A Motown Story

In March 1983 I joined the newly formed european office at RCA Records based in London. It was my job to coordinate the production of CDs for the label and convert the existing catalogue to issue CD equivalents.

At that time Motown was being distributed in the US by MCA and licensed to EMI everywhere else in the world. The EMI licences were about to expire.........read on  -  The First Motown on CD

Harvey Fuqua (1929 - 2010)

Harvey Fuqua died on 6th July 2010 (born 1929).  Fuqua was a leading light in the three decades of music as a performer, writer, producer and arranger for many well known artists.  In the 1950's he was a member of the Moonglows which later included Marvin Gaye(from 1959).  With the group he hit with "Sincerely" in 1954 and "Ten Commandments of Love" in '58.  He married Berry Gordy's sister Gwen and together they owned and ran the Tri-Phi Label which first contracted with Junior Walker and the Allstars.  In '63 the label was acquired by Motown and Fuqua turned his talents to a raft of stars including Walker, Gladys Knight and Marvin Gaye (who he brought to the label).  He wrote and produced a number of hits for the label including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and many of Walkers hits including "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)".  Post Motown his biggest success was as a producer of disco, most notably "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" for Sylvester and also worked with another ex-staffer at Motown, Johnny Bristol.  He reunited with Marvin Gaye for the "Midnight Love" album in 1982.

Pick up any Motown compilation and it's likely he's featured there somewhere.  One of the unsung heroes.


see also: More on Junior Walker

Not Lost But Found - Bon Iver

I'd seen the name Bon Iver around but never taken much notice not knowing the music or the act (I now know it's a band and not an individual). Last year I watched the BBC coverage of Glastonbury and flicking around saw their set.  Knocked out.  They were excellent.  I then captured the mp3 of this which is below.  After buying the albums and Blood Bank EP I am a firm fan.  Nothing better than finding something new out of the blue, totally unexpected and wondering why you have missed it in the first place.  I really thought this was an old hand singing english folk songs who someone had wheeled out for a last gasp on the festival circuit.  Nothing to a name obviously (I was told it's derivative of the french "good winter" "Bon H'iver" as they are canadian)  If that's not true well.... Bon Iver Glastonbury 09

Walk and Talk - PLEASE!

Another day another commuting moan. I understand that when you get off the tube you want to check your phone for that urgent message.  Why do it at the top of the escalator, in the middle (i.e. not to the side of )the platform, in the queue for the gates.  Either that or learn to walk and talk at the same time.

I'm getting concerned about this I usually think of myself as a pretty cool commuter - working on the basis that  I get there when I get there - I can't drive the bus, train, tube so I should leave it to the professionals.  Old moaner really isn't me - I hope.

Missed Gigs

Rumer at the Bloomsbury Theatre SOLD OUT.  Rumer supporting Joshua Radin at the Roundhouse SOLD OUT. Crowded House at Hammersmith earlier this Summer SOLD OUT.  I really need to pay more attention.

Rumer single is out today

BA Story - The Result

Finally I have heard back from BA customer services regarding my claim.  They are willing to reimburse £845 of a £1067 claim.  Given that the tickets cost me some £4000 and I will be travelling again AND my long explanation about how much hassle I had in getting myself kitted out for my trip whilst trying to do what I was in the US for, you would think that they may have made a goodwill gestrue and paid it out in full.  Instead I get an email from a machine that denies the balance of the claim on the basis that they won't pay for laundry (funny I thought I was being prudent in getting my clothes pressed rather than simply buying more)  They won't pay for phone calls from the hotel - despite my explanation that my blackberry charger was in my lost bag and I arrved at 9pm at night and had to sort stuff out for the morning (as I was bagless!).  All this was due to their error so (me being simple) I beleive this is all down to them. I've written and told them i'll except it as I have no way of going back to them - but expressed my concern, shall we say of their lack of understanding, and ineptitude in the art of customer relations (surely the email informing me of all this could have had someone's name on it?).  Oh well i'll try another airline (BA please note all for £222).

Cover Me

I have a second Blog called "The Lost Record Covers Club"  The idea behind it is that I was becoming frustrated by 3 things - not being able to find all the music that I want on CD (see Lost and Found).  The incorrect album art that i-tunes and Gracenote put on your library when you do have the CD or the download (not that i have any downloads) and just album art that should be appreciated for itself or for the music contained in it.  Some of the art is available elsewhere on the web but most posted are scans of vinyl that I own.  I worked in the record business in the late 70's and early 80's so have some older and more obscure releases - whilst these are not necessarily collectable, they are rare (i.e. They didn't sell!). As I convert some of the music to digital I will post links to the tracks in addition release details.

Today's Must Have - Rumer - "Slow"

Heard this first on Radio 2/Chris Evans earlier this week and then found it on YouTube.  Bloody marvelous.  It seems I'm not alone in hearing Karen Carpenter in the singer's voice (is Rumer her or them?).  She has a gift of a voice coupled with an effortless style plus a hint of jazz feel to it.  YouTube also has a Paul Simon cover which stands the test as well so this is no one-off. Give it a play and enjoy.  I for one will be looking for the album. see the video on Rumer "Slow" on YouTube

BA Story (continued)

No news.

Soul Messages

Posted my first mix on soundcloud,  This is so easy to do and i'd recommend the site to anyone.

http://soundcloud.com/boyred/tracks

(Sound)cloud 9

Just subscribed to soundcloud. Brill site featuring mixes,orginal tracks and mashups. Will start to put some of my amateurish mixes up to share. This is a track I found whilst browsing - mashups rarely work well in my estimation but this seems to for no obvious reason other than it's well put together and they just match. Let me know what you think.

If You're Not Human (The Killers vs. Daniel Bedingfield) by D.J. Glen

Jill Scott - Jill Excites Us (remix)

White Label (possibly from 2003) track from her first album mixed as a house track. I heard this via the wonderful but now gone Giant45 radio show of the Norman Jay (obe). Now I have an mp3 somewhere of that show....

ps. Stoopid here has just found Giant45 is online (although gone from 94.9fm) at the site above - follow the link and enjoy.
pps. Just found out this is a remix by Tod Gardner (who he?)

Still M.I.A

Lost & Found Department

I Need These
No I really mean it. I do. I'm no different from any other record collector I know. We've all been collecting records for years but at some point in the period we have given them up for some other desirable item (in my case at just turned 16 a Mark 3 Ford Escort which had the looks but not enough working parts to fulfil it's initial promise). Anyway you guessed it things had to go and the one thing I had plenty of was vinyl. I had a cassette recorder and (guessed again) mr not-so-bright-as-it-turns-out-now went all modern and converted all his music to tapes that then slowly disintergated over the years. I got probably 50p per album (rrp was about £2.50 at the time and about 20p a single (rrp 79p). Bugger. There are some stories and pleas about my quest to regain collection here in the pick 'n' mix. remember it's sometimes cruel to laugh at others misfortune or even their poor judgement - really you had to be there.

See The Lost and Found (which hopefully will include tracks when they are reunited with me)