Has anyone ever heard of such an project?
From My Marvin Story from Harvesting Heritage
From My Marvin Story from Harvesting Heritage
To the three people reading this, I figured I’d drop my first story. Here goes:
I was an Intern back in the late 1970’s and early ‘80s at a UK-based label called Harvest Heritage Records. Basically, this label was a subsidiary of Harvest Records, who put out a lot of seminal music in what I would call the “Classic Era” of music.
Harvest Heritage basically handled reissues of the major Harvest releases as well as smaller releases in the 70’s and on.
Fast forward to a couple months ago. I was digging through my storage unit, rummaging through a lot of my old records from the Heritage days when I came across something that I realized had never seen the light of day.
Now, in the early 1980’s, Marvin Gaye had relocated from here in the states out to Belgium, which isn’t far from London. At the time he was separating from Motown. I believe he was touring out one of his last records with them, the “In Our Lifetime” record, maybe. At this time, Pink Floyd was wrapping up some extra tour dates for their The Wall Tour. They had a four day run at Earl’s Court (in London), and planned on getting a lot of footage for the Documentary that they later released.
It just so happened that Marvin was in town with an off day from his tour and stopped in during stage set-up and rehearsals. Apparently, something was worked out as to get him on stage performing with Pink Floyd. The next night at Earl’s Court, Marvin came out and performed “Let’s Get it On” over “Shine on You Crazy Diamond”. I’ll never forget it.
Fast Forward a bit, and Marvin and Roger (Waters) begin kicking around the idea of recording some material together. Now at the time, Marvin is pissed with Motown and decides he wants to re-record some of these songs over an entirely different canvas. So Marvin and Roger decide to collide some of their favorite songs together. Kind of like what these DJs do with these “Mash-Up” records, only they’re bringing in the instruments and everything.
So they knock the record out really quick. Everyone digs it. Since these songs already existed, Harvest viewed it as a re-issue of sorts and passed it along to Harvest Heritage to take care of the details. Unfortunately, none of the Marvin songs or images we wanted to use could get clearance from Motown’s lawyers. That isn’t to say the records weren’t pressed up, they just couldn’t be released.
Ok, so fast-forward to this past autumn. I’m digging through my storage unit. I have TONS of records in here, as well as some keepsakes from my Record Label interning days. Needless to say I came across one of the rare copies of the Marvin Gaye and Pink Floyd Record. Obviously this would never get cleared to sell. I thought about eBay, but I just couldn’t bring myself to sell out the music like that.
So recently during the holidays, I’ve had some time off. And since my nephew is in town visiting, I figured I’d ask him to help me put the vinyl record on my computer and turn the songs into mp3s. He’s helping me upload picture of the album cover. I might have some footage in here of the live performance as well.
If you’re reading this, feel free to spread the good music. Check back. I hope to have all the music up by Christmas-time.
