#motown subsidiary

[plus-low-overthrow]

Earthquire - Sunshine Man (Natural Resources / Motown)

wrt. Tata Vega, 1972.

Cover artwork by Cliff McReynolds

[readyforevolution]

50 years ago on August 28, 1973, ‘Let's Get it On’ by Marvin Gaye made its debut in the United States of America. It was the the thirteenth studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on 28th August, 1973, by the Motown subsidiary label Tamla Records on LP.. In retrospect, ‘Let's Get It On’ has been regarded by writers and music critics as a landmark recording in soul. It increased the popularity of funk during the 1970s, while Gaye's smooth-soul sound marked a change from his record label's previous success with the "Motown Sound" formula. Among the most acclaimed LPs in history, it frequently appears on professional rankings of the greatest albums and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a historically important recording. In 2001, it was reissued by Motown as a two-CD deluxe edition release. Today marks the 50th anniversary of this classic album by Motown. Happy 50th anniversary to Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye, one of the greatest Motown albums of all time from 1973.

[carandbooks]

MacKenzie Bezos ✨Game Changer of 2024".

I would like to dedicate this post to Mrs Mackenzie Bezos,,the Ex wife and Co-founder of Amazon and all of its subsidiaries since the 1990's. She is one of America's richest women and she has been donating millions of dollars to "Non-profits" based in the USA. About a month ago Elon Musk decided to target her for her generosity towards organizations that assist in WOMEN of Color, Schools, Motown Museum and so many ETHNIC Group's that need funding. He began insulting her and mocking her for her kindness.

If you believe in doing good works,,how about you donate a few dollars to local charities in the name of 🔹🦊 Elon Musk 🐺🔹.. Hmm"! Lol. Please remember I am raising monies and seeking used books for my Fundraiser as well. Have a wonderful weekend. Keep volunteering,and doing good in your communities. Gigigisele 6/16/2024

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

Rhythm & Blues: 1967 1991 R&B / Soul / Funk

Man, an album like this should just remind you how much of an abundance there was of terrific R&B and soul joints that were floating around throughout the 60s and 70s. And back in the early-to-mid-90s, Warner and Time-Life Music teamed up to release a series of compilations that would document some of R&B and soul's greatest hits from that era, dedicating a CD's worth of tunes to each year from 1955 through 1976. And this release, as you could guess from its title, takes on the very important year of 1967.

1967 was the year that birthed, quite possibly, the single-greatest hit in the entire history of the rhythm & blues genre: "Respect," by Aretha Franklin. Not only is it just a stunning knockout punch of a song that officially launched Aretha Franklin into the stratosphere herself, but it's also a song that was sewn into the fabric of both the feminist and civil rights movements for equality. It's a song that marked a paradigmatic shift for the course of popular music, but it also played a much more important role in serving as an integral part of the soundtrack to US societal progress. It is completely indispensable.

And that's what this album dutifully kicks itself off with, followed by another enormous hit in Sam & Dave's "Soul Man," which was co-written by Isaac Hayes after he was inspired by what he saw during a riot in Detroit, in which the black-owned buildings that were labeled with "Soul" were left intact.

Almost every song on here is fantastic, but those two are especially important, because they wound up transcending the goal of just being good songs. Other tunes on here were definitely sonically superb, but they weren't nearly as politically potent, and weren't intended to be anyway.

But on here you'll find an entire grip of R&B and soul tunes that made 1967 what it was: a deluge of Motown, a stack of Stax, a handful of Atlantic (led by two Aretha Franklin hits, of course), and a smattering of successes from some much smaller labels.

Nearly all of these tunes were huge commercial smashes too, but a couple of them still remain a little bit obscure. For example, Freddie Scott's "Are You Lonely for Me" topped Billboard's R&B chart, but it barely scraped the top 40 on the publication's Hot 100. And it was only one of two songs in Scott's entire career to make the top 40 in the first place, released on producer-executive Bert Berns' small subsidiary label, Shout Records.

