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"...Company Time..."
Along with British Punk and New Wave multiples, Motown compilations that concentrate on the famous American label's 60ts and 70ts heyday are probably one of the most overdone areas in music. But every now and then, true aficionados of both are allowed to get their aged knickers in a proper twist of self-flagellating excitement when along comes a title/series that actual does rush the blood to all manner of dodgy organs. And for Soul Boys and Gals, Universal's twofer exploration series "A Cellarful Of Motown!" is one of those happy occasions.
Begun in 2002 and making no bones about describing themselves as purveyors of 'The Rarest Detroit Grooves' on their digital label bellies - its last volume was issued 2020. So in over 20 years there have been only five sets - thereby reflecting both the difficulty and time it takes to collate such vault trawls. Door number four is one of my faves - Soul Galore indeed! Let's have at the many (sometimes sketchy) details...
UK released 31 August 2010 - "A Cellarful Of Motown! Volume 4" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Universal/Motown 8824009 (Barcode 042288240099) is a 50-Track 2CD Compilation of Remasters covering 'The Rarest Detroit Grooves' between 1962 and 1971 and it plays out as follows:
CD1 (69:29 minutes):
1. Kidnapped - THE BLACKBERRIES (Mid-60s, Venetta Fields Lead Vocals)
2. Keep On Tryin' ('Til You Find Love) - THE FANTASTIC FOUR (1967 to 1969 recordings)
3. Your Kiss Kiss - MARVIN GAYE & OMA HEARD (Repaired recording, June 1964)
4. My Baby Moves Me - BRENDA HOLLOWAY (Recovered 1966 Bootleg recording)
5. Cool Cool Baby - JR. WALKER & THE ALL STARS (March 1966 recording)
6. The Girl I've Chosen To Be My Bride - JOE STUBBS (Aug/Dec 1968 recordings, brother of Four Tops lead vocalist Levi Stubbs and one-time member of the famed vocal group The falcons)
7. You Didn't Show Girl - THE TEMPTATIONS (March to December 1968 recordings)
8. My Baby Changes Like The Weather - THE VOWS (Unknown recording date)
9. Doctor Of Love - THE MONITORS (1966 recordings, Sandra Fagin Lead Vocals)
10. All I Need Is A Chance - ROBERT DOBYNE (Lead Vocalist with The Artistics, September to October 1965 recordings)
11. The Day You Take One (You Have To Take The Other) - GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS (June 1967 recordings, considered for the 'Lost & Found' Series, released here)
12. Ain't Gonna Tell You - FRANK WILSON (Unknown recording details)
13. Dancing U.S.A. - THE CONTOURS (Sept 1964 to March 1965 recordings)
14. That's The Way I See Him - THE MARVELETTES (January 1963 recordings)
15. Have A Little Patience (And Wait) - MARY WELLS (July 1963 recordings)
16. Three Time Loser - MARVIN GAYE (Feb and March 1963 recordings, Backing Vocals by The Vandellas)
17. Lead Me And Guide Me - HOLLAND & DOZIER (May 1963 recordings, probably LaBrenda Ben on Lead Vocals)
18. It's Company Time - THE VERSATONES (July 1963 Novelty recording)
19. Twin Brother - EDDIE HOLLAND (February 1963 for this recording, original was Oct 1962)
20. Think Of The Times - CAROLYN CRAWFORD (And The Velvelettes) (April and December 1964 recordings)
21. You're What's Happening Baby - FOUR TOPS (June 1965 recordings, Levi Stubbs on Lead Vocals)
22. I'll Turn To Stone - DENNIS EDWARDS (June 1967 recordings, Four Tops soloist track)
23. I Need You More Now Than Ever - PAUL WILLIAMS (August 1971 to August 1972 recordings, Temptations soloist)
24. Daddy, Cool - OMA HEARD (No recording details)
25. The Real You - BARBARA McNAIR (Dec 1966, January 1967 recordings)
CD2 (71:58 minutes):
1. Miss Lonely Hearts - THE VANDELLAS (Sept 1956 recordings)
2. The House That Jack Built - J.J. BARNES (October 1966 recordings)
3. The Philly Dog - EARL VAN DYKE (May 1966 recordings)
4. Whole Lot Of Shakin' In My Heart (Since I Met You) - THE UTOPIANS (Frank Wilson cover, November 1968 recordings)
5. Only A Lonely Man Would Know - IVY JO HUNTER (August 1968 and June 1969 recordings)
6. It's Gonna Be Always - BLINKY (March, April and June 1969 recordings)
7. Somebody's Waiting For Me - THE CONTOURS (August and September 1966 recordings initially assigned to Marvin Gaye)
8. A Bird In The Hand (Is Worth Two In The Bush) - GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS (September, October and November 1967 recordings)
9. Don't Let Me Be Lonely - TAMMI TERRELL (Sept to Nov 1965 recordings)
10. Why Don't You Come Home - STEVIE WONDER (July to Sept 1968 recordings)
11. You Can Do It - THE MIRACLES (October 1967 recordings)
12. You Gave Me Love To Live For - DEBBIE DEAN (March 1968 recordings)
13. Head Over Heels In Love With You Baby - THE SPINNERS (Aug, Sept 1966)
14. I'd Cry - CHUCK JACKSON (September 1969 to November 1970 recordings)
15. In The Summer - THE LOLLIPOPS (Sept, December 1969 recordings)
16. Just Let Me Thank You For Loving Me - THE ORIGINALS (1968 to 1970)
17. I Feel Like I'm Falling In Love Again - DENNIS EDWARDS (1967 to 1968)
18. Sock It Two 'Um - JR. WALKER & THE ALL STARS (1965 recordings)
19. Take Him Back If It Makes You Happy - THE FANTASTIC FOUR (1967)
20. Born To Be Bad - EDWIN STARR (1969 recordings)
21. She's All I Need (In This World) - MARV JOHNSON (1968 and 1969)
22. Mobile Lil The Dancing Witch - SHORTY LONG (1967 recordings)
23. Hey Girl, Come On Do The Pearl - THE AGENTS (1967 recordings)
24. In The Cool Of The Night - DAVID RUFFIN (1971 recordings)
25. Little Miss Loser - BRENDA HOLLOWAY (1964 recordings)
The 20-page booklet is a serious info-fest for the Motown nut who just has to know every nook and cranny. PAUL NIXON - who collated the set - gives a track-by-track detail fest that aims its information at the Archives and the Collectors. For instance when describing the Earl Van Dyke cover version discovery of Smokey Robinson's "The Philly Dog" - we find out it includes the band leader's group The Soul Brothers and is co-written with Warren Moore, Marv Tarpin and Tony Newton - names that will be of interest to label aficionados. Mastering/Remastering was done by JARED HAWKES at Universal and given the nature of unreleased - he's done a bang-up job at making them pop. Loving the colour photos between the pages of label bags, artist publicity shots, Dansette at the ready with 45s strewn around it. Chunes...
