1968- "Winter Wonderland" (Funk Brothers)

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.....A year ago I placed this track in 1965 because that was the date given in the liner notes of its first appearance. Having dug a bit further, I'm not sure when it was recorded or even by whom. The song "WINTER WONDERLAND" was recorded in 1963 by The Miracles for their Christmas album that year at a session produced by Ronald White. After that the song did not appear on any Motown single for at least three decades. It also did not on any of the Christmas albums by The Supremes (1965), Stevie Wonder (1967), The Temptations (1970 and 1980), The Jackson 5 (1970) or a second album by The Miracles (1970). It also didn't appear on any of the various artists albums, VALP MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MOTOWN (1968), VALP CHRISTMAS GIFT RAP (1970; same as 1968 album, repackaged), VALP IT'S CHRISTMAS IN MOTOWN (UK, 1973), VA2LP A MOTOWN CHRISTMAS (1973 and 1982), VALP WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS (1978) or VALP CHRISTMAS CHEERS FROM MOTOWN (1989, the only one made entirely of new recordings).

.....So, when this track surfaced:

• 02:02 "WINTER WONDERLAND" (Felix Bernard) [mono]
• performed by The Funk Brothers
• produced by Ronald White
• previously unreleased, recorded 1965
• compilation produced by Cary E. Mansfield
• digitally remastered by Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch at Digiprep, Los Angeles, CA
• unreleased tracks mixed at Penguin Recording, Eagle Rock, CA
• original source: VACD CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY Motown Master Series 37463-6326-2 (Germany) 10/19/93

.....Not only was the production attributed to Ron White but the songwriting credit omits Dick Smith, as does the 1963 Miracles album and its 1982 reissue. (It was corrected for the 1987 CD version). However, this track is clearly not the instrumental backing for The Miracles recording, even though it is very likely some of the same staff musicians playing the same song. It's not a radically different arrangement but different enough to distinguish between them. Also, the recording date given was two years after the LP version's release and in 1965 the only notable Christmas project at Motown was Harvey Fuqua's work with The Supremes. If The Funk Brothers were recording with White it must have been for an abandoned single.

.....The release of CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY came at the onset of a succession of domestic Christmas compilations from Motown. The Miracles' version of "WINTER WONDERLAND" showed up on VACD A MOTOWN CHRISTMAS CAROL (1995) and VACD A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM MOTOWN VOLUME 2 (UK, 2001), while The Funk Brothers' version was on the simultaneously released VACD A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM MOTOWN VOLUME 1 (UK, 2001). A month later a new wrinkle emerged:

• 02:02 "WINTER WONDERLAND" (Felix Bernard, Dick Smith) [stereo]
• performed by The Funk Brothers
• produced by Norman Whitfield
• previously unreleased alternate mix, "recorded September-October 1968, as an instrumental only during the sessions for the Temptations' album CHRISTMAS CARD"
• "First issued with a different mix on the Various Artists album CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY Motown 6326, October 1993."
• compilation produced by Harry Weinger
• digitally remastered from original sources by Kevin Reeves at Universal Mastering Studios-East
• mixed by Suha Gur
• original source: VACD A MOTOWN CHRISTMAS VOLUME 2 Motown/Universal 440 016 364-2 (US) 11/06/01

.....I don't have the next appearance of the track, VACD 20TH CENTURY MASTERS/THE CHRISTMAS COLLECTION: THE BEST OF MOTOWN CHRISTMAS [VOLUME ONE] (2003). I also don't have either pressing of the Temptations' collection CD THE BEST OF TEMPTATIONS CHRISTMAS (2001 and 2003), which doesn't list the song but I would like to be able to confirm whether or not it appears as an unlisted track at the end. The only other appearance I can confirm is on VA2CD THE ULTIMATE MOTOWN CHRISTMAS COLLECTION Motown/Universal B0013383-02 (US) 10/13/09. It has four things in common with the liner notes of the 2001 stereo mix: it gives the correct composer credit; it attributes the production to Norman Whitfield; this new collection is supervised by Harry Weinger; and the mastering was again done at Universal Mastering Studio-East (this time by Ellen Fitton).

.....Only one thing doesn't make sense. If the track was intended for The Temptations' first Christmas album, produced by Barrett Strong and Clay McMurray, why was this track produced by Norman Whitfield? Whitfield produced almost all of the Temptations albums from 1968 until the the label moved its studios to California in 1973 and he was a songwriting partner with Strong, so it is possible that Whitfield initiated the sessions for the backing tracks assuming that he would take on the project and backed out, allowing Strong to take over. Considering the direction Whitfield steered the group after the departure of balladeer David Ruffin, into psychedelics and black consciousness politics, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see him becoming disenchanted with the prospect of recording holiday standards. I was hoping to see some kind of tie breaker (is it a 1965 recording produced by White or a 1968 recording produced by Whitfield?) by consulting the website "Don't Forget The Motor City". The site confirms the recording date as October 11th, 1968 but attributes the recording to The Temptations, not The Funk Brothers, and attributes the production to Barrett Strong. A week later Strong would begin work with The Temptations on their Christmas single (which I'll get to in a later post). If the notations in DFTMC are correct, The Miracles were recording a Motown original on the 11th, the subject of the next post.