Elemental Music’s The Motown Collection is a continuing series of long-playing vinyl reissues of crate digger favorites from the Detroit-bred soul music giant Motown Records catalog. All releases will replicate the ‘60s and ‘70s LPs’ bold sound and 12-by-12 full-color packaging. The Motown Sound Collection continues with titles scheduled for release through early 2025.

Elemental will release a total of 22 titles through the end of 2024, including music by such storied Motown stars as Smokey Robinson (and the Miracles), The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye (both solo and with duet partner Mary Wells), The Jackson 5, Eddie Kendricks, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and The Undisputed Truth.

“As a rule of thumb, we always try to reissue the music that we love. That’s our priority. With the Motown Series, we wanted to take a deep dive into the label’s history and to reissue some more obscure titles,” describes Elemental Music Founder and producer of the Motown Sound Collection Jordi Soley.

“For many of the albums we’ll be putting out throughout 2024 and into 2025, it will be their first reissue since their original release. It’s our way of showing some love to Motown’s legacy.”

The collection continues now with three more classics in the form of Marvin Gaye’s When I’m Alone I Cry (Mono ), Eddie Kendricks’ People ... Hold On, and the Four Tops’ self-titled Four Tops (Mono) on November 15th, 2024.

2024 marks the 60th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s third album for Motown. Released in 1964, When I’m Alone I Cry represents Gaye in the prime of his jazz crooner period when he also released Hello Broadway and A Tribute to the Great Nat King Cole.

When I’m Alone is stocked with a terrific collection of standards. Perhaps the best-known tune is the Lerner/Loewe classic “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” from the musical My Fair Lady.

However, Gaye also delved into the American Songbook with renditions of songs like “I Wonder” (a hit for both Louis Armstrong and Brenda Lee), “I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do)” (covered by everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis to Tommy Dorsey), and “Because of You” (Tony Bennett’s first big hit).

He covered several songs done by Billie Holiday: “I’ll Be Around,” “You’ve Changed,” and “When Your Lover Has Gone.” When I’m Alone I Cry captures Gaye at a unique moment in his illustrious career. Just a year after the album’s release, he put out “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You,” which established him as a superstar soul vocalist.

This reissue is coming out in a mono version.

When I’m Alone I Cry (Music Video)

SIDE ONE:
1. You’ve Changed
2. I Was Telling Her About You
3. I Wonder
4. I’ll Be Around
5. Because Of You

SIDE TWO:
6. I Don’t Know Why
7. I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face
8. When Your Lover Has Gone
9. When I’m Alone I Cry
10. If My Heart Could Sing

As I am sure most all of you know by now, Marvin Gaye continued stubbornly to try and mold himself as a jazz vocalist virtually from the very off. Met with critically mixed reviews, this album has highlights such as the big band opening track, You’ve Changed, but overall feels like a poor man’s Nat King Cole.

I never personally felt like jazz was where Gaye strives the best. I mean, sure, he has a great voice for the genre (for any genre, most likely), but that can only do so much to make a really good album. Instrumentally though, Marvin’s music improves here from the previous albums, but just doesn’t seem to fit seamlessly with the mood, so to speak.

But inclusive of brooding vocals and arrangements by such big names as Melba Liston, Jerome Richardson and Ernie Wilkins, the album did show us a deeper artist, presaging the mature Marvin later heard on Vulnerable, recorded in 1977.

The other pair of notable tracks here are I’ll Be Around and I Wonder, but ultimately, this would represent his final, some might say unsuccessful, venture into this genre of music before his beautifully melodic voice would fully come to the fore within our soulful musical world.

People ... Hold On, the sophomore breakout album by former Temptations vocalist Eddie Hendricks, was released in May 1972.

Woven into its community-inspired motif was Girl You Need a Change of Mind, that, with its extended performance and well-placed break, is considered one of the first modern disco tracks.

Edited for radio play, the song hit #13 on the Billboard R&B chart. The album, which also featured the dance classic Date With The Rain, set the pace for the following Kendricks albums.

The album was recorded in the Hitsville U.S.A. studio, and it was one of the last project completed there before Motown’s move to Los Angeles. It marked a departure from Kendricks’ previous pop-oriented sound, embracing a more socially conscious and urban style.

My People ... Hold On (Music Video)

SIDE ONE:
1. If You Let Me
2. Let Me Run Into Your Lonely Heart
3. Day By Day
4. Girl You Need A Change Of Mind
5. Someday We’ll Have A Better World

SIDE TWO:
6. My People … Hold On
7. Date With The Rain
8. Eddie’s Love
9. I’m On The Sideline
10. Just Memories

People … Hold On also came at a significant time in Eddie Kendricks musical career. One of the founding members of the Temptations, Kendricks, left the band in 1971. People…Hold On, Kendricks’ second solo outing, saw the singer shifting away from the poppy sound of his past to grittier, more political music that one critic described as “the sound of the street.”

Critical to this shift was Kendricks’ discovery of a young Washington DC-based group, The Young Senators (pioneers in what is now known as the Go-Go music scene), who backed him on this 1972 record. They helped to inject a powerful rhythm foundation to Kendricks’ songs that popularized them on the dance floor. The centerpiece track, “Girl You Need a Change of Mind,” was hailed by All Music Guide as “nothing short of an epic precursor to the extended four-on-the-floor numbers that would soon be christened as ‘disco.’”

