UMG have just released "Motown Unreleased 1964" in MP3 format only.  This is getting to be a regular Christmas present now with releases of the unreleased each year.   Had a quick listen and only a few tracks stand out on first hearing.  Maybe a set for Motown completists only.  (1965 should be more interesting if there is a release this time next year.)

 

Just downloaded my copy from Google Play ..... Two defective tracks tho', Both Marvin Gaye tracks (Now's She's Gone & Autumn In New York), both cut out into silence ..... Google Play are aware and looking into it .......

 

What is going on at Universal these days, looks like it's just a money making exercise now :-(

Nice to see Marvin Gaye's version of "The Touch Of Venus" on there (the Ed Cobb penned tune, Sandy Wynns etc.).

 

It's on Spotify as well:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5kBab69l77HMog4O7y8aFp

CD2 - Brenda Holloway "I Don't Want Anybody Perfect" is duff too ..... drops out at 0:41 :-(

Seems like UMG quality control was non-existant in preparing these releases.  It's almost as if they just 'bunged' the tapes onto CD.  Similar quality issues were apparent with the first 1962 series of releases that Amazon withdrew because the quality was so poor.

are they not more of a copyright thing than anything else?

 

as in they need to release to keep the rights  ?

are they not more of a copyright thing than anything else?

 

as in they need to release to keep the rights  ?

 

Yes you are probably right.  I read that is the reason the Beatles released a bunch of unreleased and alt. takes as they would have been out of copyright after 50 years.  Once released you retain copyright and control and obviously any royalties due.

Seems like UMG quality control was non-existant in preparing these releases.  It's almost as if they just 'bunged' the tapes onto CD.  Similar quality issues were apparent with the first 1962 series of releases that Amazon withdrew because the quality was so poor.

I think you are jumping to a conclusion here, Suffolk Soul. As it happens, I was UMG's "quality control" on this release. I listened to all the tracks, which were produced in WAV format at 96000 Hz / 24 bits, carefully, once on cans and once on speakers. One track was wrong: "Just Be Yourself" had been used instead of "Just Go On Sleeping". It got corrected. I detected no sound glitches. I thought mastering engineer Seth Foster did a fine job.

 

As I understand the process, UMG deliver the files in WAV format to the distributors who convert them to their proprietary formats for release. I doubt if the files were corrupted at the UMG end, after I'd signed them off. The fact that some purchasers have NOT detected any faults in any of the tracks supports that guess. But as far as I'm aware, neither UMG nor any of the distributors have yet commented on the problems, and this isn't an official UMG comment, just a personal observation. We'll see what transpires.

 

Yes, the tracks have been released to protect UMG's copyright in the material. No, they were not "bunged" in any sense onto CD (CD? what??), and UMG's QC is not, ahem, "non-existant". Alive and well, though headed for bed ...

 

Keith

Edited December 18, 201410 yr by keithhughes

Thanks for explaining that, but as a member of the general listening public, you can see that when there are faults on the final release it reflects more UMG and not the distributors.  That is my personal opinion with no disrespect intended.

I understand, take no offence, and have already made your point (about reputation) to UMG. But - with the issue still unresolved - I offer the following analogy: if you buy a bag of apples from the supermarket and some of them are damaged, it doesn't seem right to me to go blaming the farmer who supplied them before you've checked with the supermarket.

 

It's complicated. MP3 is a way for Universal (and others) to release material that people on this Board and elsewhere would like to hear, cheaply. They couldn't reasonably expect to make money releasing such obscure, rejected-at-the-time, stuff on a double CD, so without the MP3 route we wouldn't hear it at all. But they lose a degree of control in the process.

 

I don't want to drag this out. Be assured that UMG are looking into it. But with such big companies involved, resolutions of this kind of issue rarely happen quickly.

 

Keith

Even with glitches, caused by whatever, I'm only too grateful to get to hear the Motown Unreleased each year.  After lots of listening the standout tracks for me are:  Labrenda Ben - Just go on sleeping, Marvin Gaye - To a bad dream,  Marvin Gaye - A Touch of Venus, Brenda Holloway - I don't want anybody perfect, Choker Campbell - Just loving you and Brenda Holloway - You go your way and I'll go mine.  Marvellous all of 'em.  It's amazing that tracks like these keep turning up even after Paul Nixon did his Trawl for the "Cellarful" series.

Some really nice sides amongst some MOR material but 3 stand outs for me on first hearing Brenda Holloway "Don't stay away", Hattie Littles "Now that love is gone" & Marvin Gaye "Must be quite a show".