Marvin Gaye on vinyl

This week we are looking at a small group of records in my collection

Motown's anthology series started in 1974, compiling singles and key album tracks usually in stereo and Marvin Gaye's was a prominent one taking in his early 60's recordings both solo and his duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell and tracks from his 1970's groundbreaking albums such as What's Going On, Let's Get It On and the soundtrack to Troubled Man.

While in the United States these were triple albums, in the UK they were reconfigured as doubles.

This is probably the best way to hear his 60's output .

What's Going On remains a fantastic album looking at the human condition and the state of society in the backdrop of the Vietnam War and was reissued in April of this year in a version that has the original mono singles versions cut by Kevin Grey.

It sounds fantastic.

Marvin went on after the Trouble Man soundtrack to explore romantic love and sexuality with his Let's Get It On album tackling straight on America's puritanical attitude to sex with tender romantic songs that celebrate the joy of sexual relationships.

This copy issued in 2008 by Mobile Fidelity and cut by Shawn R Britton is the finest sounding edition on vinyl.

Philadelphia International The Collection edition with SOS Band box set

Here we go with the latest edition of the Teenbeat series launched a few years back where I look at music that for me at least is linked with my childhood.

Released Monday May 5th in the UK comes this box set of 20 individual artist studio cds from the label synonymous with that styling of Soul Music from the late 1960's to the early 80's around the city of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia International record label where most but not all the key artists issued their recordings.
And that's really where this set scores over previous box sets as it gives you prime slices of the artists albums  as issued of which at least five I and many others would regard as essential albums in a soul collection
Album list:
1.Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (1972)
2.Back Stabbers – The O’Jays (1972)
3.360 Degrees of Billy Paul – Billy Paul (1972)
4. Save The Children – The Intruders (1973)
5.The Three Degrees – The Three Degrees (1973)
6.Ship Ahoy – The O’Jays (1973)
7.Love Is The Message – MFSB (1973)
8.Keep Smilin’ – Bunny Sigler (1974)
9.Wake Up Everybody – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (1975)
10.All Things In Time – Lou Rawls (1976)
11.Life On Mars – Dexter Wansel (1976)
12.The Jacksons – the Jacksons (1976)
13.Teddy Pendergrass – Teddy Pendergrass (1976)
14.Jean Carn – Jean Carn (1976)
15.The Jones Girls – The Jones Girls (1979)
16.Edwin Birdsong – Edwin Birdsong (1979)
17.McFadden and Whitehead – McFadden and Whitehead (1979)
18.When You Hear Lou You’ve Heard It All – Lou Rawls (1977)
19.I’m In Love Again – Patti LaBelle (1983)
20.Life is A Song Worth Singing – Teddy Pendergrass (1978)

A good number of these albums were re-issued on cd  as part of the Sony Legacy Blues&Soul series from the 1990's to early 00's but are out of print attracting high prices new  as well as used but this set uses the same mastering so at a stroke restoring them to the catalogue.

They come in thick card lp style jackets reproducing front and rear lp art clearly with a booklet that gives a brief synopsis of each album and full credits.

Highlights for me are Save The Children, an Intruders album I grew up with on the amazingly clunky 8 Track tape with songs like "I'll Always Love My Mama", the Three Degrees self titled with it's clutch of hit singles such as When Will I See You Again" and the very jazz influenced Life On Mars by arranger and recording artist Dexter Wansel.

For around GBP £38 it's an amazing bargain that gets you exploring further this musically rich seam.

Recently another box set arrived but altogether a different proposition for this was the entire output of a single band whose label was together with Los Angeles based Solar Records the next wave with Motown's star begin eclipsed in the early 70's by Philadelphia International and itself being eclipsed by Solar and this bands label, Tabu Records whose artists who included Alexander O'Neal and Cherrelle of whom I liked in my teens.

Many would say the SOS band were one of the finest pervasive  soul groups of the 1980's but their recordings had been unavailable new for a good while with the earliest titles not even receiving a cd release. 

I had cassette issues of a few albums at the time but they were worn and I was looking for replacements.

