Various Artists

A Cellarful Of Motown!… A Northern Soul Love Affair

West Grand

WG0001LP

Various Artists

A Cellarful Of Motown!… A Northern Soul Love Affair

West Grand

WG0001LP

WG0001LP
ARTIST
Various Artists
TITLE
A Cellarful Of Motown!… A Northern Soul Love Affair
LABEL
West Grand
CAT NO.
WG0001LP
FORMAT
LP
RELEASE DATE
  • 27/06/2025 [INITIAL RELEASE]
TERRITORY
Worldwide
BARCODE
889845987727
GENRE
Funk Motown Northern Soul Soul
FEATURING
Barbara McNair Brenda Holloway Carolyn Crawford Chris Clarke Gladys Knight And The Pips J. J. Barnes Jimmy Ruffin Kim Weston Marvin Gaye Tammi Terrell The Contours The Funk Brothers The Monitors The Originals The Spinners

TRACK LISTING

play all

  1. A1. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Tears At The End Of A Love Affair  ▾
  2. A2. Brenda Holloway - Think It Over (Before You Break My Heart)  ▾
  3. A3. Jimmy Ruffin - He Who Picks A Rose  ▾
  4. A4. Gladys Knight And The Pips - If You Ever Get Your Hands On Love  ▾
  5. A5. The Originals - Suspicion  ▾
  6. A6. Barbara McNair - Baby A Go-Go  ▾
  7. A7. J. J. Barnes - (Tell Me) Ain't It The Truth  ▾
  8. A8. The Funk Brothers - Tell Me It's Just A Rumour Baby  ▾
  9. B1. Marvin Gaye - This Love Starved Heart Of Mine (It's Killing Me)  ▾
  10. B2. The Monitors - Crying In The Night  ▾
  11. B3. Kim Weston - You Hit Me Where It Hurt Me  ▾
  12. B4. Carolyn Crawford - Keep Stepping (Never Look Back)  ▾
  13. B5. The Contours - Baby Hit And Run (Alternate Vocal)  ▾
  14. B6. Tammi Terrell - I Gotta Find A Way To Get You Back  ▾
  15. B7. The Spinners - Memories Of Her Love Keep Haunting Me  ▾
  16. B8. Chris Clarke - Come On And See Me  ▾

SALES NOTES

The title says it all - A Cellarful Of Motown! ..A Northern Soul Love Affair.

West Grand has been set up to mine the deep vaults of mighty Motown courtesy of a licence deal with Universal Music.

The first West Grand LP fuses two musical religions, Motown and Northern Soul.

In some ways they are unlikely bedfellows. Motown became known as Hitsville by churning out hit after hit, while Northern Soul passion is fired by a constant search for the unknown and the obscure.
The 16 tracks here - on incredibly the first Motown various artists vinyl album released worldwide for 40 years - join the dots. All of them were recorded in the 1960s. None of them were released at the time, despite being prime examples of the sublime magic conjured up by Berry Gordy’s genius-like team of singers, writers, producers, arrangers and musicians at that tiny little snakepit of a recording studio on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit.

Motown authority Adam White’s album sleeve notes confirm just how productive that studio was. It often ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
As a result, lots of the most sublime music ever made was somehow rejected for release. It would have stayed unknown and unloved in tape boxes if it had not been for detective work by Soul aficionados turned detectives. That’s Northern Soul power. Many were DJs and collectors tracking down cassette copies or acetates (some of them found in rubbish skips and about to be destroyed). Others, notably Paul Nixon, the founder of the CD series A Cellarful Of Motown! which inspired this album, badgered the Motown gatekeepers so much they were eventually granted access to the forbidden kingdom.

Over recent years all the tracks contained here have been released—some bootlegged, some on legitimate seven-inch issues, some on CD, one download-only. The album proudly boasts debut vinyl release for some in the collection. All have been remastered and have never sounded better.

As a homage to Motown music makers + Rare Soul fanaticism, WEST GRAND believe we have come up with a classic.

#itswhatsinthe(unreleased)groove that counts

Published: 16th May 2025

0:00
0:00