Retro Spins: The Miracles - Hi...We're The Miracles

 

For as much as I dig the 80's music scene, I have to admit, if there's another era that has my attention, it's those jukebox years of the fifties and sixties. I'm talking the classics of the Big Bopper, Chuck Berry, The Angels. It was an era of malt shops, classic cars and what would become The Motown Sound.

Motown defined an era of artists, bringing with hit powerhouse solo artists and groups like Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Jackson 5, The Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder...We'd seriously be here all day listing them all out. All of this was led by the founding musical genius, Barry Gordy Jr., who served as executive, songwriter, and producer. A man of many hats, he had an ear for talent, and knew it when he saw it.

Gordy launched the label, Tamla in 1959. However, by 1960, he had moved on to form Motown Records. Despite this, many of the original debut albums appear on the Tamla label, such as today's Retro Spin, The Miracles "...Hi, We're The Miracles". Motown and Tamla would eventually merge and become one company, The Motown Record Corporation.

Hi...We're The Miracles is a pinnacle album in a couple aspects. It's not only the debut album for the group, but also the first album ever released on the Tamla label. The first iteration, and most popular, we Smokey Robinson, Ronnie White, Claudette Robinson, Warren Moore, Bobby Rodgers and Marv Tarplin.

1964 would see the first change to the group. Claudette Robinson would cease touring with the group. Though she remained a member, recording in the studio on further albums for the next several years.

In 1965, the group's name was officially changed to that of Smokey Robins And The Miracles, and they continued on until 1972, when Smokey and Claudette would exit. However, despite his exit as lead singer, Smokey would remain as executive producer for the group's 1973 album, Renaissance.

The Miracles left Motown after their 1976 album, Night Life. However, by this point their records had long since been in a sales decline. They signed with Columbia, and released three albums between 1977 and 1978 before stepping away from the studio life.

1987 brought with it much controversy when Smokey Robinson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, but not his fellow group members. He himself voiced his disappointment in the decision, as did several of The Miracles. As the first group for Tamla, they essentially created the Motown sound, and developed the environment that would lead many artists on to lustrous careers. To be so poorly shunned was simply put, insulting.

Smokey Robinson would reunite with The Miracles multiple times over his successful solo career. Perhaps the most popular was the venue which saw a major resurgence in Motown popularity for many groups. That event, Motown 25. But that is a major tale for another day.

For today, I'm spinning up the original debut album, Hi...We're The Miracles.

Hearing this record I was immediately transported in my mind to an era I never got to experience...Because I wasn't born. However, I have to admit that if I had a time machine, I would go back to yesteryear. To simple life USA, where kids sat inside malt shops, sharing shakes through two straws, putting dimes in jukeboxes, and dancing together in whatever space they could find.

Their debut features a ton of hits, can in a retrospective listening, I can fully understand how they were launched to stardom so quickly. Who's Loving You, Shop Around, and Money are just a few of the classics you'll get here, and it's well worth taking the time to listen to just for those.

This is a solid album. It's fun, it's innocent, and most importantly, it's chalk full of great tunes. If you're down with hearing some of the icons from their inception, then check this one out!

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 Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

 

Retro Spins: Living Colour - Vivid

What ever happened to Living Colour? They were one of those bands that kind of came and went in the blink of an eye, and people seemed to not really notice them or their general existence. They were one of the latter bands of the 80's, bringing with them a hard rock style sound which fell in line with a lot of the sounds of the 90's. As such, it's interesting that they kind of fell off the radar.

While I had always been a fan of their tracks Cult Of Personality and Glamour Boys, I never really paid much more attention to them beyond this. When I saw the CD, Vivid, hanging out at the used CD store, I felt this definitely needed to be rectified.

As I fired it up, I was blasted with my favorite from them, Cult Of Personality. Naturally, this set the tone for what I expected from the remainder of the album. Sadly, the delivery never came.

Vivid isn't a bad album. I didn't find myself "hating" it, but instead I kept finding myself waiting in limbo for it to deliver another track as delightful as Cult Of Personality or Glamour Boys, both of which are featured on the record. Like I said though, this never came.

The closest it got was around the three minute mark of Desperate People, but this didn't last throughout the entire song. It also didn't leave me wanting to necessarily hear the track again.

There are some notable appearances on the album. Mick Jagger provides the harmonica on Broken Hearts. While Chuck D and Flava Flav provide rapping and social commentary on Funny Vibe. However, they don't really provide any "wow" factors overall to the album.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with Vivid. The album set a high bar with the opening track, and it just never seemed to hurdle over it from that point on. I was really hoping hearing this album would have left me wanting more from the band. I don't.

