![]() ![]() These were individually selected by Motown A&R specialists from UMG’s secure storage facilities. Also included are five funky instrumentals by Motown’s latterly-celebrated house band the Funk Brothers house band, recording under the name of band leader Earl Van Dyke, including the standout Paul Riser production ‘Moratorium.’Īll 60 tracks on the set have been mastered, for the first time, at Studio 4 by Phil Nicolo from their original analog master tapes. They include ‘While They Watch’ and ‘You’re My World’ by Motown’s British chanteuse of the time, Kiki Dee. Some tracks with technical flaws that prevented their contemporary release have been repaired by UMe A&R executives and studio engineers. Ross, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong were together in the studio for the last time. The Jackson 5 present their version of the Miracles’ ‘What’s So Good About Goodbye’ and there’s a moment of history in Diana Ross & the Supremes’ take on Wonder’s ‘For Once In My Life.’ It was recorded in the session at which Ms. The ever-underrated Motown writer-producer Ivy Jo Hunter, recording as Ivy Jo, sings ‘Dancing In The Street’ and ‘Ask The Lonely,’ which he co-wrote for Martha and the Vandellas and the Four Tops respectively. Motown Unreleased: 1969 also offers the chance to admire never-before-heard readings of some of the label’s classic songs. So, until now, those songs went unreleased.” Or, it’s a simple case of having only so many slots for releases. “There’s an opening for writers and producers to experiment with the Motown sound but, for certain topics, or musical ideas, or even artists, the company isn’t ready. “Motown is clearly evolving at this time,” says Harry Weinger, VP of A&R at Universal Music Enterprises, who oversaw the album. There’s also a taste of Stevie Wonder’s broadening musical ambition in one of his first self-produced tracks, the uplifting ‘Mister Moon.’ The Temptations offer an ode to African-American beauty in ‘Pretty Little Brown Skin Girl’ while Bobby Taylor takes time out from developing the Jackson 5’s talent ahead of their first album with his own ‘Touched by Love,’ produced by Johnny Bristol. Among the mouthwatering selection is the stirring ‘I Had a Dream (Opus I),’ written and produced by Ashford & Simpson for Gladys Knight & the Pips in the year after Martin Luther King’s assassination. It’s testament to the bottomless creativity at work at Hitsville at the time that more than half of the tracks on Motown Unreleased: 1969 are compositions that have never been heard outside of that studio. ![]()
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