Ecology Album Discography
When Sammy Davis, Jr. was unable to continue getting hits on the Reprise label in the late 1960s, he
felt it was time for a change. He and Berry Gordy, the owner of Motown Records, agreed in April, 1970,
to a partnership that would include launching a new label, Ecology, for Sammy. In the meantime, while
the new label was being set up, Motown took some masters Davis had recorded at Reprise about six
months earlier and released them in May, 1970, on an album called Something for Everyone
[Motown MS-710].
Several new tracks were recorded at Motown in anticipation of a Motown-produced album on the new Ecology label. He recorded some tracks produced by Marvin Gaye, and Motown engineers went to Carnegie Hall to record some live material, but these tracks were never released. Berry Gordy indicated in a later interview that Davis' style didn't fit well with "The Motown Sound."
Davis did record some tracks in late 1970, produced by Jimmy Bowen, his old producer at Reprise, and two of these sides were released as the only single on the Ecology label, "In My Own Lifetime"/"I'll Begin Again" [Ecology E-1000]. Some others from these Bowen sessions ended up on Davis' 1972 MGM album Now [MGM SE-4832].
When both parties realized the partnership was not going to work out, they agreed that Davis would leave Motown and take the Bowen masters with him. The Ecology album was quietly cancelled. Sammy Davis, Jr., of course, did have the #1 hit "The Candy Man" [MGM 14320] as soon as he went to MGM.