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Marvel Preview Presents / Bizarre Adventures (Curtis / Marvel Comics)

 

Marvel Preview Presents
Curtis
1975 - 1980

Fans of magazine style comic books may want to check out a relatively forgotten series from Curtis, an imprint of Marvel Comics, who published a quarterly rag entitled, Marvel Preview Presents. Not only will you find a great series of black and white tales, but the first appearance of characters, such as Star-Lord and Dominic Fortune. Marvel Preview Presents is also notable for featuring the first collaborations with the celebrated X-Men creative trio, Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin in issue number eleven - Coincidentally, also featuring Star-Lord.

 

Despite the low demands of a quarterly magazine, it's interesting to note that the series was plagued by delays and inconsistencies. Not necessarily on it's quarterly release schedule, but rather the order in which stories were announced. For example, issue number two's ad promised that the following book would contain a story about Thor. However, when published, this instead was a Blade story, with Thor not making his appearance until issue number ten.

As you can see from the various covers, the stories ranged from super heroes to aliens, to horror and even mystery. The magazine seemed to have, at some point or another, something for just about everyone.

 

Another thing worth noting is the issues denoted as Bizarre Adventures and Bizarre Adventures 2. These are pointed out because with the conclusion of issue number twenty-four, and the following issue number twenty-five, the title of the series was changed to just that.

Bizarre Adventures
Curtis / Marvel Comics
1981 - 1983

Bizarre Adventures picked up right where marvel Preview Presents left off, and for the most part, the themes and styles of the books did not change. Each issue continued to feature a different story and set of characters.

Bizarre Adventures wrapped up with issue number thirty-four, and while I showcase it as the same size as the others, it was actually not. Rather, it was the size of a standard comic book. Additionally, it was also the only issue printed in color, and instead of being published by Curtis, was published by the Marvel Comics Group.

Despite the obscure nature of the titles, secondary markets have been rather kind to both series. On average, books sell between $6.00 and $25.00. Of course, the keys go for much higher. Most notably, is the first Star-Lord appearance, which can go for over over a hundred dollars. I suppose that's to be expected.

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Action Figure Adventure

 

Ah, Jay Bartlett. I was first introduced to him when catching his Amazon series, Nintendo Quest, which saw him driving around Canada and the USA in an effort to collect the entire run of Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges. He manages to pull it off in the end, long after his implemented deadline, but whatever. He crossed the finish line, and that's all that matters.

Well, Jay returns in 2021 for an all new Amazon series, Action Figure Adventure. While his intentions are commendable, intending to spend $5,000.00 on toys to host a charity auction, the audience quickly discovers that Jay thought none of this through, did zero research, and rapidly shifts his own initial strategy, only stressing the point more that there was no thought process put into his whole agenda.

Don't get me wrong. It's fun to see all the various shops he goes to, revel in the awe inspiring sight of boxed vintage toys, and hear from passionate collectors. However, as the mouthpiece and orchestration mastermind of the whole thing, Jay only serves to show that he is the least educated among all the people he's talking to.

Jay's biggest misstep in his adventure is that he's seemingly done zero research on any of the values of the toys he's after. This results in him drastically overpaying for several items, which leaves no chance for any profit to be achieved for charity's sake. The perfect example of this is the vintage Power of the Force Yak Face, which he shells out $400.00 in store credit for, yet the figure is incomplete, having no staff included. Four hundred dollars is the high end of a complete one, so for him to pay the price he paid for incomplete cements that he's in way over his head.

Examples from there only seemingly get worse. Jay continuously talks about seeking out a complete in the box Eternia playset with a continuously shrinking $5,000.00 budget. A toy which the empty box alone can sell for $2,000.00. Then proceeds to pay $500.00 for a reproduction carded Cobra Commander.

His second major falter is that he somehow thinks that going to brick and mortar stores that specialize in secondary markets of vintage toys will give him any sort of fair deal. It's common knowledge that physical stores charge well over secondary market rates. This is because they have rents, insurance and other overhead costs to pay. You're not going to find a deal at these locations if you're essentially looking to resell. This whole plan is flawed, and quite honestly baffling as to how he even conceived that this was going to be lucrative. Buy high, sell higher?

