HYPE & SOU!

BY AL ABRAMS

This amazing book by Motown's former director of publicity is finally ready. On the title we deliberately replaced the l in Soul with ! to reflect the punch it packs.

It's taken us ages to pull it all together, but the marathon has been more than worth the wait.

Honestly, this book is astonishing!

Al was Berry Gordy's first employee, working for him aged 18 in 1959 at what became Jobete/Motown.

After working as a road manager, in song publishing and promotion (read his story about taking the first acetate of Barrett Strong's "Money" to Alan Freed in New York) he became Motown's famous Director Of Publicity where he was know as "The Fourth Supreme".

The book tells the story of Al as a young Jewish kid working at a black owned label, the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement and its effect on Motown,and about Berry Gordy relentlessy reaching for the stars.

As well as being a workaholic headline seeker, Al was (fortunately for posterity) also a hoarder and kept virtually all his memos, press releases, newspaper clippings and unreleased photographs. They make the book a colourful almost dizzying kaleidoscope, and if that was all that was in the contents it would be the ultimate coffee table book for Motown fans.

BUT - and it is a big but - the truy breathtaking graphics are backed bya series of piledriver essays in which Al tells it like it was in incredible spine-tingling detail. He writes now as superlatviely as he did when based at Motown.

The first edition the book is a 1500 run full colour luxury hardback with dust cover.

The first 500 copies of the book come with (licenced from Universal Music) a replica seven inch of the 1964 Tamla Motown Appreciation Society single supplied by Motown in the USA to TMAS in the UK after Dave Godin's visit to Hitsville which was partly arranged by Al (in typical Al style the book contains copies of a letter and the envelope it came in from Dave to Al). The record is red vinyl.

The book is due to be published in September, but if we get copies mid to late August they will be sent out right away...

The single is in stock now and will be sent out immediately all orders are received.

The book is £34.99 plus postage & packing. We are offering delivery at less than actual cost on all advance orders only.

To see more info on the book and to order on line (PayPal, Credit or Debit Card) go to -

www.soulvation.biz

All The Best,

Neil

Edited July 13, 201113 yr by NeilRushton1

sounds geat.

Many thanks to everyone who has been in touch and placed advance oders,.

The TMAS singles were sent out this this afternoon to everyone who placed the orders overnight, & another pile are parcelled up ready to go out tomorrow from orders received today.

Neil

Edited July 13, 201113 yr by NeilRushton1

Al has sent over a message to him from Tom Good pka Tommy Good.

The book cover shows a very evocative scene from the infamous "March On Hitsville" by Tommy's fans demanding that his singles should be released. Al organised this, and was told by Esther Edwards that he would be dismissed if the publicity coup went wrong.

Here is the message from Tom to Al:

Thanks to you Al, finally a book on the life and times of Motown when it was at its' best. A book not drivern by ego, just faithful attention to detail.

I'm very honored to be on the cover of your book and for your telling of my time at Motown. Your friendship and support have been very important to me for 40 years.. I have felt that I failed at Motown. I hadn't heard any of these tunes on my CD, it was just this bittersweet feeling that I had. Then the CD came out and now your book.

You have made one Soul singing white boy a very happy man. I wish the very best of success for this book and for you.

Some of the images from the book - plus an article by Al Abrams about the book - are in the new issue of manifesto.,

Thanks,

Neil

The response to the book has been overwhelming!.

Thanks to everyone for the interest.

Advance orders are booming!

To secure one of the first 500 copies - complete with Tamla Motown Appreication Society replica single - order online from

www.soulvation.biz

All The Best.

Neil

Hi Neil I wish you great succes with this venture and in time will get the Book, Q, the new single, what has it done in your opinion to the value of the origanl 45, is it identicle and has it got the nashvile stamp? as we all no the 100 club 45s all become instant collectables, so will this? GOOD LICK DAVE KILWORTH.

Hi Neil I wish you great succes with this venture and in time will get the Book, Q, the new single, what has it done in your opinion to the value of the origanl 45, is it identicle and has it got the nashvile stamp? as we all no the 100 club 45s all become instant collectables, so will this? GOOD LICK DAVE KILWORTH.

As it is a UK pressing there is no Nashville stamp. Although it is a lookalike. the intention is not to confuse with the original, so the new release has got Hype&Sou! logo added to it and is red vinyl. Therefore canot see it affecting the value of the original at all.

Maybe a third of the advance orders are from overseas which shows the spread of Motown. The overseas buyers seem very happy with the single, I guess the original is much less known overseas as it was done for the UK Tamla Motown Appeciation Society.

Al worked closely with Dave Godin, and the book reproduces a letter (and the envelope it came in!) from Dave to Al, so we thought the TMAS single was a good choice to go with the first 500 of the book.

By the way does anyone know how The Elgins got their name? The story is told in a newspaper clipping in the book. It is with a Washington paper and Al says this is the only USA newspaper he managed to persuade to interview the group. It stuns me that Motown did not realise what a classic H-D-H potential monster hit they had with "Heaven Must Have Sent You".

Edited August 12, 201113 yr by NeilRushton1