In 2013 a Tabu Records re-issue campaign was launched which included the re-issuing of their albums with bonus tracks and a by-product of this was a boxed set version where each album was packaged as a mini lp with just the original tracks and with extra discs for 7 and 12 remixes with a booklet.

I opted for that in around March 2014 this was eventually released as it was just what I was looking for - a complete set of albums - and also it was cheaper than the individual editions.
While some of the bonus tracks have been taken from vinyl, the main albums were not and sound very good on this set.

Soulville

Seeing it was my birthday recently I decided to review my collection of  Soul cds which go back a good number of years I started from the end of  tape and record era in my music buying and filling in a few gaps.

You have to remember I was around in the clunky fade up and down era of 8 tracks tapes in the car and home plus FM stereo stations in the metro districts that influenced my tastes to the point the first records and the later cds reflected my likes so for instance take the first artist, Mr Wilson Pickett was better to known to me for his 70's songs like Soft Soul Boogie Man which I have on the "Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It" compilation cd and compilation 8 tracks of that Soul Train era than his 60's material I had as a child!

So I was lacking a cd of his bigger 60's hits like Mustang Sally so I bought the "A man and a half" 2 cd set of those 60's hits most on this disc also are the mono hit versions rather than wonky stereo remakes on the current individual albums.

On the other hand I did get in the early 90's a 20 track mainly stereo compilation of Otis Redding including I Can't Turn You Loose, Tramp, Try A Little Tenderness and (Sittin' on) The Dock Of The Bay but wanted the original albums in their mono versions so bought this box set of the five that came out before his death after his appearance at the  Monterey festival in December 1967.

It brings together the albums remastered as the separate mid 90's Rhino remasters series in a box with card lp covers.

The music of Sam Cooke was something I heard quite a bit of on the radio being championed by Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones and this set covering his solo work taking in Twisting The Night Away, Shake, A Change Is Gonna Come and Cupid originally issued in 2003 by Abkco is the best sounding bettering 1987's The Man His Music issued on RCA which for a long time the default cd compilation of choice.

This one's where the Soulville entry title came from as that track recorded for Columbia in the 60's is one that closed out the 8 track of "Black Explosion" with soul hits from the late 60's and early 70's I played rather a lot and got a cd with her Columbia recordings like Soulville early on in the cd era.

I had picked up the UK Global 2 cd "Greatest Hits" set in the late 90's for her Atlantic material and later Arista recordings but the tracks switch era rather glaring across the discs for me so I got this newly re-issued and recompiled Queen of Soul 4 cd box  set which just focus's on the 1967-1976 Atlantic era running in chronological order thru such songs as Respect, Call Me, I say a Little Prayer and so on with the earlier recordings in their mono original form.

To take in that later era covering songs like Jump To It, Who's Zoomin' Who and I Knew You Were Waiting I got cheaply the 1980-1994 Greatest Hits single cd.

Much more straightforward.

Ray Charles: I managed to track down the two specialty DCC His Greatest Hits cds cheaply for songs like Hit The Road Jack from the period he recorded for ABC-Paramount which took in the ground breaking Modern Sounds in Country and Western album. 

The mastering legend that is Steve Hoffman redid this a few years later with a slightly different selection using a tubed tape machine  and issued on Gold but this one done with solid state machine onto aluminum in 1987 is still really good sounding and cheap to buy used!

The Temptations: What It Is? & Gettin' Ready

I'm not too good this week but one thing that has always bugged me was not being able to replace my original 1972 pre-recorded cassette of The Temptations Solid Rock with a much better cd version as this title only briefly came out in the 1980's and currently has an asking price of up to $500 used when you see one.

As an album goes its a transitional one issued just after Eddie Kendrick left his sole contribution on this album is 'It's Summer' as he felt the Psychedelic Soul producer Norman Whitfield was having them record wasn't the old style R&B with ballads they had been previously known for and to which also they felt they were guesting on his albums.

It does however capture that feel of social consciousnesses prevalent back then rather well  in 'Stop The War, Now' a meditation begging  the end to the Vietnam War with its many destroyed lives (a topic that resonates with me regarding the Afghanistan War today), 'Superstar', in part a dig at former Temptations and call to arms to those who ride on the tails of their peers getting to the top and then disowning them and their needs, plus  'Take a Look Around' inviting people to see the poverty of the Inner City.