At the same time, music writer Sam Armstrong recently proclaimed that People…Hold On “remains one of his finest releases, fusing heartfelt soul with meaningful social commentary on songs.” The album’s impact is evident, too, in the number of times its tracks have been sampled over the years by artists such as Erykah Badu, Lil Wayne, and Drake.

The 1972 release was pivotal for Motown as it was among the final albums recorded at the legendary Hitsville U.S.A. studio before the label relocated to Los Angeles.

If ever there was a song written to compete with Curtis Mayfield’s “If There’s Hell Below (We’re All Gonna Go)”, it’s the masterful title track of this neglected & forgotten classic album. It’s this stunning, utterly compelling song – one of the first to exhibit genuine rapping over a live studio band - that anchors the album, propelling the rest of the material.

That material includes the social commentary of “Someday We’ll Have a Better World”, smooth soul groove of “I’m On The Sideline” & “If You Let Me” and dance-oriented celebration of “Girl You Need A Change of Mind”, which features a killer horn section and vocal delivery clearly inspired by O’Jay’s recordings from the same period. While this material doesn’t quite scale the heights that Mayfield was able to achieve on his debut album, it’s all still excellent listening.

Once the lead falsetto vocalist for vocal group The Temptations, Eddie Kendricks left the group at the end of the 60’s to leverage the greater creative opportunities afforded by a solo career – in much the same way Mayfield had done upon leaving the Impressions. His desire to seek greater artistic freedom also inspired by the exploits of Motown label mates Marvin Gaye & Stevie Wonder, during a time when the artistry on offer from so many black musicians in the album format had never been greater.

Kendricks released a number of solid albums after this one, scoring his biggest hit with 1973’s “Keep On Truckin’”. Nothing he did subsequent however was able to match this inspired second solo effort. It remains one of those all-too-often overlooked touchstone albums that helped usher in the transition of black music from the soulful sounds of the 60’s to both the harder-edged funk of the early 70’s and the heavily orchestrated sounds of the mid-70’s that eventually morphed into disco.

The final album released this month is the Four Tops’ self-titled album, which turns 60 in January 2025 and remains among the best debuts ever recorded. Ron Wynn at All Music Guide declared, “You’d be hard-pressed to find two better singles on a debut album than ‘Ask the Lonely’ and ‘Baby I Need Your Loving.’”

Motown’s elite songwriting trio penned both songs – Holland-Dozier-Holland – and several other tracks came from two more Motown ace tunesmiths, Ivy Jo Hunter and William “Mickey” Stevenson. Distinguished by the sublime baritone vocals of Levi Stubbs, the Four Tops would go on to a long, successful career, but it all started with this album.

As the esteemed critic Dave Marsh wrote for Rolling Stone: “From their first hit “Baby I Need Your Loving,” the Four Tops was one of the grandest things about Motown.” Pioneering ‘60s rock critic Lillian Roxon offered up similar high praise “just as Motown helped to establish the Four Tops, the Four Tops helped to establish Motown.” The public recognized this greatness as the album spent three weeks on top of the Billboard R&B Album Chart in the summer of ’65.

Baby I Need Your Loving (Music Video)

SIDE ONE:
1. Baby, I Need Your Loving
2. Without The One You Love (Life’s Not Worth Living)
3. Where Did You Go
4. Ask The Lonely
5. Your Love Is Amazing
6. Sad Souvenirs

SIDE TWO:
7. Don’t Turn Away
8. Tea House In China Town
9. Left With A Broken Heart
10. Love Has Gone
11. Call On Me

For me, the Four Tops’ self-titled debut album showcases a lot of potential for the group which subsequently resulted in some really great music to come. Not the longest of albums, sure, it takes on a melancholic atmosphere that is enforced primarily through the vocal performances, but trust me when I say that all the vocals are simply fantastic and on point throughout.

Taking on lead, Levi Stubbs puts a lot of passion and emotion in his deliveries that, when backed with the often sombre background vocals from the other three members, and even frequent female vocals, makes it all hit even harder.

I also like the fluid instrumentals and agree with others over the years that the times where strings are used are definitely the stand-out tracks, as they match the vocals and even the mood coming from the writing really well.

So, yes, the self-titled debut is very good and definitely worth your time, but for anyone looking to get deeper into the group than just the radio hits, the sophomore outing is forever where it’s at for me.

I guess my only issue, per-say, with this album was that I thought while it started extremely well, the rest of the track list didn’t keep the momentum going, even though it is strong throughout, of course.

These unforgettable Hitsville titles are part of a continuing series of long-playing vinyl reissues of crate digger favorites from the Motown Records catalog. All releases will replicate the ‘60s and ‘70s LPs’ bold sound and 12-by-12 full-color packaging. The Motown Sound Collection will continue with titles scheduled for release through early 2025.

The final batch of forthcoming titles arrive December 13th and include Gladys Knight & the Pips’ Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the One to Say Goodbye), The Temptations’ Solid Rock, and the Undisputed Truth’s album.

Founded in 2012, Elemental Music specializes in releasing newly discovered and out-of-print recordings, primarily jazz, blues, and soul. These recordings are meticulously curated and reissued with love.

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www.elemental-music.com