Stretching out

Motown in the album era. By Jim Irvin.

Elemental Music is reissuing a clutch of crisply remastered, lesser-known Motown LPs as gatefold replica CDs. We all know the story: Berry Gordy, once a gifted reader of public taste, was so busy focusing on getting Motown acts, particularly Diana Ross, credibility in the straight world of cabaret, network TV and Hollywood, that he missed the memo about the oncoming ‘rock era’. While Atlantic changed lanes to accommodate Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin and co, Motown cruised along as usual. Aside from Marvin and Stevie, Motown didn’t really get albums. Well, that’s not strictly true. Motown definitely attempted to connect with the freak scene, with some success. In 1969, they launched a label named after Detroit rock act, Rare Earth, whose debut album, Get Ready featured a side-long cover of that Temptations, Smokey Robinson-penned hit. This monolith of soulful jam-rock was easily as entertaining as Iron Butterfly’s inescapable In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, an edit was a Top 5 single and the album made the US Top 20. The Rare Earth imprint also issued albums by The Pretty Things, Toe Fat and others. But, admittedly, this stuff wasn’t Motown’s forte and is now largely forgotten. Of course, black artists like Isaac Hayes and Sly Stone were releasing hugely successful albums by the end of the ’60s. Motown checked that, naturally. Norman