This was issued as a download mid January 2013 but only in the US which isn't much use as I don't live there but fortunately I had a friend who was able to get it for me from US iTunes and move it in my computers general direction by the wonders of the Internet.

It sounds much much better than my ancient tape which was very compressed, hissy because back the EMI who issued Tamla Motown titles didn't use dolby noise reduction on the tape and the tape quality was such that on the loud passages the high notes no longer existed.

I also got  Psychedelic Soul a very good 2 cd set covering this period of the Temptations with two extended remixes. 

Continuing on about my collection of Temptations albums built up around 2001 liking Motown rather a lot in a series of two albums on one cd that were issued in the UK from "Meet The Temptations" to 1975's "A Song for You".

That series, most desirable in it's own way missed a few albums from the early 1970's out (Sky's The Limit, Solid Rock and 1990) that I ended up getting in high quality downloads from iTunes.

That left a classic album from 1966still missing from the collection.

This one was the home of "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" and "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" which was covered by the Rolling Stones on their It's Only Rock and Roll album of 1974.

Well this should be coming tomorrow in re-issued cd form although like most things now, I'll rip it to iTunes for listening to on the go.

P.I.R. 40th Anniversary & The Whispers

This week  I had the pleasure of a BIG 10 cd box arrive Tuesday that had been preordered  a while back - more or less the minute I heard about it - as it seemed unbelievable.
It's taken four whole days to listen to it all!

Produced very much with the blessing of Messers Gamble and Huff themselves under Ian Dewhirst and programmed by Ralph Tee who in 1986 made the legendary 14 lp retrospective, this set gives us over 170 songs a good number previously unavailable on cd from the very beginning of their record label into the 90's and one previously unissued track. 

Some have unique 12" mixes and 45 edits.

You see  40 years ago the label was established and this is THE anniversary set.
Tracks in the soul, funk and 'disco' genres are covered with for instance disc seven for instance is mainly jazz influenced  with Dexter Wansel featuring.

Everything has freshly mastered for this set from the original masters to sound as good as it can.

If that wasn't enough there's a 60 page booklet giving track by track narration and a US label discography something that's very handy.

For people like me who love this stuff it's a dream come true - such much timeless soul -  and what is more this little gem only costs £41.37 from Amazon which is very little to pay for such a set.

I did however spend some money on some extra separate cds on Edsel of albums by MFSB who were the backing musicians of many of the labels hits and also of Teddy Pendergrass and Archie Bell & the Drells.

Edsel do most of the post 1976 albums from that label sounding really good.

Today's second feature is The Whispers.

In 2002 apart from the Shalamar reissues I once talked about Sanctuary who own the UK rights to the SOLAR back catalogue decided to start a complete Whispers reissue campaign which got me interested as someone who did like this soul groups music having bought both the 1994 30th Anniversary set and 1999's And The Beat Goes On 2 cd compilation albums.

For reasons that I honestly can't remember, this 8 cd series laid incomplete in my collection as I think I'd started at the end(!) probably because my original cd of 1987's Just Gets Better In Time had gone all sticky in the way many cds made by Nimbus in the UK during that period were prone to and I was thinking more about getting a  replacement.

In time I did get "The Whispers" famed for the smash hit And The Beat Goes On as well as My Girl coupled with 1987's seasonal album Happy Holidays and Imagination from 1981 with its smash It's A Love Thing coupled with This Kind Of Loving from the same year that suffered from the same fate as other albums on SOLAR at this period little promotion as the distribution deal was changing. 

A few years later I found the second disc in the series Bingo-The Janus Years which as the name suggests covered all the material recorded for Janus Records  a division of Chess featuring the Bingo album and a favourite song  by them of mine Mother For My Children from 1974 but that was it.

Recently I've finally get around to completing it aided by something I didn't have back then - Amazon - although quite a number of these discs are discontinued with single cds versions still available new from Unidisc of Canada.

The Whispers story on album begins around 1969/70 and the Soul clock label so I picked up 'Planets Of Life the Soul Clock recordings' because apart from that album you do get the other non album 45's which set the scene for the moved to Janus from 1972 through 1974. 

