2648 West Vinyl Boulevard

A ‘DEFINITIVE’ STEVIE, A ‘MY GIRL’ ANNIVERSARY, AND MORE

Who knew?

      In a few weeks’ time, the worldwide sales of vinyl records in calendar 2024 are expected to close out at $1 billion in value, more than 15 percent ahead of last year. They will soon overtake global compact disc sales, according to a recent report by media consultancy Omdia.

      And the timeless music of Hitsville U.S.A. has played its part, due in no small measure to a couple of enterprising Spanish record companies, which have, on the one hand, been reissuing albums on vinyl from the Motown catalogue, and on the other, compiling EPs of rare tracks not previously available on vinyl.

Shouldn’t this be on the Tamla label?

      Elemental Music and Soul4Real have been doing this under license from the ultimate owner of the classic Motown catalogue, Universal Music – which itself is today (December 6) debuting on vinyl a 2LP compilation of Stevie Wonder’s best-known work. It’s drawn from 2002’s The Definitive Collection, released at the time on compact disc, and now newly certified as 4x platinum for U.S. sales of four million copies.

      Meanwhile, the Motown Museum in Detroit is about to celebrate the 60th anniversary – on December 21 – of the release of the Temptations’ “My Girl” with a new, seven-inch vinyl pressing. It’s a remastered version using the original multi-track master tapes.

      This flow of Motown vinyl is obviously expected to continue, not least because Elemental – profiled here earlier this year – has committed to further reissues in 2025. The Barcelona-based firm has marketed 19 such LPs since May, including the Temptations’ Wish It Would Rain and three other titles by the group; the Jackson 5’s Third Album and Get It Together, both in red vinyl; and Smokey Robinson’s Smokey in blue vinyl, with a gatefold sleeve.

      Next week, Elemental reissues Gladys Knight & the Pips’ Neither One Of Us, the Temptations’ Solid Rock, and the self-titled debut by the Undisputed Truth. Next year, it will ship LPs by Robinson (Pure Smokey), Diana Ross & the Supremes (Reflections), and the Four Tops (Changing Times), among others. The company divides its output between the United States and Spain. It produces limited-edition quantities in the low thousands; three of its earlier titles have already sold out, including Tammi Terrell’s Irresistible.

      “Not too long ago, people thought vinyl was a thing of the past,” Elemental founder Jordi Soley told me in April. “Now vinyl manufacturers are at full capacity and a lot of small labels are really struggling to get their titles pressed.”

Back on vinyl (after one billion Spotify streams)

      With “My Girl,” the Motown Museum is launching its inaugural Legacy Vinyl Project, supported by Universal Music and Detroit’s own Third Man Pressing. Jack White’s outfit had its own reissues on vinyl in 2015, putting out nine 45s by the likes of the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Miracles, Chico Leverett, the Satintones and Barrett Strong. These were packaged in replica black-and-white yellow sleeves designed to match the original singles on the Tamla imprint.

      On one side of the new “My Girl” seven-inch are Smokey Robinson, Otis Williams of the Temptations and arranger Paul Riser, reminiscing about the song’s creation and recording. The disc’s packaging includes an essay by (ahem) yours truly, and recollections by photographer Don Paulsen, who took the iconic shot of Robinson teaching the group the lyrics to his then-new song backstage at New York’s Apollo Theater in 1964.

      The pressing run is limited to 1,500 copies, while a separate, exclusive edition of 1,000 units will be made available to new Motown Museum members. Moreover, the Museum is offering an on-site tour this December 21 which includes a listening session in storied Studio A – where the Temptations recorded the song’s vocals on November 10, 1964 – and a Q&A with Riser. Ticket sales for members opened a couple of days ago, while tickets for the general public become available tomorrow (7). Included in the $60 “immersive experience” price is a copy of the new “My Girl” 45, once pressed.

FROM DETROIT WITH LOVE

      Soul4Real Records had a later Temptations track, 1966’s “I’d Rather Forget,” on the first of its From Detroit With Love EPs, which came out this past June and featured Motown material that was unreleased at the time of recording and has never previously been on vinyl. In addition to “I’d Rather Forget,” the first volume contained Kim Weston’s “Fancy Meeting You Here” and J.J. Barnes’ “I’m Here Now That You Need Me” – both also from 1966 – and the Miracles’ “Show Me That You Can Dance” from 1965.

      The subsequent five From Detroit With Love EPs offered tracks by Brenda Holloway, Carolyn Crawford, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Four Tops, Oma Heard, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Jackson & Yvonne Fair, Blinky & Edwin Starr, and David Ruffin, as well as more titles by Weston and the Temptations.

