby Taylor
tracks are great, you get raw versions of "Sing a Simple Song" and
"Cloud Nine" and even the Blinky tracks come off.
The Originals! Now there's a group that stood in the other Motown acts shadows. Kinda like the Spinners when they were with that company. Only the Originals had stronger material than the Motown Spinners did. (Going by this Spinners comp I have on Motown, the move to Atlantic saved those cats because their Motown sides just SCREAM "third tier.") Anyway, the Originals' Naturally Together is good from start to finish (which is RARE for a Motown album!).
"EVEN the Blinky tracks?" Why, is she mediocre the rest of the time?
This is why I like late-60's Motown - because I don't think that
statement is true in that era ... I consider most Motown albums
post-1968 into the Marvin/Stevie concept album era to be strong
all the way through. Certainly, the Whitfield productions make for
actual "albums" instead of just odds & ends thrown together.
Not to say that the albums from the transitional '68-'71 period were bad, but even at their best there'd always be one bummer I didn't care to hear again. And I know I'll get some disagreements, but the Supremes and the Four Tops weren't as strong after Holland-Dozier-Holland left in '67.
Yes! The Tops still had some good songs after HDH left, but they weren't up the standard that they set with their first couple of hits.
...while their last few Motown LP's were hit-or-miss,
they certainly regained form when they started working
with Lambert/Potter and recording for ABC.
There's a lot of Thom Bell studio magic in those Atlantic recordings.
Does anyone know anything about the Magic Disco Machine? The LP, which contains these two songs, is sometimes listed as a record by one group, but is often listed as a compilation. Anyone know the story behind this?
Pickwick: which Motown era Spinners LP's have you heard. I have their second one on VIP (the one with "It's a Shame") and outside of the hit, which I never liked, its a rather solid album (IMHO). I've thought about going through ebay to get some of the others and I'd like to know which ones turned you off.
Speaking about the VIP label, the King Floyd album "heart of the Matter" is probably the best thing I've heard on that subsidiary
Ah! That's the one I was trying to remember - yes, a fantastic
album, pretty much end-to-end.
Speaking on this album, I got 2 different label pressings, one on VIP and one on Pulsar, does anyone know which is the original?
this was the group Formerly known as Maxayn
lesser known?
It came out as part of a multivolume series Motown had called Disco Tech. Everything else in that series was a various-artists compilation. The Magic Disco Machine obviously wasn't, but because it was part of a series, people tend to list it as if it were a various-artists thing.