A word of warning the Canadian cd doesn't have the title track and the German is poorly copied from a lp with lots of filtering to hide crackles etc.

From Janus they moved in 1975 to Soul Train a label created by the people behind the legendary Soul Train black music tv show releasing One For The Money (also a 45) and Open Up Your Love from 1975 and 1976 respectively.

1979 saw the release of the acclaimed Headlights album a favourite of mine a with its singles (Olivia) Lost and Turned Out and the 'quiet storm' Lets Go All The Way which in this series is coupled Whisper In Your Ear featuring the single Can't Do Without Your Love. 

These were the first albums they issued on the SOLAR imprint.

Finally we get to 1981's Love Is where You Find It featuring In The Raw as well as Emergency, one of the first albums to have a uptempo dancing and slow romancing side configurations which for this series is coupled with 1983's Love Is Love released during a period of very rapid change in R&B  music as electro and rap was making its way into the mainstream.

Philadelphia International and me

Philadelphia International Records to give it  its full title has always been a part of my life ever since I just I turned 8 years old and as regular readers know I wrote an entry a good year or so back on the O'Jays on of this labels most famous acts.

If you haven't read it just click on the 'music' topic index and you'll find it in that search.
First of though earlier this year a special 4 cd box set was issued entitled "Philadelphia International Classics - the Tom Moulton remixes". 

Tom Moulton was a DJ who understood earlier than many the importance of the longer discotheque mix extending the 'groove' for dancing and sometimes simplifying the sound just for that audience by taking off special effects.

 He got involved with the label doing these remixes for the funk act Peoples Choice and the song "Do iI any Way you Wanna" from 1974 and in 1977 Philadelphia International issued a lp long deleted of some of his remixes of them and other artists.

This set has all those tracks plus some brand new remixes including that great early 80's song "Nights Over Egypt" by the Jones Girls done in the same style (no added echo, synthesized drums) extended and remixed from the session masters for really good quality.

If you love 12" remixes you'd love this set on England's Harmless  records (HURTXCD 112).

Another act I liked around this time was The Intruders who had several hits such as Cowboys to Girls, Love Is Like A Baseball Game, (win, place or show) She's A Winner and I'll Always Love My Mama and i had for a long time the cd version of 1973 "Super Hits" compilation of theirs.

I was able to find a copy of the 1996 "Cowboy to Girls-the best of" which has a lot more songs on it which was part of Sony's Blues & Soul legacy series which was really well mastered a lot more detailed compare to that older disc

Finally back to those O'Jay's.
Prior to them signing to this label they were signed to another - Neptune- and issued an lp called "In Philadelphia" back in 1969 which had been out of print for absolutely ages.
In truth this is mainly cover versions of popular songs of that era however it's the arrangements that clearly show what was to come on that classic album "Backstabbers" famous for "Love train" and "992 Arguments" that remain a gem.

It was briefly issued in 1994 in the states on cd but even that can be hard to find so, as resourceful as ever, I found a copy in Germany cheaply and pay for it to be shipped over, completing at long last my O'Jay's collection on cd.

Soul re-issue update

Dee Dee Sharp: Happy 'Bout The Whole Thing/What Colour Is Love/Dee Dee
Edsel 3 on 2 beermat set of the P.I.R. albums. Nice re-mastering job on this issue if Dee Dee of "I'm not in love" fame appeals.

Raydio S/T c/w Rock On 2010 Edsel beermat.
Lovely sounding and if you like the material well early Ray Parker Jr.it's recommended at half the price and the masterings darn good to boot.

Ojays Family Reunion 2010 Edsel beermat
I shouldn't have to say how what the heck how brilliant this album really is to any of you BUT this recent re-master is so good we could add the word 'Audiophile' in the same sentence as is that good PLUS it has the 1977 9.42 I Love Music as remixed by Tom Moulton as the bonus track. Possibly bargain of the year.
Catalogue no. Edsel EDSM0001

Smokey Robinson Smokey c/w Pure Smokey (aka Smokey Robinson Solo albums vol:1)
Hip-o select 2010 beermat
Decent mastering and these two albums are self recommending with Just My Soul Responding's thoughtful mediation and I Am, I Am the precursor to Quiet Storm.