By the end of it, Jay's investment of toys does result in some profit for a few items, but also fails spectacularly in others that come in hundreds of dollars less than he paid. I winced as he paid $1,150.00 for an 85% complete USS Flagg. On a good day, a 100% complete aircraft carrier would cost around $1,200.00, but again, these things only serve to show the audience that Jay is so far out of his league in terms of knowledge of what he's actually looking at.

Probably the worst part of this is that any seasoned collector will get the sense that these dealers know they're charging him top dollar, and are fully aware that at these prices his charity auctions are doomed to make any profit. None of them are willing to contribute to the event by way of making donations. Instead, they take a laughable reduction on their cost. Seriously, the guy selling the shown six hundred dollar Skeletor said he would take ten dollars off the price as "his" contribution to the cause.

This failure is compounded all the more by the timing of Jay's online auction, during the midst of a global pandemic. While the world couldn't have contemplated or anticipated the impact Covid-19 would have overall, one thing was apparent from the start. Livelihoods were going to be impacted in a way not seen in a long time. During a time period where many people across the world were wondering if they would even have a job tomorrow, offloading toys became a must. While prices did increase slightly on some items, the other side to this was that a lot of stuff was available from many people downsizing on toys just to pay bills. Necessities were taking priority to frivolous desires.

As noble as Jay's intentions were, world circumstances, and a general lack of knowledge that led him to over pay for pretty much everything he bought left little to no room for success. With that said, the documentary is still very much worth watching. It has entertainment value in several aspects, and again, Jay's intentions are to be commended.

But how could this have been a more successful venture? How could his intentions also have resulted in major returns for charity? Well, for starters, his approach of buying everything he was auctioning was his biggest falter. Ideally, when one looks to maximize a charity contribution, they do so through donations. Not by walking into a store and paying for all the items out of pocket, and certainly not a collectible specialty shop that charges the high end of prices.

While this would have required a lot more effort and networking, and probably none of these brick and mortar stores, I'm sure there would have been someone somewhere who would have come forward to help. Heck, I would have donated my two carded COPS figures, Big Boss and Bullet Proof. Donations are after all a tax deductible item, but obviously the biggest pro is that it's all 100% profit to the organization.

Secondly, even if he was going to resort to buying these items, he should have advertised what he was looking for, what he was doing, and essentially clued people into the end game. This way he could have gone to direct sellers who were looking to offload things from their own collections, again, skipping the top dollar settings of brick and mortar stores. This would have also given him more room to negotiate, which again leads to higher profit to the organization he's collecting for.

It all unfortunately comes down to price. He paid too much for things, in a lot of cases, overpaying. You simply cannot flip things in that scenario, and make any profit. But, hopefully Jay learned from this experience, and if he decides to pursue something like this again in the future that he approaches it from a more cohesive direction.

Again, I want to stress that Jay's intentions were noble. I don't want to overshadow those in any respect. What he did was admirable. The execution was just unprecedentedly thought out, and poorly implemented to maximize any form of profit for charity.

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G.I. Joe Classified Snake Eyes & Timber: Alpha Commandos

 

G.I. Joe Classified hits hard with an all new deluxe pack in the form of Snake Eyes & Timber: Alpha Commandos. Not only do they deliver on a homage of the original 1982 Commando, but the 1985 released Timber.

While the artwork isn't updated with any new images, the sheer size of it makes it pop like never before.

Commando, or Snake Eyes if you please, is number thirty in the series, which puts him between Breaker (29) and Master of Disguise Zartan (31), two figures which technically have not been released yet.

Popping the figure open, it certainly looks great. However, if there's one thing I don't like about it, it's the logo and 00 on the grenade which is attached to the figure's chest. It sticks out like a sore thumb. It would have better to just leave the whole figure varying degrees of black.

Figure aside, the true greatest feature in the package is Timber.

Seeing the amount of detailed poured into the wolf excites me all the more to see what Hasbro could do with a six inch Croc Master, one of my favorite vintage figures from the 1987 wave.

Being a deluxe figure, you know it comes with a slew of accessories. Various guns, a knife, suppressor, and even a second head for Timber fill this set out nicely. Additionally, the two larger rifles have removable magazines.

Unfortunately, there aren't enough slots or pegs to store all the weapons on the figure. One of the features on the earlier figures was pegs molded into the weapons. However, I don't think this aspect was well received by fans, and it appears Hasbro has stopped implementing this. Admittedly, it did look bad, but it at least allowed you to store weapons more efficiently.

All decked out, this figure checks every box for classic G.I. Joe turned six inch Classified. It's pretty amazing.

