[1] Joined by former Motown writers like Sylvia Moy, Johnny Bristol and Ivy Jo Hunter, Levine and his crew wrote and produced around the clock, getting the backing tapes recorded in London while vocal sessions took place in both Detroit and Los Angeles, but despite the media attention and prominent artists in the roster of the likes of Martha & The Vandellas, and former Supremes Jean Terrell, Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence, it proved harder than expected to get the product released.

"The sound of these records often didn't sit well with old Motown fans that wanted to hear a live rhythm section as much as they did the outstanding unimpaired vocals of many veteran soul singers", former Motorcity employee Ralph Tee said.

Still most releases continued to sell disappointingly: "Some of the Motorcity albums sold less than a thousand copies each", Levine revealed in an interview in Manifesto magazine in September 2007 as a response to later royalty disputes with some of the artists who claimed not to have been paid.

Songs like Ronnie McNeir's "Lucky Number", Carolyn Crawford's "Timeless" and The Elgins' "Don't Wait Around" have since received more praise on the UK soul scene than the first time round.

A lot of these artists were recorded for the last time, many of them have since died – including Mary Wells, Herman Griffin, David Ruffin, Hattie Littles, Saundra Edwards of The Elgins, Edwin Starr, Joe Stubbs and many more.

A month-long tour in November 1990 featured The Elgins, Kim Weston, Syreeta, Carolyn Crawford, Marv Johnson and was headlined by Jean, Scherrie & Lynda of The Supremes.