maslar

Unless you put it on vinyl no one is ever going to hear it. It was never issued. Playing of an acetate copy doesn't give it any more legitimacy than playing off a vinyl copy from a limited vinyl release.

It's not a reissue. It was never issued so it can't be a reissue. An acetate isn't an "issue". It's an acetate. In this case a recent acetate as opposed to an historic one which gives it even less significance. It may be a "bootleg" but that would need examination. Even if it was a "bootleg that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The ethos of true bootlegging (as opposed to counterfeiting) has legitimacy in record collecting. If the owners of the tapes gave permission for their use then that would offer some legitimacy but then again there may be other legalities. As it stands personally I'd view the UK release of MM as a legitimate issue (but not in the same way as an official record company release). More like an "indie"release. Until someone proves it isn't.

Personally I've always taken the view that to take a photo of someone without their permission is bad manners. I don't mean a landscape type shot. I'm referring to a direct shot. This isn't confined to social events. I've only taken a camera out with me on a night out once in my life. That was the second last night At Wigan when Tommy Hunt was on and I felt uneasy about that. Ended up taking shots mainly of TH on stage and one of my mates who was dancing on the stage behind him and then quickly used up the film just taking random shots of the dance floor. Most of which were pretty crap. Now of course it's a different ballgame as everyone is a documenter and would be Shane Meadows. I suppose all anyone can do is always try and look their best all of the time and (if like me you're not particularly photogenic) console yourself that maybe no one will realise its you anyway.

All the RCA/Grapevine releases were excellent but if I had to choose one from that era (70s) it would be Motown Memories (16 non-stop..... etc).

One thing i've noticed is that Jamerson's bass lines (played by him) are readily available on youtube but as a rule Babbitt's aren't. So if you want to hear some of his great input on tracks like Band of Gold, Signed Sealed, Tears Of A Clown and perhaps his finest hour - Midnight Train To Georgia - in separation you have to watch somebody else playing them. Thankfully there are some good musicians who do his work justice.

Jamerson would have had free reign to make up a bass line and play it. That to some degree is where the greatness comes in. He could be given a song and come up with a bass line that was entirely suitable (and added to) the song. Hence why musicians such as him were in such big demand around Detroit. Also. no one is going to tell a top player like Jamerson how to play his bass. Look what happened when Paul McCartney tried to tell George Harrison how to play his guitar.

Jamerson falls short? Hmm ok. This is one of my favourite Jamerson basslines: I Was made To Love Her This is quite interesting. It's a guy playing Joe Long's bassline to The Night but using Jamerson's one finger technique: great playing from an unknown:

Looking a this playlist its noticeable how about three-quarters of it (rough estimate) was played over and over in the main room through 1980-81. On Friday Oldies and also on Saturday oldie spots in the main room.

MBJCFM is probably the epitome of a popular jazz song ... "barely jazz"?? As I've said previously it was played on numerous nights and I remember the floor being busy. Actually it's usually a case of - if you can remember it you were there. That actually makes more sense. Unless of course you're engaged in some clever little word play which isn't really clever to anyone who really is clever.

With regard to the criticisms of "jazz". It doesn't really make much sense to say you don't like "jazz" (unless you really don't like all the sub-genres). I like some jazz and dislike others - Hard Bop, soul jazz, Fusion etc I generally like. Early 20th century stuff or avante garde I'm generally less fond of.

I went to most of the oldies nighters during 1981 - if not all of them - can't remember to be honest and I don't want to be accused of making things up . I think I've previosly mentioned the instrumental of MBJCFM as one of the records that used to really irk me. I think banal is a good word to describe it. I thought of it as a mediocre version and at that time I wasn't 100% sure that it was MBJCFM. Only reading Pete S' post does it make sense - the stereo tracking omitting the vocals. since most instrumentals need a different arrangement without the vocal which obviously adds melody. It was played not only at this nighter but throughout 1981. I never could understand why because it didn't "fit" at all. It's a case of if you're going to play a jazzy piano instrumental then there are loads of (in this case better) to choose from. Why limit yourself to this? Same goes for the other jazzy mainstay at that time : George Benson's version of On Broadway. Loads more stuff in a similar vein. Why not play it?

No accounting for taste. I think its a great into : "Love is a many splendored thing". Maybe it was an inside joke.

I thought that came out in 67. before the Detroit stuff? One thing about Track is it's fairly difficult to find a decent discography for such a small label/output. I did start to collect it some years ago due to the Bolan connection but then stopped. Interesting label though. and of course contains one of the great UK rarities: John's Children's Midsummer Night's Scene - only around 25 copies and given away free at a concert after Bolan left JC. Guaranteed to sell for over £5000 and probably a lot more.

