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Posted By: John on: 02/09/2009 22:26:25 EST
Subject: Motown's Four Tops

Message Detail:
It all started in the late '80's to early '90's, when I read in a record collector magazine that MCA Records had purchased the Motown catalog. It was written, the condition of the archived tapes was poor.
Years went by and I didn't see much *new* past Motown material being issued. MCA went through some change of hands, heavily guided by strategic marketing, and final became Universal Music. It was then I began to see the Motown catalog being "mixed" by inhuman names. Because of these strange, fabricated names, I could care less how they re-mixed the Motown songs. That's just the beginning of the iceberg. Then I found first time Stereo mixes of past Motown songs, some good, some bad. I'd also find extended versions, etc.. Some, I feel, were fabricated and not found that way in Motown's tape archive. But, then, even Motown karakoe surfaced. In other words, the Motown catalog has been torn apart to squeeze every drop of profit from it. I have no problem with that, to each his own. My problem is how Universal remasters this material, as well as other record labels they absorbed. Highly processed sound, sometimes approaching distortion. Made to be LOUD. Some of their Hip-O division Chess Records material (The Dells, for example), was (re)mastered from damaged tapes, and I used to love the fine sound of Chess. Unlike other record companies, remastering improved sound, but not at Universal, in my opinion. Get it out the door, ASAP, to make money, sacrificing quality. Their later "green" (recycled material) packaging of their "Millennium" CDs was even a disappointment; even the once included booklet was nowhere to be found at the web address they provided, to save money, not the environment. Sad.

Enough of my rant, here's the Four Tops...

Best,
John

Message Link:

The Four Tops - Reach Out I'll Be There - 1966
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