Quiet Storm & Smokey's Family Robinson (aka Smokey Robinson Solo Vol:2)
Defined the whole 'Quiet Storm' soul genre.

Jones Girls S/T c/w At Peace with Woman Edsel 2005
Reissue of the first two albums for Philadelphia International originally issued in 1979 and 80 respectively.

Patti LaBelle: The Spirit In It, I'm In Love Again & Patti Edsel 3 on 2 beermat 2004
The issued studio recordings of her brief time at Philadelphia International, The first album in this collection is rootsy Gospel infused soul from '81 that got lost in those 'Good Times' on the R&B chart where it seemed everything was funkified disco, the second was cash in after her leaving for MCA in '83 but did include such gems as If Only You Knew and remains a strong set and don't even start me on the third when 'da kids' from Sugarhill tried adding electro beats to straight 'in the can' soul to compete against her MCA stuff out like New Attitude. We all saw Beverly Hills Cop back then, right?
Trouble is that sound is just so dated and when it goes into a breakbeat it's positively cringe-worthy atop of what were fine vocal performances. Thankfully Where I Wanna Be and all four tracks from what was side two escape most of this *%^& an can be appreciated as a bonus to the two 'real' albums.
The masterings extremely good btw.

Black Explosion!

Finally this month I got around to remaking this mainly soul based Ronco compilation from my youth using digital sources. 

It is mainly a soul, funk and hint if reggae compilation issued in early 1974 with tracks from the late 1960's and 70's including Soulville by Aretha Franklin before she signed to Atlantic in 1968.

I originally owned this on eight track tape but got the record during a period I was without a tape player for it.

It originally run for 62 minutes which with 24 tracks on it meant apart from sounding somewhat thin each track had to be edited down quite drastically to get it all to fit!
My new version isn't as I just matched the average levels between each song up nicely and comes to about 79 minutes in total.

Corrine Bailey Rae says "Put Your Records On" with O'Jays

I've had this cd for a fair while since its release in  February following the lead off single Like A Star came out in special four track edition last October which ignited a lot of interest in the musical press and caught my ears as someone who unapologetically  prefers soul music coming from a more traditional direction rather than what sounds more like watered down hip-hop with harmonies on top we've been having since the nineties.

This Yorkshire singer has a most amazing voice.

What really did for it for me was the second single Put Your Records On released at the same time as the album itself that just that vibe right down which lead to the album peaking at #2 in the UK albums chart and amazingly #4 in the US.

Trouble Sleeping was released over here as a single in May.

The OJays have a long history but it wasn't until Gambol and Huff - the producers - sign them to their Philadelphia International label in the early 1970's that they broke big and it was around that era that I first got to hear of them being played on the metropolitan radio stations managing to make a big enough antenna for my radio to pull these stations.

Strangely enough one source of hearing them was the journey to school as one of the drivers who took me always had their stuff plus a shed full of other acts on that label playing out of his car stereo.

Several things hit you of which the first was the production being sparse allowing the musicianship to rise and the vocals to come through clearly.

The second was the arrangements with a strong jazz influence and finally them words - the O'Jays famously had had 'a message in our music' talking about the state of society - family breakdown, integrity, backstabbers, racism, the importance of love and so on in what in other respects was a cynical no future era. In the O'Jay's world you could rise above what maybe holding you down.

I was late into getting anything buy the O'Jay's on compact disc and the first title I did get was "Collectors Items" originally released on lp in 1977 which is a collection of special mixes of their earlier songs. 

Shortly afterwards in the States a number of their early albums got issued by Sony legacy but these were very hard to find and in fact I've only just completed my set with the Backstabbers, Ship Ahoy and Survival studio albums plus the Live In London album issued in 1974.

In late 1998 it was announced that WestSide were to re-issue all their post 1976 albums in the UK the following year and in that period I bought each issue as soon as it came out.

They came in the form of either 2 albums on a single cd or three on 2 cds with one album kind of split between the discs which wasn't ideal but they had very good notes about what was happening with the band, all the singles issued with their 'b' sides and so on.

There were all re-released by Edsel in 2004 in the much better 2 album on one cd format.