And another relative obscurity is the album's plaintive closer from Toussaint McCall, whose "Nothing Takes the Place of You" proved to be the most successful single of his career, reaching only #52 on the Hot 100, but #5 on the R&B chart. Released on Ronn Records, a sublabel of Shreveport's Jewel Records (a label whose compilations I have a lot of), its combination of McCall's foundational organ and piano, and his soul-reaching, resigned despondency, makes it the most unique song on this compilation, as the others tend to be far more unreservedly fiery, upbeat, and/or lovey-dovey. And it's also a staple of some of my very own soul playlists, like my 1960s one and my Louisiana one. (Note: it’s mistitled and misattributed on Spotify as “Making Nassau Fruit Punch” by African Music Machine, so if you go to follow those playlists and don’t see “Nothing Takes the Place of You” on there, that’s why 😅.)

Ultimately, this CD only has 22 songs on it that end up clocking in at an hour, but you'd probably need a multi-disc release to really capture all the R&B and soul greatness that took place in the year of 1967. This is still an excellent place to start if you're something of a novice to this excellent classic music, though.

Highlights:

Aretha Franklin - "Respect" Sam & Dave - "Soul Man" The Esquires - "Get on Up" Martha and the Vandellas - "Jimmy Mack" The Temptations - "You're My Everything" Gladys Knight & the Pips - "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" Otis Redding & Carla Thomas - "Tramp" Aretha Franklin - "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" Aaron Neville - "Tell It Like It Is" Four Tops - "Bernadette" Jackie Wilson - "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher)" The Bar-Kays - "Soul Finger" Freddie Scott - "Are You Lonely for Me" Wilson Pickett - "Funky Broadway" Arthur Conley - "Sweet Soul Music" Cannonball Adderley - "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" Linda Jones - "Hypnotized" The Supremes - "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" Peaches & Herb - "Close Your Eyes" Toussaint McCall - "Nothing Takes the Place of You"

[lboogie1906]

Jean Carn, spelled Jean Carne (born Sarah Jean Perkins; March 15, 1947) is a jazz and pop singer. In mid-career, she added a final e to her name. She is a vocalist credited with a five-octave vocal range. She was born in Columbus, Georgia. At the age of four, she became a member of her church choir. She planned on furthering her studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City when she met and married jazz pianist Doug Carn (the couple later divorced) and became a featured vocalist in his jazz fusion band. The couple based themselves in Los Angeles, where she did four early albums with her husband, Infant Eyes, Spirit of the New Land, Revelation, and Adam's Apple on Black Jazz/Ovation. She was signed to Philadelphia International Records. She released her debut album, Jean Carn. The debut single "Free Love" went to #23 R&B. Her second album for the label, Happy to Be With You, was released. It included the hit single "Don't Let It Go to Your Head". Her third Philadelphia International album When I Find You Love was issued in 1979. "My Love Don't Come Easy" peaked at #43 on the R&B chart. The album included the Jerry Butler penned track Was that all it was? which was a big disco hit in the UK clubs. She moved from the Philadelphia International label to the subsidiary TSOP imprint for her album Sweet and Wonderful. She moved to Motown Records, making her label debut with the album Trust Me. The single "If You Don't Know Me By Now," went to #49 on the R&B chart. She signed with Omni Records. Closer Than Close, produced by saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. went #1 on the R&B charts. Her 1988 album You're a Part of Me was her only release on Atlantic Records. She was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the National R&B Music Society. She was one of the many performers aboard The Soul Train Cruise. Her life was featured on the documentary TV One series, Unsung. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #womenshistorymonth https://www.instagram.com/p/CpzzfXtLAUP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[radiomaxmusic]

Feature LP / Rare Earth - Get Ready (1969) / 1pm ET / 11-11-24

Get Ready is the RIAA Platinum-certified second studio album by American rock band Rare Earth. Released on September 30, 1969, it was one of five albums that launched the Motown subsidiary Rare Earth Records, named after the band. Although Motown is best remembered as an African American label due to specializing in soul and R&B music, it did sign a number of white acts, to mixed success. Berry…

[howardhawkshollywoodmusic]

11. Get Ready by Rare Earth debuted Mar 70 and peaked at number four, scoring 1489 points.

It was their first of six top 40 hits. The song was written by Smokey Robinson. The Temptations' original 1966 version peaked at number 29, and went to number one on the r&b chart. It was the first top 40 hit by a white act on Motown, released on their subsidiary label Rare Earth.