So what are you waiting for? Get you one!

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Round Two: 2nd And Charles

 

My Saturday outing to 2nd and Charles in Chantilly was so successful, that I thought today would be a great day to hit their Woodbridge location. I'm so glad that I did!

The drive was the worst part, taking about an hour to get there. In fact, it was this aspect alone that had me teetering on whether or not I was going to go to this location. But again, it turned out to be a good thing that I did.

The trip more than paid for itself within the first five minutes when I stumbled upon the complete series of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, the 1990 show that followed after The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. A few box sets down was The Archies complete 1968 series.

The box sets led into the Christmas cartoons, and while I was hoping to find Mickey's Christmas Carol, coming across How The Grinch Stole Christmas was an easy sale. This one will definitely get added to my Christmas rotation of cartoons.

From there, I headed over to the kids section, hoping to find a few more gems that may be tucked away in there.

During my Chantilly 2nd And Charles visit, I found the first Care Bears movie, and was pretty happy to find not only the 1986 sequel, but also the 1988 Care Bears: The Nutcracker. If that wasn't good enough, I also nabbed up the original 1986 My Little Pony: The Movie.

If all of these cartoons weren't enough to make the trip worth while, I also ended up with a fair amount of CD's. This was most surprising, as I really didn't expect to find anything in this section, let alone ones that were on my want list.

I walked away with Cheap Trick's In Color (with I Want You To Want Me), Elton John's Honky Chateau (with Rocket Man), the just released Prince Welcome 2 America, and another odd Blockbuster exclusive CD, Monster Hits: 10 Classic Songs To Rock Your Halloween.

As I headed to the register, I had a moment of impulse buying, and grabbed this sweet looking NES controller themed coffee mug.

All and all, this trip was very lucrative, and worth the drive.

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G.I. Joe Classified: Master Of Disguise Zartan

 

Coming this fall, the new Master Of Disguise Zartan may just be the ultimate version of the character in six inch form. I can't imagine how Hasbro could top what they've done here. Well, unless they release a vehicle pack with a Swamp Skier.

The package has a lot going on for itself. If you thought the 2020 Snake Supreme Cobra Commander box was unique, check this one out. First and foremost, the front of the box is on a hinge. While it does come taped shut with adhesive disks, these fortunately come off fairly easy, without causing damage.

On the right side of the package is a large cardboard dial, and rotating it changes the face of Zartan, showcasing his ability to change disguise. In total, there are six different "faces". The package itself is definitely meant to be part of the collectability of this figure.

Remember that time that Zartan disguised himself as the Shredder from TMNT? Okay, so this is supposed to be Storm Shadow, but it sure looks more like the Turtle's main villain.

The back of the package showcases that all too familiar art, and no, there's nothing new added to it.

Flipping the lid open, you get another great piece of artwork in the form of the Drednok's logo. The other side is the window box, which showcases the figure and all the accessories packed within.

There is a ton of stuff packed in that box. Hasbro was definitely looking to give fans their monies worth.

Flipping it around, you get that great artwork on the side of the package, the classified logos, and of course, the legal mumbo jumbo on the bottom, and figure number at the top.

Popping the figure open, it's immediately noticeable that the flesh-tone is much darker on the skin. This is most likely a result of the color changing ability. With the exception of some paint applications, and the color feature, this is the exact same Zartan released earlier in the series. Admittedly, I think this new paint application makes a big difference, and I far prefer this version to the original.

I popped mine in the fridge for about twenty minutes, and the color effect boomed as a result.

It didn't take long for the figure to start returning back to its normal color, but man did it look both awesome and menacing at the same time.

As mentioned above, Master Of Disguise Zartan comes with a ton of accessories, packed in, and here is where the problems start to surface. There are too many, and not enough holsters, packs or places in general to store them all.

This figure would have benefited with a packed in storage crate. It's just not feasible to have all these loose parts floating around. I also don't understand the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow heads being packed in.

By far, my favorite accessory in this set is the sniper rifle. That thing is a beast.

All decked out,the figure is difficult to move around. From the encumbering accessories, which are also loose, and fall off at the slightest touch, he more akin to display than to play with. Coupled with the package, it makes me wonder if Hasbro's intentions were for this to only be a display piece.

I dig the color changing feature, I think the paint job is far superior, and again, that sniper rifle is just a beast.Overall, I do like this version more than the original. I just wish that storage for all the accessories would have been a factor when producing it.

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