I thought on the single it was wrongly credited as Holland Dozier and Holland. On the Liquorice Allsorts LP it's credited to Ware and Terry

From what I know of Track they started of with big intentions regarding soul output but seemed to fall flat pretty quickly. The was an the initial gusto at the end on 1967 and the announcement of the planned release the Revilot catalogue (maybe this was just hype). But then in 1968 there was no soul output at all. Three singles were released in 1969-70 and two of these were re-releases and one was non-Detroit Only the Debonaires was fresh. I don't have the Backtrack but I have the later Liquorice Allsorts which contains some of the same tracks. It's clear Track had the rights to the Parliaments' "Don't Be Sore At Me and All You Goodies Are Gone since they appear on both compilation LPs. - Although AYGAG is for some reason titled Let Love Put You IN The Losers Seat and has composer credits listed as "Unknown". Why these were never released as a single I don't know but probably down to some blocking following the breakup of Solid Hitbound.

He (Nick) ought to make a short documentary - 10 mins maybe - explaining the general history of the record and its various releases and then the story behind and importance of this find. Stick it on youtube. That way its always "his" history. Maybe Mojo would be more interested in doing a feature than RC?

Going from memory (might be a bit out). the deal with Ric-Tic and Polydor was a set deal/contract covering a time period of a few years which is why TM couldn't release these tracks in the UK after their firs tRic-Tic aquisition. . The deal between Solid Hitbound and Track (Stamp and Lambert) was separate and nothing to do with Ric-Tic/Polydor. At the time (1967) it was announced in the press that Track were going to release the whole Revilot catalogue but obviously this never happened. By the time Motown acquired The Fantastic Four the Ric-Tic/Polydor contract time span was over.

You sure? I went to the official last one in September and I definitely went to the Tommy Hunt one - It's the only time I've ever taken a camera out with me and I got some shots - including me having a cringeworthy moment shaking hands with TH while he's singing. - generally pretty bad photos though due to the crap camera. If it is true they were two different nights then that's really thrown me but in a way it makes sense - esp if the Tommy Hunt was on a Friday because I always vaguely associated it with going after work and I didn't work Saturdays - so that bit didn't make sense if you see what I mean - because I always remembered it as a Saturday.

Not counting "You Got What It Takes" which was stolen from Bobby Parker who wrote and recorded it earlier in 1957. The first information I ever got about early Motown releases came via the British publication Record Collector July 1980 (which i still have). it stated the four London singles as the first Uk Motown although I later discovered that this information is only partly correct: Paul Gayton - The Hunch 8998 Nov 1959 an Anna release so, as you say, not really Motown Barrett Strong - Money 9088 April 1960 - Originally Tamla but released on London as an Anna recording. The Miracles - Shop Around 9276 - Feb 1961 The Miracles - Ain't It Baby 9366 - June 1961 But as previously mentioned the first UK Motown was Come To Me (Tamla 101) which pre-dates all these

Seeing as Darrell Banks has been mentioned a couple of times I'm going to go with: Parliaments - (I Wanna) Testify - I Can Feel the Ice Melting

I've got to admit I know very little about OS. I haven't really given them much attention. Which are the more interesting ones eg previously unreleased, or in any way more collectible than the rest?

I would say that Gene McDaniels was a jazz singer first and foremost and a soulful jazz singer at that. He also wrote one of the greatest (soulful) protest songs of all time - Compared To What - the message of which is still very relevant today. Class is class. You've either got it or you haven't and Gene McDaniels obviously had This clip recorded less than two weeks before his death. aged 76.

Yes trophyism - an essential feature of of record collecting - or any type of collecting. Look at the price that Beatles UK demos fetch compared to standard issue.

If a record regularly sells for £500 then it's a rare record. Obviously terms such as "rare" carry a degree of subjectivity but in record collecting terms both can be safely placed in the "rare" category. .

Plentiful on ebay? Well there's always a few copies but most are either boots or in less than ideal condition. You can get a top condition copy from a dealer for about £40.00. That makes it "rare" in my book. Not super rare or mega-rare but it is a rare record in anywhere near mint condition. Of course you can go down the elitist route where the only things that are "rare" are so rare no one's seen them and anything else is scoffed at, but that's neither here nor there. Why would anyone want to spend £10 to £20 for "styrene VG or VG+" for such an iconic record? It's always going to be worth forking out that little bit more for a nice copy There might be a few copies on ebay but how many top condition originals pop up over the course of a year? Not that many..