Diana Ross and the Supremes - The Ultimate Collection

Supremes, Diana Ross | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 1997)
• Original Release Date: October 7, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Motown
• ASIN: B000001ANZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,819 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #20 in Music > Pop > Oldies > Girl Groups
  • #48 in Music > R&B > Classic R&B
  • #77 in Music > Dance & DJ > Disco

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The title is a bit of a misnomer: The Supremes are anthologized in more comprehensive fashion on Motown's three-volume Greatest Hits series, while this package is denser, and has a higher hit-per-track ratio. But if you'd rather pick up one collection than three, and if you want a good, thorough skimming of cream from the group's catalog, this is the better choice. All of the familiar songs are here, with no major omissions--and they're packed in with a liberal helping of second-magnitude hits. For a collection that samples only the extreme top end of the Supremes' output, there's Every Great No. 1 Hit, also on Motown. It's missing a lot, but it delivers exactly what it promises. --Gavin McNett

Product Description

Out of print in the U.S.! The Ultimate Collection from Diva Ross and her two Supreme sidekicks is just that....the ULTIMATE Collection! This is the best single-disc compilation on the market by the chirpy trio and features more than a plethora of hits. The world is a much better place because of songs like 'Where Did Our Love Go', 'Stop! In The Name Of Love', 'I Hear A Symphony', 'Baby Love', 'You Can't Hurry Love', 'The Happening' and everything else on this CD. There's 25 great tracks here that say more in three minutes than many artists entire catalog. It's soulful. It's melodic. It's brilliant. It's the ultimate collection. Universal.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Supreme! October 16, 1998

By [e-mail]

Format:Audio CD

I have seen a negative review on this CD which I don't understand. It complains of this CD's sound quality. This collection is a remastering of the songs as they were released as mono singles (the ORIGINAL hits) . These are the versions, that when current, we heard on the radio. These are the versions that we bought as 45's. The Supremes cuts that we've been listening to for the past 25 plus years have been the album mixes. As is noted in this CD's liner notes, the album mixes were sometimes completely different cuts of the same songs, including the vocals. Yes, the sound quality isn't as great as it is on the album releases but after sooo many years, I'm sooo happy to hear the songs as they sounded when I fell in love with them, oh, so long ago.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Supremes get regal compilation July 27, 2000

By John Jones

Format:Audio CD

The hand claps...the shuffling, 6/8 time signatures...the tamborine played over the snare...the "baby, baby" background vocals...the classic Motown Sound is unmistakable, and still makes for some of the most earnest pop music ever recorded. No bandwagon-chasing, trend-following artists in search of a quick buck...just pure and honest soul sung with unbridled joy. And one of the most beloved and popular examples of it is Diana Ross and the Supremes, the quintessential Girl Group for the ages. "The Ultimate Collection" is exactly that, a generously thorough exploration of their legendary career.

With the possible exception of "Stoned Love," recorded after Diana Ross' departure, every significant Supremes track is included. Every #1 hit is here (with "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby Love," and "Stop! in the Name of Love" still sounding as fresh and sunny as they did three decades ago) as well as some songs that are so well known and loved it's a wonder they didn't top the charts as well (such as the cheerful "When the Lovelight Shines Through His Eyes" and the psychedelic "Reflections"). We're also treated to a healthy helping of their lesser-heard material: some, such as "In and Out of Love" and "Forever Came Today," make for fine listening, but songs like "My World is Empty Without You," "Love is Like an Itching in My Heart," and "The Composer" are particularly strong tracks that were definitely robbed of greater commercial success.

So whereas the Supremes box set goes a bit overboard (post-Ross tracks are fine, but does anyone really need the group's Coca-Cola radio spot on CD?), the single-disc "Ultimate Collection" sums up things nicely. Every Supremes song you've heard on the radio and sung along with is here, not to mention sounding better than ever with gorgeous digital remastering. So stop in the name of love...love of great music, that is...and treat yourself to this fabulous collection.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Awesome songs, bad audio March 19, 2005

By Lee Overstreet

Format:Audio CD

No sense repeating the extensive reviews regarding how influential and entertaining this music is. It's truly astounding, and the music is brilliant.

However...

In remastering these recordings, the audio engineers have apparently done what I always call a "boost and compress," which reduces dynamic range, increases overall apparent loudness, and often increases distortion. Back in the 60's, the tendency was to mix songs with vocals much louder than the accompanying music, and with very little deep bass. Nowadays the tendency is right the opposite, with electronically generated deep bass notes, and vocals barely peeking over the music. To give the Supremes a more modern sound, they seem to have compressed these tracks to bring up the music, especially the bass. The result is distorted and unnatural vocals, and compressed dynamic range, especially on the older songs. It's really a shame.

If you can't tell the difference between mp3's and CDs, you won't care. If you're an audiophile, you'll be disappointed.