A World of Motown Imagery
WIE SCHÖN DAS IST (HOW SWEET IT IS)
Every picture tells a story, right? But when there are more than 3,000 pictures, that’s a hell of a lot of stories.
Who’s dancing with Smokey on that French EP sleeve (it’s not Claudette – sure looks like Tammi)? Where exactly is the rusty bridge where Stevie’s sitting, on the cover of that Japanese single? And is that BG’s apartment where Marvin is pictured on “You’re A Wonderful One” (another French EP)? It certainly resembles the furniture in his living room at the top of 2648 West Grand.
Welcome to Tamla Motown Worldwide II, a new book of considerable depth – and weight – which illustrates the many, many picture sleeves encasing the many, many Motown singles and four-track EPs released around the globe during the first 12 years (or so) of the company’s existence.
In the City of Light: Diana, Mary, Florence
And the world certainly is the showcase of these images, as deployed once upon a time by dozens of Motown’s international licensees, from Australia to Yugoslavia, from Belgium to Brazil, from Norway to New Zealand – plus a few dodgy operators. All that, plus the book’s centre of gravity: a listing of all the U.S. singles released from 1959-71 by the company’s primary acts – starting with the Supremes – and illustrated by picture sleeves when available.
This 456-page, full-colour volume was created by musician Christoph Maus and published in September by his Hamburg-based Maus of Music. It is, of course, a follow-up to 2020’s Tamla Motown Worldwide, also authored and published by Maus. Those of you familiar with the latter know that it features a discography of Motown’s U.S. album output from 1961-71, and selected images of albums released internationally during that period.
The new volume follows a well-trodden path. Maus founded his firm in 2003, and since then, he tells me, “I have written, compiled and issued the books Beatles Worldwide I and II, Rolling Stones Worldwide I-IV, The Great Illustrated British Rolling Stones Discography 1963-2013, and Bob Dylan Worldwide: The First Twenty Years.
“All of these are similar to the Tamla Motown Worldwide books insofar as they collect together all the worldwide LP, singles and EP releases, and showcase all the record cover variants issued worldwide during the 1960s and 1970s, especially in western European countries and Japan.”
HELP FROM MOTOWN AFICIONADOS
Maus continues, “To do books like this is first and foremost a labour of love. What appealed to me was a love for record cover design of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. In those days, it was left to the record company affiliates in all those countries to issue the artists’ records however they liked. And that’s why there are so many variants in existence.
“The same goes for Tamla Motown! As a big fan of 1960s Northern Soul music, it was always clear to me that I would like to do one or two books about Berry Gordy’s Motown label. I started research for them in 2019. And now here they are.”
Dancin’ the night away: Smokey and Tammi?
Maus has had help. For the singles book, he photographed the collections of such Motown aficionados as Belgium’s Simone Verbeek, Norway’s Erik Ebert and Portugal’s Jose Correira, among others. For the albums volume, he was able to access the collection of Holland’s Marc Janssen, who also compiled the book’s U.S. discography.
Three-quarters of Tamla Motown Worldwide II is devoted to eight acts: the Supremes, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, the Miracles, Martha & the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and the Marvelettes. On their own, the Supremes’ sleeves and discographies-by-country fill 90 pages. There are also illustrations of the flexi-discs produced in 1967 by American chewing gum firm Topps, which used images of various Motown acts (a total of five in the case of the Supremes).
The last 50 or so pages of the book feature a selection of other Motown acts’ picture covers from 45s and EPs, including Jr. Walker & the All Stars (18), Gladys Knight & the Pips (13) and Mary Wells (12). There are also curios: for instance, the Lewis Sisters are shown on sleeves for record releases in West Germany, France and Holland – and each appears to be a different shot from the same U.S. photo session. Elsewhere, a 1967 single by the Messengers as issued in Holland offers an image seldom seen in any other part of the globe, and certainly not on the group’s Rare Earth album a couple of years later.
