I come across a fair number of UK Tamla Motown LPs over here...got me curious...which are the rarest, most indemand, hardest to find in good condition and/or the most expensive, of the UK releases on Tamla Motown...oh! go on then lets include the Stateside and Oriole ones as well.

Would guess that the EVD and Brenda Holloway ones are up there with the most in demand items.

But I'd guess most of the early Tam/Mot UK LP's are sought after by label collectors.

I used to have a copy of the 1st Mary Wells UK Mot LP. If memory serves me right, it had a Stateside release number in the run out groove (though this may have been scratched out & the T/Mot number added).

Edited January 3, 201312 yr by Roburt

Any of the first 100 Tamla Motown releases that aren't either Greatest Hits or Big Hits type compilations are worth picking up if cheap.

Stand -out ones are Artistry Of Brenda Holloway, Marvelous Marvelletes, Soul Sounds Chris Clark, Earl Van Dyke, Choker Cambpell, Meet The Temptations, etc

any of the oriole LP's are rare/desirable and if you find any of them cheap then you've done well.

The Elgins is pretty rare, and The Monitors has some great tracks...

Thanks for the input...all those mentioned make sense with regards to the good/indemand.

Unfortunately they aren't always cheap, otherwise I would've been stockpiling them already, and I need to see going rates as I would be buying to move on (I collect the Japanese presses personally). As an example the other day I saw the Stateside release of the Marvin and Mary album...beautiful condition sleeve/vinyl resplendent with a factory sample sticker on the label...gotta be rare, but is it going to be an easy sale and is it £75, £100, £150+...I have no idea. Yesterday I saw the 'Sophisticated Soul' LP by the Marvelettes....again the sleeve was immaculate...is it £30, £50, £75+?!

Is there a website with a valuation guide for these UK LPs?

My experience with UK Tamla Motown LPs is that most are relatively easy to come by but a lot are rubbish. I occasionally take up my quest to complete the first 100 only to pack it in again rapidly as another dull LP turns up. I started ages ago just wanting all the chartbuster series as they remind me of my youth but they didn't take very long.

There are some tough ones that go for reasonable money; a lot of the first ten issued are tough; also The Elgins, The Monitors, Chris Clark, Earl Van Dyke, a dreadful series of Billy Eckstine LPs, the Motown Memories series (of 3? - need to root them out to check). Generally, the earlier the issue the more difficult to find but there are exceptions.

All the NS related ones are a bit harder to track down and tend to go for £10 to £20. Sophisticated Soul used to go for £25 but I reckon £15 would get a copy now. People tend not to be fussed whether they get a UK or US copy.

The thing about UK Tamla Motown LPs is that if they get into the hands of dealers the prices seem to rocket to 30, 40 or 50 quid for quite common LPs. There are usually loads on ebay UK at inflated prices (nothing new there!) and loads at much less.

There is a list of UK LPs here

Don't know anything really about Oriole or Stateside but the Oriole Lp's always seem to go for good money.

Edited January 4, 201312 yr by paultp

Marvin Gaye's first album on stateside SL10100 is quite rare bringing about £250 i think. If you want uk prices try The record collector rare record price guide this book has pricing for most uk record releases worth over £6.00.

Andy

Edited January 4, 201312 yr by soul in the shed

and there was a Stevie Wonder, tribute to uncle ray, on oriole. sold on evilbay before christmas for over £340 and you see the more common Mary Wells oriole album regulaly for sale @ £80-100 though wether it sells is anyone guess

Is there a website with a valuation guide for these UK LPs?

popsike?

The Monitors has some great tracks...

Is it different (cover, tracks) from the US one ?

To me the most interesting LP's are the ones wiht a different cover (from the US), like "The Marvellous Marvelettes" :

Recently a VG - copy sold for more than $450.00 on ebay.

Even if not the most expensive the Brenda Holloway is the more valuable to me as it has a beautiful and unique cover, and some different tracks.

