Inside The Motown Vinyl Revival

 

Since May 10th of this year, stalwart reissue imprint Elemental Music has taken a slight sidestep from their steady diet of rare and previously unreleased jazz performances to pay homage to iconic Detroit R&B label Motown Records.

But rather than adding to the seemingly never ending lineage of anthologies, compilations and greatest hits packages that have punctuated its catalog these last 65 years, Elemental has been diligently remastering individual albums from Motown’s vast catalog, restoring them to their prior glory.

Among the albums that have already been reissued as part of this campaign include such gems as Smokey Robinson’s Smokey, The Temptations’ Cloud Nine, The Four Tops’ Still Waters Run Deep, Love Child by Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Jackson Five’s Third Album and When I’m Alone I Cry by Marvin Gaye.

This Friday comes the release of the final trio in the 2024 campaign with Gladys Knight & the Pips’ Neither One of Us, The Temptations’ Solid Rock and The Undisputed Truth’s The Undisputed Truth, which is being reissued for the very first time. 

Rock & Roll Globe had the distinct honor of sending some questions to Elemental Executive Manager Carlos Agustin Calembert about this historic campaign and where it’s headed.

 

When did Elemental begin looking at the Motown catalogue for an individual album reissue campaign?

Up until recently, Elemental has mainly reissued jazz and blues titles. This has included archival recordings from the likes of Bill Evans, Chet Baker, Yusef Lateef, BB King and Cannonball Adderley. We had released some individual Motown titles over the years like Tammi Terrell’s The Irresistible in 2021 and Jackson 5’s ABC. This year however is the first time we’ve undertaken a comprehensive series of Motown titles!

Like most people during the pandemic, we had few better things to do than listen to all sorts of music, which helped us arrive at the idea of doing a Motown reissue series. Also, the historical connection the jazz genre and Motown have is difficult to ignore. Jazz and Blues undoubtedly set the stage for Motown’s distinctive sound and Motown, in turn, drew a lot of inspiration from Jazz and Blues. If you look at the credits for nearly any of the albums in our series, Jazz enthusiasts will recognise names like James Jamerson, Earl Van Dike and Joe Messina, colloquially known as The Funk Brothers, A.K.A, Motown’s in-house band.

When we looked at what titles in Motown’s large discography had been reissued, we were surprised to see only a handful of popular titles were reissued in the 80’s. Motown’s focus historically was on singles, which often achieved greater popularity and sales than full-length albums, making good examples of some LPs — particularly those that were less commercially successful releases quite difficult to find. With the Motown series, we wanted to take a deep dive into the label’s history and to reissue some more obscure titles.

 

 

For example, in 2022, we put out our first Motown reissue, Rare Earth’s Get Ready, which was released on the Rare Earth subsidiary, which was primarily for white artists under the Motown umbrella. We loved the title track “Get Ready,” which is originally a Temptations single. Rare Earth have their own twenty one minute rendition of the track, a true gem.

Ultimately, as a reissue label, we want to place the music we release into a wider historical context. A Motown series seemed like a great idea considering its legacy still influences music today.

 

How do you decide which titles were chosen for this series? What is the digging and listening process like?

Well practically, there’s a lot of things to consider when launching a series like this. We had to see what titles were available to us from the rights holders, what titles do we believe people will enjoy, the quality and availability of master tapes, and how do we want to pay homage to Motown? We combed through Motown’s catalogue and selected what we thought had potential. Our focus was on more obscure albums that hadn’t been reissued since their original release or shortly thereafter. During the 1960s and 1970s, Motown’s output was incredibly prolific. This led to many exceptional albums slipping through the cracks, even from some of Motown’s most iconic artists.

The Supremes’ A Bit of Liverpool originally came out in 1965, with its only reissue being a Japan exclusive in 1973. The Temptations’ Sky’s the Limit, first released in 1973, will be reissued for the first time. Likewise, The Undisputed Truth’s The Undisputed Truth, released in 1971, will be reissued for the first time. We’re also releasing Diana Ross and tje Supremes’ Let the Sunshine In, which was originally released in 1969 and briefly reissued in 1973, along with The Four Tops’ Changing Times, originally from 1970 and last reissued in 1972.

Getting access to Motown’s extensive vault was a dream come true for a reissue label like ourselves. Motown have done an excellent job at maintaining their master tapes over the last few decades, commissioning remasters in the late 80’s and early 90’s, when the tapes were degrading with age.

We’re using these remasters which were done by John Matousek, Gavin Lurssen and Bill Inglot. As we were digging, we ended up finding and eventually reissuing some albums we originally hadn’t planned to, which was a nice surprise!

Motown, especially in the 60s, was known more for its singles than its albums. What would you like this series to convey about the early Motown albums?

For this series, we wanted to highlight Motown’s evolution as a label. Its transition from a hit factory that focused on singles to the development of more cohesive albums that reflected the cultural and musical landscape of the time was really interesting to us. Motown’s prime, some would argue, was mainly the decade between 1962 and 1971, culminating in the company’s move from Detroit to Los Angeles in mid-1972. This is the period when the company had the most influence over the rest of the industry, and made most of its greatest recordings. By the late 60’s, Motown was embracing the concept album era, influenced by artists like The Beatles with Sgt. Pepper’s and Tommy by The Who. This period was when Motown really started to experiment more with its sound.