Many, if not most, of the images contained in Tamla Motown Worldwide II will be familiar to longtime Motown collectors – but there’s delight to be had in small bites of information. A French EP featuring the Supremes’ “Back In My Arms Again” uses a shot from their April ’65 trip to Paris, taken on the Champs-Elysées. The sleeve carries the name of the snapper, Gérard Neuvecelle, celebrated for his work with the likes of Maurice Chevalier and Maria Callas. Motown followers (well, yours truly) may have assumed it was taken by Bob Lampard, a French-based Briton who was responsible for an engaging shot of Earl Van Dyke in the French capital, as well as others there of the Four Tops and Stevie Wonder.
PLENTY OF AUTONOMY
Another rare image is that of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard on the cover of sought-after 1965 Dutch single, “Moonlight And Kisses.” Frans de Beer, who ran the International Diana Ross Fan Club in the Netherlands from 1986-2003, says the photographer was Kees de Jong – whose son, Mick, today sells that particular shot of Ross on his website. De Beer also notes that another Dutch-released Supremes 45, “I Hear A Symphony,” has a cover photo taken in September ‘65 by de Jong inside the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel.
‘Can we borrow your apartment for a photo shoot, BG?’
Tamla Motown Worldwide II opens with 26 pages devoted to illustrations of the record company’s singles sleeves and labels, beginning in the U.S. and then continuing with its overseas licensees, many of them affiliated with Britain’s EMI Records. One of the intriguing (and illegally-pressed) discs is from Thailand, using the logo of U.S. trade paper Cash Box.
What’s also clear is the autonomy given to Motown licensees abroad to select picture-sleeve images – and, occasionally, tracks – according to their market. For an example of the latter, “Good Lovin’ Ain’t Easy To Come By” by the Supremes and the Four Tops was issued as a 45 only in New Zealand in 1972. And Holland’s Artone released the Supremes’ “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and “Baby Doll” as separate singles in March 1965, both drawn from The Supremes Sing Country Western & Pop (the book mistakenly cites the source as Meet The Supremes).
There are other errors, typos and omissions, but nothing life-threatening – and they stand in the shadow of the extraordinary amount of detail and imagery that’s on display, and finely reproduced, to boot. Moreover, the hundreds of striking photographs underscore Berry Gordy’s acuity in developing, tutoring and presenting his young stars in such an engaging manner, and with the widest possible appeal, firstly to America, then to the rest of the world.
Christoph Maus says the first volume of Tamla Motown Worldwide took approximately two years to complete. The second book was due in 2021, but took longer. “I have to admit that I was a bit lazy,” he explains. “As you can see by looking at the second, it has 456 pages and contains lots and lots of different singles and EP sleeves. It wasn’t easy to get them all in very good to excellent picture quality. The first volume ‘only’ contains 315 pages and concentrated on documenting all the original LP pressings, with examples of worldwide LP cover variants.”
Quite an anthology…
Maus also admits that he was “amazed at how many Tamla Motown seven-inch releases were issued worldwide, from Argentina to Pakistan, Zimbabwe and beyond…”
He is equally candid about sales. “When I first started out by publishing the Beatles Worldwide books in 2004 and 2005, other book companies – and rock magazines – told me that these were just books for nerds! Nevertheless, they sold between 3,500 and 5,000 copies. Tamla Motown Worldwide I and II have a limited printing run of 1,000 copies each.”
While the first Motown volume “achieved enough profit to carry on doing the second volume,” Maus says, “I am not entirely happy with the sales figures so far. The main problem is me coming from Germany and producing books – in the English language – that are mostly aimed at rock and soul music fans in English-speaking countries like the U.K. and the U.S.A.. To my surprise, magazines like Record Collector and – to a much larger degree – Mojo and Uncut don’t even care to review them. So, despite there being a large Motown fan base in the U.K. as well as the U.S.A., the majority of my books sell in continental Europe, mainly Germany and the Netherlands.”
This weekend (November 9-10), Maus may have an opportunity to spread the word further. Record collectors from around the world are expected at the 59th Mega Record & CD Fair, being held at the Brabanthallen in the Dutch city of Den Bosch (‘s Hertogenbosch). He has exhibition space on both days of the event, presenting and selling copies of all his firm’s books.
Evidently, “The Sound of Young America” still has stories to tell.