I JUST BOUGHT PLIGHT OF THE REDMAN ON CD FROM E-BAY....I KNEW THE LP'S WERE AVAILABLE BUT NOT THE CD'S...I GUESS THE CD'S CAME AVAILABLE IN 2005....I LIKE THE STORY YOU TELL OF THE BAND AND TOMMY BEE IN YOUR BOOK......THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS...
I JUST REC'D THE CD TODAY AND I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH BAND....I BELIEVE THIS IS A DIFFERENT ALBUM COVER THAN YOU DESCRIBED IN YOUR BOOK.....AND THE SONGS WERE GREAT.....VERY WELL WRITTEN..
I AM SURE YOU AWARE OF ROBBIE ROBERTSON'S MUSIC OF NATIVE AMERICANS IS ALSO A VERY GOOD ALBUM....ROBBIE COLLABERATED WITH SEVERAL NATIVE AMERICAN ARTIST'S....HE MENTIONS TOMMY BEE IN THE THANK-YOU'S ON THE CREDIT LISTINGS.. IF YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO LISTEN TO THE ALBUM YOU WILL BE IMPRESSED... FYI..
"Plight" was one Uber-Superb LP; The single "Nihaa Shiil Hozho (I Am Happy About You)" shoulda been promoted in its full-length (over 7 minute) glory on FM Underground Radio.
By the way, not to cast *any* aspersions for *any* reason at all...but, IMHO, I dug the music of XIT *far* more than I did the music of that other Native American Pop band, REDBONE..
Everything & anything that XIT did was *far more* sociopolitically relevant than )ugh) "Come And Get Your Love"..Just my tuppence, there, m8..
For the record, as an aside, Tom Bee bought out the XIT masters from Motown in the 1990's, and all of the material made for The Hitsville Empire now appears on Bee's own SOAR (Sound Of America Records) label. Including their Motown 1973 sophomore gem, "Silent Warrior".
Thanks for the kind words regarding "Plight Of the Redman" I agree with you on the choice of a single. Unfortunately. Motown didn't quite know what to do with this band and the many promises of promotion were not kept. It always amazed me the Tommy Bee was able to negotiate the masters of both albums. A rarity at Motown. I spoke with him a few months back and we talked about this and I had a good laugh.
I used to have the first XIT LP Flight of the Red Man. I didn't dislike it but I must have traded it to raise money for another record somewhere along the way. There were always new bands coming along. I particularly liked the single I Was Raised.
Pity Tommy couldn't have negotiated to buy the Made In Chicago tapes.
The label Real Music have managed to issue a few old Motown chestnuts on CD, Paul Williams the labels boss was recently asking on the Yahoo "Motown Treasures" discussion group for suggestions on other Motown acts he could release stuff on, he has obviously been able to acquire the rights to release Motown stuff and he said the things he has put out have sold well.... He said he welcomed suggestions of some of the bigger acts as he said it helped finance the release of the lesser known artists. NaturallyI posted a reply to his request suggesting a certain Motwn act loved by all of us on this forum..but he never replied.
Ralph maybe you know about Real Music and what deal they have going with Motown?.
I guess buying the Rare Earth catalogue would not come cheap...Perhaps I should pass an on line hat around and see if we can raise some cash and make Motown an offer lol.
I guess buying the Rare Earth catalogue would not come cheap...Perhaps I should pass an on line hat around and see if we can raise some cash and make Motown an offer lol.
Probably not "cheap" but I wouldn't imagine for millions.
Rihard, yes there are definitely some interesting releases in there, including ormer Motown artists such as Jimmy Ruffin, Yvonne Fair and Chris Clark. Not to mention an album by Gloria Jones called Share My Love. Didn't she supply the title track to another band back in the 70s?
Is it true that the XIT albums have sold over a million since Tom Bee purchased the rights?
Reservation Of Education reached no.5 in the French charts!
You know, I'm really *not* at all surprised about the Chart Activity for The World Outside of The United States for Motown artistes...especially those other than the More Prominent ones...like Stevie, Smokey, Diana, The Tempts, et al.
In Sweden, I happened to pick up on a couple of *very* cool LP's; One by the duo Martin & Finley - "Dazzle 'Em With Footwork" (The "Martin" here, is one Tony Martin, Jnr., whose Dad...Tony Martin...made a couple of Tony Bennet-ish singles for Motown in the '60's - most notably "Talkin' To Your Picture"); The other by G.C. Cameron - his LP debut "Love Songs And Other Tragedies".
*Lots* of European folk actually *know* of the works of Uber-Genuis composer/instrumentalist Michel Rubini on Motown *before* his making incidental music & Signature Tunes for telly...
Inceidentally, *most* of my Swedish & Dutch pals *proudly* had the "Ma" & "Rarearth" LP's in gtheir vinyl collections...and *dug* the same tracks on said albums that *I* do..
As for "Reservation"...it was *another* example of "The-Hit-Single-That-Shoulda-Been-But-Wasn't"...most likely for reasons that The Brothers Terrana already mentioned in this thread. As an aside, the 1973 "Silent Warrior" LP had **NO** Terrana involvement whatsoever; The LP was made at Music Grinder Facility (I believe that is the name of the studio), and produced exclusively by Mike Valvano & Tom Bee. The only link with continuity on this album is the contribution of string arrangemets on some tunes by Tom Baird.
"Silent Warrior", like its predecessor, "Plight of the Red Man", is now availble on S.O.A.R. (With the cover painting by The Much Regretted Hollywood Animator & part-time Motown cover artiste Frank Frezzo restored to the sleeve front)..
Back in the mid 70s my best friend went to visit a penfriend (remember those?) in Sweden. I received a postcard (remember those as well?) which informed me that he'd spotted a new Rare Earth LP called "Back To Earth". A fellow fan, he managed to squeeze in that the line up had changed significantly, leaving me wondering who had gone and who had joined. As far as I know Back To Earth was never released in the UK. I ended up having to order my copy from the United States.
Many years later I was unaware of Made In Switzerland until I stumbled on it in a record store in Amsterdam. I also bought the Different World CD from another store in Amsterdam on a later visit. No ebay or CD Baby back in those days!!
Back in the mid 70s my best friend went to visit a penfriend (remember those?) in Sweden. I received a postcard (remember those as well?) which informed me that he'd spotted a new Rare Earth LP called "Back To Earth". A fellow fan, he managed to squeeze in that the line up had changed significantly, leaving me wondering who had gone and who had joined. As far as I know Back To Earth was never released in the UK. I ended up having to order my copy from the United States.
Many years later I was unaware of Made In Switzerland until I stumbled on it in a record store in Amsterdam. I also bought the Different World CD from another store in Amsterdam on a later visit. No ebay or CD Baby back in those days!!
Jeez-O-MAN! Penfriends & postcards! Boy does *this old dinosaur **REMEMBER!!** *
As for the "Different World" CD, *somebody* Stateside **had** to be kinda hip to said CD's existence...as the tune "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" *did* have sizeable radio airplay back home in Chicago for *months*(5 months, to be exact)..