One of our goals with the series is to showcase hidden gems within the early Motown album catalogue, such as Rare Earth’s 21-minute cover of The Temptations’ “Get Ready.” Though it didn’t receive significant commercial success at the time, it became an influential track in the 1980s New York rap and breakdancing scene. Similarly, we wanted to show the evolution of the labels icons like Marvin Gaye. Gaye had several early albums with limited success before breaking through with “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” from his In the Groove album, which we have reissued as part of this series.

Through this series, we wanted to provide a deeper historical context for Motown, showing how the label’s music shaped the musical landscape of the time and evolved, from its classic 60’s sound to the later psychedelic soul era.

 

Of the series thus far, what album do you feel benefited most from receiving the reissue treatment?

One of the highlights of the series is definitely The Undisputed Truth’s 1971 self-titled debut. We’ll be reissuing it for the first time, which is surprising as the album really represents a transitional period for Motown, where they encouraged their roster to make more cohesive and conceptual albums. Produced by Norman Whitfield during his era of dominance at the label the result is more adult-oriented and socially aware. The Undisputed Truth were formed by Whitfield and together they would go on to pioneer the psychedelic soul sound that became synonymous with Motown in the early 70’s.

It offers something different from most Motown albums yet retains that classic Motown sound, especially considering that “You Got the Love I Need” was originally cut in 1965! Most people are probably familiar with their cover of The Temptations’ “Smiling Faces Sometimes,” which would be the group’s biggest hit but there’s also an excellent cover of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” Overall, it’s an important album in the extensive history of Motown.

How can we — the press, the industry, older music fans — ensure that Motown music remains vital in these modern times?

Motown is iconic, it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Motown has a universal appeal; almost everyone knows one Motown song or at least the Motown ‘sound’. At the moment, Motown and Northern Soul music are experiencing an increase in popularity, particularly in the UK. It’s great that younger audiences can still connect with the label, 50 years after its prime.

Fans, labels and the music industry in general I think have an obligation to remember where Motown came from and how much it has shaped other genres that we love today. Music labels, especially those reissuing records, play a big role in telling the stories of the artists, the music, and its impact. Motown isn’t just about great tunes; it’s a huge part of American history and the black experience, and it’s important to remind people of this. I think anyone can enjoy Motown’s music, it has that universality to it that Jazz and Classical kind of lacks, which has really helped its legacy and popularity amongst contemporary audiences.

Plus, there are still plenty of new artists and labels who are committed to keeping the Motown sound alive, like Big Crown Records or artists like Durand Jones & The Indications, Thee Sacred Souls and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. The love for that classic sound is still there, and it’s up to us to keep celebrating it and sharing it with new generations.

 

What’s the forecast for this series heading into 2025?

The series culminates in 2025. After that, potentially we’ll release more Motown titles. So far, the response has been great. Psychedelic Shack is a particularly strong album and one that a lot of Motown aficionados have been wanting to see reissued. That’s out in March of next year and will be a great way to finish this collection!

 

Diana Ross & The Supremes: Reflections / Project No. 2024-00040-LIC Jan 12th

Gladys Knight & The Pips: Nitty Gritty / Project No. 2024-00034-LIC Jan 12th

Smokey Robinson: Pure Smokey / Project No. 2024-00032-LIC Jan 12th

Diana Ross & The Supremes: Let The Sunshine In / Project No. 2024-00041-LIC Feb 14th

Four Tops: Changing Times / Project No. 2024-00044-LIC Feb 14th

The Temptations: Puzzle People / Project No. 2024-00037-LIC Feb 14th

The Temptations: Psychedelic Shack / Project No. 2023-00238-LIC March 14th

What do you attribute to vinyl’s resurgence?

Good question, people want a more personal connection to music. Unlike digital streaming, vinyl gives listeners an opportunity to engage more deeply with the music, artists, and the creative process. When people have a physical album in hand, complete with liner notes, credits, and lyric sheets, they’re more inclined to explore the music and the stories behind it. As a medium it just requires a more attentive approach than listening digitally or as I’d think ‘invisibly’

However, at the moment there are a number of rising costs in vinyl production that are making things difficult. Since COVID, manufacturing expenses have increased and haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. Despite this, we try our best to keep our releases reasonably priced. If we do want to respect Motown’s legacy, we believe it should be accessible to all fans.

 

Are there any plans to delve into the Motown archives beyond the commercially released titles? What’s their rarities vault like?

The Motown archive is extensive. So much so it’s quite overwhelming! However, the last 10 or so years have marked a lot of anniversaries for some of Motown’s great albums, so they’ve been reissued accordingly. It’s difficult to know what we’ll do going forward. All the copyright and licensing work, contacting rights holders etc isn’t easy, but some type of outtakes, demos or B-Side compilation could be cool! Other labels like Hip-O have been reissuing a lot of Motown stuff too, they’ve done complete box sets of every Motown single recorded! We believe our niche lies in uncovering and reissuing rarer, lesser-known Motown albums, so maybe we’ll stick to that!