The Highlights of Motown’s “Unreleased 1969” Compilation

According to Motor City Soul Club founder Dan Austin, “Unreleased 1969,” isn’t as impressive as its predecessors.

UMG Recordings
UMG Recordings

If you’ve watched Berry Gordy’s documentary “Hitsville: The Making of Motown”, then you know the famous house on Grand Boulevard where Motown began was a nexus of creativity.

Music was written and recorded around the clock, and it was there that the distinctive sound and feeling of Motown became a worldwide cultural revolution. 

So many songs were recorded that, in fact, there wasn’t enough time and resources to release it all to the public. 

Over the course of the past few years, previously unreleased material has been made available to the public in yearly compilations. Keeping with that tradition, this year, to celebrate Motown’s 60th Anniversary, the label released a compilation of 60 previously unavailable tracks. These include never-before-heard tracks from the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, and more.

According to Motor City Soul Club founder Dan Austin, “Unreleased 1969,” isn’t as impressive as its predecessors: “If you want my hot take, we’ve finally started to scrape the bottom [of quality unheard recordings] a little bit.”

Click the player to hear the highlights from “Unreleased 1969.”

Support the music you love.

Here at WDET, we strive to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a non-profit public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. Because you value WDET as your source of news, music, and conversation, please make a gift of support today. Even $5 helps!

Donate today »

Author

  • Amanda LeClaire
    Amanda LeClaire is an award-winning host and producer of CultureShift on 101.9 WDET-FM Detroit’s NPR station. She’s a founding producer of WDET’s flagship news talk show Detroit Today, and a former host/reporter for Arizona Public Media. Amanda is also an artist, certified intuitive and energy healer, and professional tarot reader.