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 26th September

Ooh, it's the single chart appearance of somebody I definitely know better as an actress. I suspect this song is going to make me want to watch Singin' in the Rain again, I've not seen it in forever. (Also, trivia point if you can tell me what other charting artist we've already heard from who's linked to Debbie Reynolds somehow...)

Tammy - Debbie Reynolds (peaked at Number 2)

I kind of knew Debbie Reynolds could sing - she's known for musicals - but the familiar name was still a nice surprise. I wholly expected this song to be a song from a musical film - and sure enough, it's apparently from a film called Tammy and the Bachelor, in which Debbie played Tambrey "Tammy" Tyree (what an excellent name!)

The film sounds odd, but not necessarily in a good way. It's about a young girl called Tammy, who lives in a Mississippi swamp with her grandpa. A pilot crashes in the swamp and she nurses him back to health and falls in love with him, but he has to go back to his farm to grow experimental tomatoes (?). She then comes to stay with him when her grandfather gets arrested for making moonshine (!) and misunderstandings and romantic hijinks ensue, I guess. It doesn't sound great, but it did spawn three sequels, and it also gives you a little bit of context for this song.

Because the song, after a lush, sweeping string intro, turns out to be a very sentimental little number. We get some swampy scene-setting about how I hear the cottonwoods whisper above, or about how The old hootie owl hootie-hoo's to the dove. The whippoorwill knows it, and the bayou breeze knows it: Tammy, Tammy, Tammy's in love. And that's it. That's the whole song.

It's very soppy, but Debbie makes it work better than I think most singers would. Her voice cuts beautifuly through the strings, and while she makes the big moments big, she often hangs back a bit, like she's reluctant or shy about admitting she's in love. There's a wistfulness to it that comes through - Tammy's in love, but it's not requited yet, or she doesn't know if it is. And so the second half of each verse takes off giddily, and then she reins it back in, carefully and precisely, reminding herself that he doesn't know how she feels. I'm really coming round, the more I hear it.

It's charming, but nothing I'd expect to have had a huge cultural impact - but you really can't overestimate how much influence a catchy film song has, because apparently, two years later, it's the song that inspired Berry Gordy to name his record company Tammy Records. When that name was taken, he changed it to Tamla - a company that would become well known as a subsidiary of Motown Records. The name seems to be the only real overlap there - Tamla mostly put out R&B, a far cry from Debbie's balladeering here - but it's cool to see the seeds of it, anyway.

So yeah, a sappy ballad, just about rescued by a decent performance. I think knowing the plot of the film helps the song make more sense, though I also don't think I'd enjoy the film particularly. But yeah, it's okay. It's not something I'm going to be putting on repeat any time soon, but I don't think 1950s me would have hated it. There's something kind of lullaby-like and soothing about it, the more you listen, actually. And it's a chance to say hi to Debbie Reynolds, so that's kind of cool.

Favourite song of the swampy, swampy bunch: Tammy

[granite-avenue]

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966.[2] The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time.

The Miracles were the first to record the song in 1966,[3] but their version was not released until August 1968, when it was included on their album Special Occasion.

The Marvin Gaye version was the second to be recorded, in the beginning of 1967, but the third to be released. It was placed on his 1968 album In the Groove, a year and a half later, where it gained the attention of radio disc jockeys. Motown founder Berry Gordy finally agreed to its release as a single on the Tamla subsidiary in October 1968, when it went to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks from December 1968 to January 1969, overtaking the Gladys Knight & the Pips version as the biggest hit single on the Motown family of labels up to that point.[citation needed]

The Gaye recording has since become an acclaimed soul classic. In 1998 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value.

[trascapades]

🖤🎶#ArtIsAWeapon @officialmarvingayemusic #MarvinGaye's landmark album "Here, My Dear" was released 45 years ago today (December 15, 1978)! Listen to this double album in order from front to back to fully feel this Black soul-opera love / loss / rage / redemption saga!