Edited January 5, 201312 yr by Philippe

I met a bloke who worked in the record production end of the industry and he said that the Martin Luther King had a low pressing but as far as outright rarity was concerned the Brenda Holloway was the one due to low pressing number and no US release.

the first marvin gaye album on stateside, full length pic on red background ,guy at buxton record fair last year asking £ 400 for it ( in nm condition)

Just thought i'd mention that i simply love the Brenda Holloway LP, everything about it!

One of the ones going in the box underground with me!

Not much use to the thread but there you go

Just thought i'd mention that i simply love the Brenda Holloway LP, everything about it!

One of the ones going in the box underground with me!

Not much use to the thread but there you go

We'll there you go Steve

You've spent your life digging up vinyl, and when you eventually shuffle of your mortal coil somebody will be digging you up just to get your vinyl

IMO the Isley Brothers Soul On The Rocks is one of (great) better motown albums

Dave

Many of the nowadays more desirable TM LPs were sold from Woolworth bargain bins for 14/6d around 1968/9 when the mono issues were deleted. At the Woolies in Oxford St where I worked Saturdays as a kid had multiple copies of all the lesser known artists eg Brenda Holloway, Fantastic Four, Spinners, Monitors etc. I bought most of these out of my £2 wage. There were multiple copies of the MLK album as well but nobody wanted that as it was spoken word - so they were probably almost all trashed.

Paul TP - you're right there were 3 Motown Memories albums.

I still have them all except the BH which I sold, but luckily soon replaced with the even rarer stereo copy.

Is it different (cover, tracks) from the US one ?

To me the most interesting LP's are the ones wiht a different cover (from the US), like "The Marvellous Marvelettes" :

Recently a VG - copy sold for more than $450.00 on ebay.

Even if not the most expensive the Brenda Holloway is the more valuable to me as it has a beautiful and unique cover, and some different tracks.

Another one with a 'better' alternate cover is the Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston 'Take Two' L.P. Far superior cover on the UK release.

Edited January 9, 201312 yr by Soul-Slider

Another one with a 'better' alternate cover is the Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston 'Take Two' L.P. Far superior cover on the UK release.

For me different covers make the interest of UK Motown LP's, as well as different materiel -though I'm more into covers

I won last year this compilation on ebay :

Edited January 9, 201312 yr by Philippe

Many of the nowadays more desirable TM LPs were sold from Woolworth bargain bins for 14/6d around 1968/9 when the mono issues were deleted. At the Woolies in Oxford St where I worked Saturdays as a kid had multiple copies of all the lesser known artists eg Brenda Holloway, Fantastic Four, Spinners, Monitors etc. I bought most of these out of my £2 wage. There were multiple copies of the MLK album as well but nobody wanted that as it was spoken word - so they were probably almost all trashed.

Paul TP - you're right there were 3 Motown Memories albums.

I still have them all except the BH which I sold, but luckily soon replaced with the even rarer stereo copy.

Adding on from your reply to Paul TP re the Motown Memories LPs, the `16 Big Hits` series of eight releases was a little confusing to me until I had the sense to look backwards as the first, TML 11001 was simply titled `16 Tamla Motown Big Hits`. It was then followed by TML 11019 `Hitsville USA` which had a subtitle of `Another collection of 16 Big Tamla Motown Hits`. Then came TML 11030 `Motown Magic` again with the same subtitle as the last. The fourth release, TML 11043 then became the familiar `16 Big Hits Vol 4`, which continued through to Vol 8. Their `Chartbusters` series was I suspect their biggest sellers however with that famous two tone metallic silver cover job that seemed to cross over into many Pop collections.

For me different covers make the interest of UK Motown LP's, as well as different materiel -though I'm more into covers

I won last year this compilation on ebay :

I have that Miracles LP. Is there NO USA release?

I have that Miracles LP. Is there NO USA release?

No, it's a compilation from their early sides (63-64).

Dont see this one much.......very nice LP and and some great early motown.....

Edited January 21, 201312 yr by Dale