Well PhilMH, these Motown CDs get more complicated by the day don't they!! I've now loaded up a full image of the inlay (#1025902) complete with original barcode.
I've rechecked my "Motown, The History" discography and you are correct, the 1985 issue was an LP/Cassette version of "Temptin' Temptations" as part of their "Mid-Price" series.
So it seems that this CD version was issued by MCA over four years later, using the same basic Cat #, and then a year or so later unsold CDs were recycled with the rehashed PolyGram barcode when Polygram reissued "Temptin' Temptations" after acquiring Motown from MCA.
I wonder how many more Motown reissues follow the same pattern.
Anyway ... enough of that ... here is some music ......
OK, the sticker is muddying the issue a bit - perhaps if you could take the back inlay out of the case and photograph it or scan it again, that would help, and it will also show the old barcode (and the repressed version does exist - it is listed in Discogs).
Anyway, I dug a bit more, and found a release date of January 30, 1990 for this in Schwann InMusic's issue for March 15-April 15, 1990. It was the LP and cassette versions (5374ML/5374MC) that were issued in 1985 by what was then Motown Record Corporation, which had been distributed by MCA Distributing Corp. since 1983. Also, only those versions were listed in Motown's Fall/Winter 1985 catalogue, and any CD then would have had the prefix MCDO. There are no CD versions of this listed in Schwann before the issue cited. In late 1988, the joint venture of MCA and Boston Ventures bought Motown, which then became Motown Record Company, L.P. as shown here, and the LP/cassette/CD prefixes then became MOT-/MOTC-MOTD-.
Thanks for the explanation PhilMH, it all makes sense.
However I don't see why you think that the issue date of September 1985 ought to be changed as a result of this. My CD Disc clearly has the old MOTD number on it and was obviously manufactured as part of the 1985 release, so if it weren't for me having taken a photo of the back cover with the sticker and having brought this anomaly to peoples' attention no one would have been any the wiser. Also, if over the years the Jewel Case had been damaged, I would no doubt have replaced it with a fresh new one (without the sticker) and I would never have found out that I had bought a copy that PolyGram had recycled.
I imagine that out there somewhere there are likely to be Temptaholics who have the re-pressed (as opposed to recycled) 1991/2 PolyGram release, with a 37463 Catalogue Number printed on the disc and spine, and I'm looking forward to it appearing eventually here.
Hi Roger, the sticker comes from late 1991/early 1992, when PolyGram took over Motown's distribution (and eventually bought the label) from MCA, and changed the catalogue number prefixes from MOT-/MOTC-/MOTD- to 37463. Obviously MCA were left with unsold stock, which PolyGram bought and renumbered. So, the primary catalogue number here was intended to be 37463-5374-2, and the release date should be changed to 1991 or 1992.
As for the producer credit, one of Motown's (read: Berry Gordy's) ways of fostering competition was to afford the credit to whoever had the most productions on the album, though there are plenty of Motown albums without any producer credit at all, probably because there was no one producer with a clear majority.
The release date is as per the discography in the back of Sharon Davis' Book "Motown The History"
Some confusion about the barcode here ... on the back of the inlaid insert it has 050109537426 but there is a sticker on the Jewel Case over this with 737463637421. I bought it in London, so maybe the sticker version was for The UK??
Also, although it clearly states "Produced by Smokey Robinson", Temptaholics will know that this only applies to roughly half the tracks with #2, #6 and #9 produced by Norman Whitfield and #3 and #10 produced by Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter.