By Kegtapper (65.56.119.251) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 12:43 am:

Collecting scans of hard to find labels. These were under the Motown Corp, distributed or owned by them.

DIVINITY
---Motown's first gospel label

MC
---Mike Curb C&W label

Workshop Jazz [active 1962-64 ]
---Jazz genre - Four Tops 1st recorded here.

Any help appreciated
[aka Kegtapper]

By Mark Speck (64.158.96.81) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 12:53 am:

Gaiee--only issued one record, the controversial "I Was Born This Way" by Valentino (the lead singer of the Dynamic Superiors).

Melodyland/Hitsville--another Mike Curb-owned country label. The reviled Pat Boone cut a single or two for this label.

Best,

Mark

By Eli (151.197.38.107) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 02:06 am:

Narural Resources was an odd Motown label, kinda ecclectic I must say.

By Jim G (12.47.224.13) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 06:59 am:

"Workshop Jazz" took its name from Ed Love's Jazz Workshop, a longrunning series of concerts/programs produced by veteran jazz dj Love and his colleague LeBaron Taylor.
Tenor saxophonist Charles "Lefty" Edwards, veteran of many Detroit jazz & jump bands, had a release that I've never heard titled "The Right Side Of Lefty Edwards" on Workshop Jazz.

By Ritchie (62.254.0.8) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 07:21 am:

The Four Tops' debut album for Motown - Breaking Through - was scheduled for release on WJ, but it was pulled and they were transferred to the main label. (Probably to our advantage!)

By Bob Olhsson (68.32.96.67) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 10:26 am:

This is seriously obscure.

Mel-o-dy was Motown's country label around 1962-64. The only artist I remember seeing was Dorsey Burnette. Maybe my copy of that single will turn up and I can pass on the title.

By Common (209.2.55.172) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 10:37 am:

Hello everyone,

What about the label that was a join effort between BG & Sammy Davis, jr.? Was it called Prodigy or something like that?

Peace!

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 11:01 am:

Common:
The label BG & Sammy Davis,Jr. had for a VERY brief spell was Ecology Records.
Kevin Goins - KevGo

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 11:03 am:

How about Deke Richards' WEED label (see his thread about the label's rise & fall) .

Creed Taylor's CTI/KUDU labels were distributed by Motown.

Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Ritchie (62.254.0.8) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 11:40 am:

Prodigal. Wasn't that Barney Ales' label?

By Common (209.2.55.171) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 02:16 pm:

KevGo: Did Sammy ever record for the label?

Ritchie: That's the label I thinking of!


Peace!

By Scratcher (65.132.78.92) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 02:31 pm:

Melody, like Miracle Records, first released soul recordings then turned into a country label. The Vells, Lamont Dozier, the Creations and the Pirates recorded on Melody, which lasted longer than the Miracle imprint. Melody was revived as the strictly country Melodyland Records in the mid-seventies.

By Mark Speck (65.56.218.171) on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 12:55 am:

And Melodyland was forced to change its name to Hitsville, due to an injunction slapped on the label by a church of the same name in California.

Apparently, some folks noticed the Melodyland label on T.G. Sheppard's early hits, "Devil in the Bottle" (a frank song about alcoholism) and "Trying to Beat the Mornin' Home" (about adultery), and wondered just why those nice little church folks were putting out such nasty songs. The church was obviously surprised, filed suit and won.

Best,

Mark

By Davie Gordon (193.122.21.42) on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 03:12 pm:

Mark,

Valentino wasn't lead for the Dynamic Superiors
- that was Tony Washington.

Mike,

That Dorsey Burnette song you were trying to remember is probably "Jimmy Brown" which amazingly
managed to get a UK release - probably sold about
three copies.

By Davie Gordon (193.122.21.34) on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 05:38 pm:

Bob,

Sorry for calling you Mike !

I've been away from my computer for a couple of days and in trying to catch up am reading things too quickly.

Davie

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 05:51 pm:

Common:
Motown was supposed to release Sammy's "Something For Everyone" album through the Ecology label but it was switched to the main label for what reason I don't know off hand. I will have to refer to my copy of Sammy's biography "Why Me" later on (he wrote about Motown & his friendship with Gordy).
Kevin Goins - KevGo

By LG Nilsson (213.89.28.83) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 10:31 am:

I found some records and made some scans... all distrubuted by Motown:



Melodyland changed to Hitsville with same label design.



Black Forum was a spoken Word label. This is the only 45 RPM single.



Chisa was owned by Hugh Masekela. The 8000-series was distributed by Motown.



What does Little Richard, Jerry Butler & Wilson Pickett have in common?



... They all recorded for Motown!

Stevie Wonder goes Country! MC stands for Mike Curb. This label released country songs after Melodyland and Hitsville were discontinued.



The Ju-Par label was owned by John "Juney" Garrett. Two singles and three albums were distributed by Motown.



Motown Yesteryear was used as a reissue label.



Only one 12" single was released on Stevie Wonder's Wondirection label.



Motown Latino was a subsidary label for the hispanic market.



Morocco was Motown's "new" rock label after Rare Earth.



Inferno had three singles released by Motown.



Barney Ales' re-joined Motown 1975. His label Prodigal was then distributed by Motown.



... well there are more, some of them you can find on my website Seabear Studios

Lars

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 05:33 pm:

Great images Lars!

By Greg C. (209.71.79.179) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 11:21 pm:

Can't forget Mowest. That was a very odd label that lasted two years. Had some good acts like GC Cameron, The Devastating Affair, The Commodores (before they were moved over to the Motown label),Thelma Houston, Syreeta, Lesley Gore, Celebration, Odyssey, Sisters Love, Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, Michelle Aller, and others but the label really never a got a great push.