Finding a Marvin Gaye track no one has catalogued or heard before ("Three Time Loser" on CD1) only to have The Vandellas doing Backing Vocals on it - or a Mary Wells song - or a track by Joe Stubbs - Brother of the Lead Vocalist Levi Stubbs for The Four Tops - is amazing in itself. But this compilation has a Frank Wilson unreleased! To put this into context, Wilson's legendary withdrawn Motown song "Do I Love You" is THE Northern Soul Monster 45 of all time. Reputedly with only one known copy in existence, it changed hands for over half-a-million bucks and is one of the jewels on Ellen Fitton's "The Motown Singles Series" on Hip-O Select. Although the liner notes here tell us that Frank (when contacted) doesn't remember anything about the recording of "Ain't Gonna Tell You" (not even the recording date) - it's enough to have anything new by Wilson to raise the heart-palpitations of any Dancer or Soul fan to the level of needing paramedics standing-by.
And yet this set is full of those kind of finds - names like Robert Dobyne or The Vows or Debbie Dean or The Utopians or The Versatones are not exactly rolling off the tongues of your average listener. The Acetate for "I've Got A Right To Cry" is legendary and despite searches across decades, it was never found in the Motown vaults - until now. The 'Demo' vocal of "Lead Me And Guide Me" attributable to Holland-Dozier-Holland (Track 17, CD1) turns out to be that recording from 31 May 1963. Although other details are sketchy, Paul Nixon nonetheless describes its discovery as 'the' find of the series. Northern Soul rarity hunters will also love "Think Of The Times" which has female hero of the NS scene Carolyn Crawford backed up by The Velvelettes - sounding saucy and leaning into that microphone. You would think too that every Four Tops session would have been plundered by now, but again, Nixon finds a Levi Stubbs lead vocal worth having in the shape of "You're What's Happening Baby" - a worth-having dancer laid down over two days in June 1965. One-time duet vocalist with Marvin Gaye, Oma Heard has The Pipkins-written "Daddy, Cool" while that manic club scene vibe is created for Barbara McNair's "The Real You".
Fans of floorfillers will dig The Vandellas giving it some on their "Miss Lonely Heart" - a classic Motown driver from September 1965 penned by Smokey Robinson and Ivy Jo Hunter. J.J. Barnes tries manfully to channel his inner Marvin Gaye on "The House That Jack Built" whilst band-leader Earl Van Dyke gives us no such subtlety on his rim-shot scorcher "The Philly Dog" (backed up by The Soul Brothers). A co-write with Beatrice Verdi, Ivy Jo Hunter's "Only A Lonely Man Would Know" pours on the angst - a song Marvin then cut on his 1969 album "M.P.G." Lovers of Edwin Starr's duet partner Blinky will be pleased to see something new in "It's Gonna Be Always" - an Al Hamilton and Jean Toney song from 1969. The ballad found by Marvin's best duet partner Tammi Terrell was recorded September 1965 and tinkered with up until November - is a heart-warmer penned by Smokey and Ivy Jo Hunter. And on it goes back to the start where Brenda Holloway gets to close this fab twofer with her "Little Miss Loser" from 1964 - the year that Motown broke huge.
Motown, Tamla, Gordy, Tamla Motown - wow! What a rich vein they tapped and by the looks of it will still be doing so for years to come...
Titles in the 2CD "A Cellarful Of Motown!" Series are (UK editions):
"A Cellarful Of Motown!"
3 June 2002 UK Universal/Motown 544 619-2 (Barcode 731454461924)
All 40-Tracks Previously Unreleased except "Riding High On Love" by Jr. Walker & The All Stars on CD2 (Track 10)
"A Cellarful Of Motown! Volume 2"
4 July 2005 UK Universal/Tamla Motown 982 929-7 (Barcode 602498292976)
All 42-Tracks of The Rarest Detroit Grooves Remastered by Gary Moore
"A Cellarful Of Motown! Volume 3"
15 October 2007 UK Universal/Motown 5303228 (Barcode 600753032282)
45-Track 2CD compilations (hidden tracks) with Gary Moore and Ellen Fitton Remasters
"A Cellarful Of Motown! Volume 4"
31 August 2010 UK Universal/Motown 8824009 (Barcode 042288240099)
50-Track 2CD compilation with Jared Hawkes Remasters
"A Cellarful Of Motown! Volume 5"
18 September 2020 UK Caroline Records/Motown CAROLR090CD (Barcode 600753847008)
43-Track 2CD compilation
with Nick Robbins Remasters