Track Listing:

Side one

1. "Here, My Dear"

2. "I Met a Little Girl"

3. "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You"

4. "Anger"

Side two

5. "Is That Enough"

6. "Everybody Needs Love"

7. "Time to Get It Together"

Side three

8. "Sparrow"

9. "Anna's Song"

10. "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You" (Instrumental)

Side four

11. "A Funky Space Reincarnation"

12. "You Can Leave, But It's Going to Cost You"

13. "Falling in Love Again"

14. "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You (Reprise)"

Via Wikipedia: Here, My Dear is the fifteenth studio album by music artist Marvin Gaye, released as a double album on December 15, 1978, on #Motown-subsidiary label #TamlaRecords. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1977 and 1978 at Gaye's personal studios, Marvin Gaye Studios, in Los Angeles, California. The album was notable for its subject matter focusing largely on Gaye's acrimonious divorce from his first wife, #AnnaGordyGaye.

A commercial and critical failure upon its release, it was later hailed by music critics, in the years following Gaye's death, as one of Gaye's best albums.

The front cover featured a painting of Gaye dressed in a toga in a neo-Roman setting, created by artist Michael Bryan, who stated Gaye described how he wanted to be depicted on the cover. The back cover features a temple with the word "matrimony" collapsing around a mock-Rodin sculpture of a romantic couple. The fold-out illustration inside the original double album shows a man's hand reaching across to the hand of a woman's, about to give her a record. The hands are extended on a Monopoly board—with the legend JUDGMENT written on it. On the man's side are tape recorders and a grand piano; on the woman's are a house, car and ring. The scales of justice sit above the game while, from arched windows, curious observers watch.

#HereMyDear

[ghostie111]

Frank Wilson - Do I Love You

Very collectable and valuable released on this Motown subsidiary then pulled. Gordy retained Frank as a songwriter l.

[dearyallfrommatt]

“Truly Yours”

The Spinners. While they’re most known for the smooth Philly Soul they laid down in the ‘70s (and rockin’ tunes like “Rubberband Man”), Detroit’s own Spinners cut a couple of albums for Motown (or its VIP subsidiary) that did respectable numbers on the R&B charts and sold pretty well. Unfortunately, they got lost in the shuffle at Motown - nothing to be ashamed of - and it’d take a few years before Gamble & Huff teased the real magic out of them.

 This is a cut from their first album written by stalwart songwriter Ivy Jo Hunter (he wrote “Dancing In The Streets,” and that says it all to me) and it is, as the kids say, a banger. There’s a very Temptations version by the Temptations and Ivy Jo cut a killer version that went unreleased until the 2004 compilation Motown Sings Motown Treasures, which is exactly what it sounds like. Highly recommended for this and the Contours slaying on their version of “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted.”

[manitat]

WHAT'S GOING ON is a song by American singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye, released in 1971 on the Motown subsidiary Tamla. Originally inspired by a police brutality incident witnessed by Renaldo Benson, the song was composed by Benson, Al Cleveland, and Gaye and produced by Gaye himself... The song's inspiration came from Renaldo Benson, a member of the Motown vocal group the Four Tops, after he and the group's tour bus arrived at Berkeley on May 15, 1969. While there, Benson witnessed police brutality and violence in the city's People's Park during a protest held by anti-war activists in what was hailed later as Bloody Thursday... In 1970, Benson presented the untitled song to Marvin Gaye, who added a new melody and revised the song to his liking, adding in his own lyrics...

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

20 Hard-to-Find Motown Classics, Vol. 2 1986 R&B / Soul / Funk-Rock

Yesterday we got into some of the biggest and most well known hits in the history of popular music's greatest ever institution, Motown, but today, with this particular release, we're gonna be digging a bit deeper into the catalogs of the label itself, as well as those of some of its very own subsidiaries, in order to highlight a bunch of tunes that are both very good and, as this album title here indicates, a bit rare too.

