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Motortown Revue In Paris: Complete concert on 3LP or 2CD

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Check out vintage live performances from some of Motown’s finest with Motortown Revue In Paris vinyl or CD sets, each featuring the legendary 1965 concert in full for the first time…

Motortown Revue concerts were a key to spreading the Motown sound in the Sixties. Beginning with tours on the ‘Chitlin’ Circuit’ in the east, south and upper mid-west areas of the United States playing in venues that were safe for African-American musicians at a time of endemic racial tensions, the combination of headline acts and emerging artists proved popular and helped to bolster the label’s record sales. Soon they were touring the whole country, and whether playing to mixed audiences in the north or racially-segregated audiences in the Deep South, the quality of the music transcended all barriers.

The European Tour during March-April 1965 was the first time Berry Gordy Jr.’s roadshow had ventured outside of the United States. After dates in Hamburg and Rotterdam, the Revue hit the UK, playing every night bar three from 20 March until 12 April at venues all around England, plus Cardiff and Glasgow, finishing at Portsmouth Guild Hall.

The gig at Paris’s Olympia Theatre on 13 April 1965 was the last leg of the tour, and the stellar line-up of The Supremes, ‘Little’ Stevie Wonder (who’d previously earned his first number one hit in 1963 from a live Motortown Revue performance of Fingertips (Pt. 2)), Earl Van Dyke and his Sextet, Martha And The Vandellas and The Miracles delivered what is regarded as one of the most electric Motown shows ever.



The next couple of days saw the launch of the French Tamla Motown label and various photo shoots around Paris including one where The Supremes quite literally stopped the traffic on the Champs Elysees (they nearly got arrested). By the end of that year, a live LP – Motortown Revue In Paris – with audio of selected performances from the show was issued in America and a UK release followed in 1966. The forthcoming reissue – a Universal/PledgeMusic joint venture – at last offers the entire concert with the original running order of songs and includes 12 previously unreleased live tracks from all those who appeared on the night.

The audio has been restored and remastered from original Tamla Motown masters and is being offered in both three-LP vinyl or two-CD formats. For those of you for whom the whole concert is not enough – and are willing to pay more than Amazon prices for the standard 3LP and 2CD sets – PledgeMusic are offering an exclusive opportunity to people who order through them to also purchase a limited edition (1,000 copies only) set of five exclusive seven-inch EPs – Motortown Revue: The French EPs 1965 – originally released in France to coincide with the concert. This EP box can be bought as a bundle with the 3LP Motortown Revue In Paris set, or separately, and purchasers through PledgeMusic will also gain and ‘Access Pass’ to production updates and various merchandise bits and bobs. 

Motortown Revue In Paris is released on 18 March 2016.

pre-order

Update 21 March 2016 – French EPs vinyl box no longer exclusive to PledgeMusic

motortown_french EPs

French EPs vinyl box

motortown2CD

2CD Edition

motortown3lp

3LP Vinyl Edition

PledgeMusic pre-order page

track_listing

3LP vinyl box set

LP 1

  1. Introduction / Motortown Revue In Paris – Harold Kay
  2. All For You – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  3. See See Rider – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  4. Too Many Fish In The Sea – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  5. Heat Wave (Including Introduction) – Martha & The Vandellas
  6. Wild One – Martha & The Vandellas
  7. If I Had A Hammer – Martha & The Vandellas
  8. Nowhere To Run – Martha & The Vandellas
  9. Dancing In The Street – Martha & The Vandellas

LP 2

  1. Jazz-Blues Instrumental – Stevie Wonder
  2. Make Someone Happy – Stevie Wonder
  3. High Heel Sneakers – Stevie Wonder
  4. Funny (How Time Slips Away) – Stevie Wonder, Clarence Paul
  5. Fingertips – Stevie Wonder
  6. Introduction / Motortown Revue In Paris – Various Artists
  7. All About My Girl – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  8. Too Many Fish In The See (Alt. Version) – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  9. Soul Stomp – Earl Van Dyke & The Soul Brothers
  10. Come See About Me – The Supremes

