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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a set!, December 31, 2003
This review is from: Chrome Collection (Audio CD)
I just received my Chrome in the mail and feel like I've died and gone to heaven. Oh yeah, all the goods are here, "It's a Shame," "Could it be I'm falling in Love," "One of a Kind (Love Affair)," "Mighty Love," "I'll Be Around," "Then Came You," and on and on and on. Plus there are plenty of fantastic non-hit album cuts such as "Toni My Love," and "He'll Never Love You Like I Do." It's all here! The early Motown stuff, the late dance stuff including "Cupid" and "Working My Way Back to You," and thankfully the ENTIRE "Spinners" album from Atlantic, all 10 blockbusters including the aforementioned "One of a Kind," "I'll Be Around," "Could It Be ..." plus "Ghetto Child," and other gems. Wow, Rhino did it right -- the whole nine yards and then some. The packaging is top notch, great photos and the box is very nice. One of the highlights is the 60-page booklet, with some truly excellent writing featuring some interesting anecdotes even I, a Spinners fanatic, hadn't heard before. The notes about how Thom Bell produced the group are priceless. Despite all the hits, The Spinners remain one of the most underrated groups of all time. They truly are one of the top groups ever and this collection proves this. If you like smooth grooves, tremendous singing, impeccable production (no drum machines here, it's the REAL stuff!), and just feel good music, the Chrome Collection is for you. This is by far the best CD collection I've bought in years -- perhaps ever -- and I can't recommend it enough.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One Of A Kind Spinners Collection, August 1, 2003
This review is from: Chrome Collection (Audio CD)
Rhino has done it again. It's another collection that sums up the life and times of The Spinners. Now don't get me wrong, their are many Spinners collections out there. None other than the 1991 anthology, A One Of A Kind Love Affair, which is a great overview of their career. Now, many people thought that the 2-disc anthology was the most comprehensive collection on the market, think again. The Chrome Collection is here. The first box set that gives the listener a better insight on The Spinners. When I brought this box set, I got a little nervous because I knew this would give me more than what I was asking for. This collection starts at the year 1961, which starts out with the song "That's What Girl's Are Made For". This is maybe the only song I know that they made in the 1960's. I mean people including me love their 70's hits like "I'll Be Around" or "Sadie", but this gives you more songs just like other Rhino collections. Anyway, you also get the 1973 mix of "Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music which is great. This is the mix from the 1973 Motown issue, The Best Of The Spinners. Yeah, you get the well-known hits from 1970-1976. For example, "It's A Shame"-1970, "I'll Be Around"-1973, "Sadie"-1974, "Games People Play"-1975, and "The Rubberband Man-1976. I love listening to all of them, but this is where the problems start with some of the first-time listeners. The John Edwards Era starts on disc 3, you know when Philippe left the group. I just love this disc because I'm music collector, I love rare and unheard stuff. It starts at with "Heaven On Earth (So Fine)", which is my all-time favorite Spinners song. Let me tell you, I am getting real adjusted to Edwards' voice now, so I love their other 1970's hits with John Edwards, the new singer. It also has their 1979 hit, A Plain And Simple Love Song, which is my favorite also. Disc 3 gets a little involved with their latter hits like "Working My Way Back To You", "Cupid", and "Funny How Time Slips Away". So, this box set is for the serious collector but, it's the best Spinners collection out their now. This 3-disc box set features a smart and detailed booklet, focusing on the Spinners and why they left the music scene in the 90's. It also has unseen and rare photographs and a selected discography. The discs and booklet is housed in a hardback digi-book, you know like hardback editions of regular books. Caution: the spine of the digi-book won't last for long. You can hear the cracked noise, but the spine and digipak doesn't break. It'll last for a lifetime. This box set is for the serious Spinners fan. For starters, buy The Very Best Of The Spinners.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heavy Rotation for the Spinners, July 23, 2003
This review is from: Chrome Collection (Audio CD)
This box is as smart as it as soulful. Practically the first words out of the booklet's mouth, so to speak, are there are plenty of Spinners compilations out there. If you're a Spinners fan, you know them and you own them. But own this too. It's worth it. The story of the Spinners is practically tearful. Not in the usual "Behind The Music" sense (though Phillipe Wynne might deserve one posthumously), but in that here was one of the industry's great underutilized treasures, allowed to spin its wheels, so to speak, throughout the '60s while Motown tended to its established acts. The accompanying booklet, practically worth the price of admission, tracks the progress or lack thereof of the Spinners at Motown and how many fans among their peers--Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder--they collected along the way. With all that, they were given enough room for one hit, the glorious "It's A Shame," and it was off to another label, thankfully. At Atlantic, the story of Thom Bell and the Spinners gets going, and the booklet again takes us to the studio to hear him work his magic. Bell and Linda Creed get their props in the box as does G.C. Cameron who was the sacrificial lead singer who made possible the Spinners' getaway to Atlantic. I didn't think I could appreciate the Spinners anymore than I already did, but the Chrome Collection brought them home once more. It's curious to me that they're never quite mentioned in the pantheon of great soul groups, overshadowed at the time of their development by the Tempts and Tops, obscured in memory for some reason by the likes of the O'Jays and Earth, Wind & Fire. The box sets the record straight. This was THE group of its time, soul and pop. It doesn't really matter, but the group that gave the charts "I'll Be Around," "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love," "One of a Kind (Love Affair)" and "Ghetto Child" inside a year ought to be in the R&R Hall of Fame.
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