And in order to complete this cleverly laid out segue, we'll start off with a Motown sublabel called Rare Earth (pretty good, huh? 😅). Now, naturally Rare Earth's top act was a band you may have heard of before: Detroit's very own Rare Earth! Among only a handful of white acts on the collective Motown roster, this classic funk-rock outfit turned out to be their biggest one. And while the group's most famous song of all, a cover of The Temptations' "Get Ready," doesn't appear on this album, their second most famous song does: the anthemic "I Just Want to Celebrate." And for something rarer, there's "Born to Wander," the first cut off of their 1970 album, Ecology, as well. 

But the Rare Earth label was more than just Rare Earth the band, and to show us just how sonically diverse Motown could really get, the RE label also had a white Canadian guy named R. Dean Taylor on their roster too, whose catchy bit of US one-hit wonder pop-rock lushness, "Indiana Wants Me," made it all the way to the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970. 

We also have the underrated and bluesy Shorty Long, a guy originally from Birmingham, Alabama, whose biggest contribution to popular music was probably the original version of "Devil With the Blue Dress," which was then later much more famously covered by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. Shorty's version never charted nationally, though, so his biggest hit would end up becoming the quirky and funky, "Here Comes the Judge," which opens its initial verse with the incredible line of, "stop eating that fudge, 'cuz here comes the judge" 😂.

And lastly, there's Motown's first ever hit too, Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" from 1959, which was released before the label even went on to adopt its own iconic name.

So, undoubtedly some hits on this album, but the vast majority of them aren't ones that anyone would ever credibly consider to be some of Motown's biggest. A good collection that stands out among most other Motown comps.

Highlights:

Brenda Holloway - "Every Little Bit Hurts" The Velvelettes - "Lonely Lonely Girl Am I" Tammi Terrell - "I Can't Believe You Love Me" Barrett Strong - "Money (That's What I Want)" Shorty Long - "Here Comes the Judge" The Undisputed Truth - "Smiling Faces Sometimes" Rare Earth - "I Just Want to Celebrate" Rare Earth - "Born to Wander" The Supremes - "River Deep, Mountain High" R. Dean Taylor - "Indiana Wants Me" Tom Clay - "What the World Needs Now Is Love"

[lboogie1906]

Chuck Jackson (July 22, 1937 - February 16, 2023) was an R&B singer who was one of the first artists to record material by Burt Bacharach and Hal David successfully. His hits include “I Don’t Want to Cry,” “Any Day Now,” “I Keep Forgettin’”, and “All Over the World”.

He was a member of The Del-Vikings, singing lead on the release “Willette.” After leaving them, he was “discovered” by Luther Dixon when he opened for Jackie Wilson at the Apollo Theater. He signed a recording contract with Scepter Records subsidiary Wand Records. “I Don’t Want to Cry,” his first single, which he co-wrote and recorded, was his first hit (released in January 1961). The song charted on both the R&B and pop charts. In 1962, his recording of the Burt Bacharach-Bob Hilliard song “Any Day Now” became a huge hit and his signature song. His popularity in the 1960s prompted him to buy the time on his contract from Scepter and move to Motown Records. He recorded several successful singles, including “Honey Come Back.” He recorded for All Platinum and other labels but with minimal success.

After meeting producer/composer Charles Wallert at the Third Annual Beach Music Awards, the two collaborated to record “How Long Have You Been Loving Me” on Carolina Records.

He teamed with longtime friend Dionne Warwick to record “If I Let Myself Go”, arranged as a duet by Wallert for Wave Entertainment. The recording received critical acclaim and charted at #19 on the Gavin Adult Contemporary Charts. He followed with “What Goes Around, Comes Around”, another Wallert production and composition, and reached #13 on the Gavin Charts. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[radiomaxmusic]

Feature LP / Coyote Sisters (1984) / 2pm ET

The Coyote Sisters were an American pop-rock female trio formed in 1980. Its members were Leah Kunkel, the younger sister of Cass Elliot; Marty Gwinn Townsend; and Renée Armand. Originally signed to Geffen Records until 1982, they were signed to Morocco Records, a subsidiary of Motown and released their self-titled debut LP in 1984. Lead single “Straight from the Heart (Into Your Life)” hit No.…