LP 3

  1. Baby Love – The Supremes
  2. People – The Supremes
  3. Somewhere – The Supremes
  4. Stop! In The Name Of Love – The Supremes
  5. You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You – The Supremes
  6. Shake – The Supremes
  7. I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying – The Miracles
  8. That’s What Love Is Made Of – The Miracles
  9. Wives And Lovers – The Miracles
  10. Ooo Baby Baby – The Miracles
  11. Come On Do The Jerk – The Miracles
  12. Mickey’s Monkey – The Miracles

2CD box set

Disc One:

  1. Introduction / Motortown Revue In Paris – Harold Kay
  2. All For You – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  3. See See Rider – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  4. Too Many Fish In The Sea – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  5. Heat Wave (Including Introduction) – Martha & The Vandellas
  6. Wild One – Martha & The Vandellas
  7. If I Had A Hammer – Martha & The Vandellas
  8. Nowhere To Run – Martha & The Vandellas
  9. Dancing In The Street – Martha & The Vandellas
  10. Jazz-Blues Instrumental – Stevie Wonder
  11. Make Someone Happy – Stevie Wonder
  12. High Heel Sneakers – Stevie Wonder
  13. Funny (How Time Slips Away) – Stevie Wonder, Clarence Paul
  14. Fingertips – Stevie Wonde

Disc Two:

  1. Introduction / Motortown Revue In Paris – Various Artists
  2. All About My Girl – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  3. Too Many Fish In The See (Alt. Version) – Earl Van Dyke Sextet
  4. Soul Stomp – Earl Van Dyke & The Soul Brothers
  5. Come See About Me – The Supremes
  6. Baby Love – The Supremes
  7. People – The Supremes
  8. Somewhere – The Supremes
  9. Stop! In The Name Of Love – The Supremes
  10. You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You – The Supremes
  11. Shake – The Supremes
  12. I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying – The Miracles
  13. That’s What Love Is Made Of – The Miracles
  14. Wives And Lovers – The Miracles
  15. Ooo Baby Baby – The Miracles
  16. Come On Do The Jerk – The Miracles
  17. Mickey’s Monkey – The Miracles

pre-order

Update 21 March 2016 – French EPs vinyl box no longer exclusive to PledgeMusic

motortown_french EPs

French EPs vinyl box

motortown2CD

2CD Edition

motortown3lp

3LP Vinyl Edition

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8 Comments

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Phil Cohen

P.S. On the same day that Universal releases this 2-CD set of The Motortown Review in Paris, the UK label “ACE” releases “One Track Mind:More Motown Guys” under license from Motown/Universal. The 25 tracks are all either previously unreleased or previously download-only.

Drawde

The single disc released on the original 4 CD set from Hip-O-Select wasn’t too good sounding either. I have it and listen to it purely for nostalgia.

Shane

Oh yeah, universal using pledgemusic. Gosh, what a sad state of affairs

Guillaume Bougard

It sounds awful on the YT video. I’ll take a pass on it until someone assures me that the real thing is not that atrocious.

Guillaume Bougard

oh, and the French announcer is so freaking obnoxious.

PS = I’m French

Phil Cohen

But, remember, these were direct to mono 1-track recordings made on borrowed French equipment, and you’ll understand the lack of fidelity. Let’s be thankful(in the aftermath of Universal’s decision to close their mail order label Hip-O Select) that Universal has decided to release more Motown vault material.
And, by the way, U.S.A. consumers will be pleased to learn that Universal Music’s download-only “Motown Unreleased” collections are now available losslessly via a company called “7Digital”

Ken

Oh dear! If the above Supremes sample of “Stop In The Name Of Love” is an example of the sound being “restored and remastered” this will be a disaster. It sounds awful. You also wonder how much trouble Motown are in when they are selling stuff via Pledge Music. For completists only.

BritinDetroit

Paul we in a very interesting time with the exchange rate between the Dollar and Pound hovering around 1.43 : 1 – there are some wide margins between the US and UK pricing at Amazon including this double disc.