Six EPs released so far, six to come

      All were picked by Soul4Real founder Alex Subinas, and the half-dozen EPs released so far have been limited to 500 copies each. At 20 euros apiece, all six have sold out, he says. He also reaffirms that none of the tracks have been hitherto available on vinyl, while noting that another six EP volumes are planned.

      Subinas has form in soul music. Between 2000 and 2023, he co-organised an annual soul weekender called Soul4Real in his Bilbao hometown. “Over the years,” he told me, “we booked artists like Phillip Mitchell, Barbara Mason, Margie Joseph, Lenny Williams, Bettye LaVette and Swamp Dogg.” As a record label, Soul4Real started in 2014 “basically dedicated to ’60s and ’70s soul” with a release by Mitchell.

      Its first LP with Motown repertoire was 2023’s Win Or Lose, a 12-track compilation with half sourced from the Duke and Chess vaults, the other half from Hitsville. The latter six included a 1964 rarity by Johnny Bristol, “Tell Me How To Forget A True Love,” written by Bristol with Mickey Stevenson, who produced it. (That doesn’t appear to have been available anywhere before. UPDATE: see comments below.) Other gems on Win Or Lose were the Velvelettes’ version of “Your Heart Belongs To Me” (previously cut by the Supremes) and Marvin Gaye’s “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So.” One of the virtues of the Soul4Real website is that digital versions of the tracks can be played there.

      And so to Stevie.

      The 2LP content of The Definitive Collection has been remastered for vinyl, and (unless I’m mistaken) is the first U.S. assembly of his hits in that sound-carrier format since Stevie Wonder’s Original Musiquarium I in 1982. The latter had 16 tracks, compared to this one’s 21.

      The new $32.99 set has Braille embossing on its packaging, track-by-track annotations (including Billboard Hot 100 and R&B chart peaks) and the reprise of a “celebratory essay” about Wonder by renowned Detroit radio DJ Scott Regen, which first appeared in the 2002 edition. He was also responsible for the liners of the musician’s first Greatest Hits album in 1968. “His destiny is greatness,” Regen wrote then (Wonder was 17).

‘His destiny is greatness’

      Produced by Universal Music’s Harry Weinger and Jeff Moskow, The Definitive Collection opens with “Fingertips – Pt. 2” and closes with “Part-Time Lover.” The track selection is as expected, including eight pop Number Ones, but “Living In The City” is notable for being unedited from the original Innervisions album version, running to 7:25 (the original single was 3:12). Less expected is the inclusion of 1966’s “Hey Love,” which was influential when sampled by De La Soul a quarter-century later.

      In 2002, the CD package featured images of 12 of Wonder’s album covers. The new vinyl version has reproductions of 34 such covers, beginning with The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie and ending with A Time 2 Love. They include Eivets Rednow and ‘Live’ At The Talk Of The Town (a U.K. release) but exclude 1977’s Looking Back – of which Wonder was reportedly not a fan – and 1996’s Song Review: A Greatest Hits Collection.

      The 2LP cover illustration of The Definitive Collection is by Michael Bryan, previously responsible for the artwork on Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear, among others. Also, Universal Music is making available several other versions, such as one in coloured vinyl via Amazon, and another (exclusive to Walmart) which is an 11-track single LP. An edition in “Tamla yellow” with an alternate cover is being offered to Complex.com followers.

      The Definitive Collection on vinyl will undoubtedly not be the last such assembly of Wonder’s work, given his stature as one of the 20th century’s most significant musicians. The chances are that more compilations will arrive via whatever vessels of sound are technologically developed in future, be they physical or digital or...

      Who knows?

Album notes: there’s much more Motown on vinyl that’s new or recently made available, of course. The record company’s own online store offers six other Wonder LP titles, including Hotter Than July at a relatively cheap $19.98 and Songs In The Key of Life at an eye-watering $45.98 (at present, the latter is sold out). You can also buy multiple Marvin Gaye titles, a couple by Lionel Richie, Christmas albums by the Temptations and the Jackson 5, and even the Isley Brothers’ This Old Heart Of Mine.

Foreign notes: naturally, Motown’s overseas licensees tailored compilations for their own markets, and Stevie was no exception. Among such non-U.S. titles on CD was 2007’s U.K.-released Number Ones, with 20 tracks and a link (long-gone) to recordings from Wonder’s Abbey Road performance in November 2005. Another was a 50-track, 3CD set marketed in Japan in 2010 under the title Love Harmony & Eternity.