Customer Reviews

Gold

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Gladys Knight and the Pips are one of the most successful groups in R & B history. Gladys' ultrasoulful voice was a nice blend of southern warmth and fiery gospel, while the Pips provided tuneful backup that contained plenty of character. They recorded for several labels over the years and this two-disc 39-track collection includes recordings from all of them. It is a huge improvement from the 18 track Essential collection from 1999 that also sampled all of their previous labels.

This chronological retrospective leads off with 1961's "Every Beat Of My Heart" (versions of which charted on both Vee-Jay and Fury) and its follow-up on Fury "Letter Full Of Tears" (written by the great Don Covay). A move to the Maxx label resulted in 1964's enclosed minor hit "Giving Up" (written by future disco star Van McCoy).

At this point Gladys & the Pips were major stars on the chitlin circuit, but mainstream success eluded them until they joined Motown in 1966. The collection includes 13 of their biggest Motown hits, such as the frenetic original version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and the lovely ballads "If I Were Your Woman" and "Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)." It's a good overview of their Motown years. It you want more of their recordings from this era, I suggest you check out the 22-track Ultimate Collection from 1997.

In spite of their successes at Motown, Gladys and the Pips always felt like second-class citizens there (Miss Ross of course always got preferential treatment) and moved over to Buddah in early 1973 when their Motown contract was up. It was at Buddah that they made their most memorable music and this set includes (again) 13 of their biggest hits there, among them their signature song "Midnight Train To Georgia," the funky barnburner "On And On" (from the film Claudine), the heartbreaker "Part Time Love," and an effective live version of "The Way We Were" teamed with "Try To Remember." This is by far my favorite period of Pip music and it is nice to see every key Buddah track included here.

A jump to Columbia in 1979 resulted in a lot less hits than their tenures at Motown and Buddah reaped, but there were a few great moments, such as the enclosed Grammy winner "Save The Overtime For Me," the majestic "Landlord," and a version of "Hero (Wind Beneath My Wings)" that remains definitive. A move to MCA in 1987 brought Gladys & the Pips' last number one r & b hit - another Grammy winner - the call & response funkster "Love Overboard" and it's equally rowdy follow-up "Lovin' On Next To Nothin'." They're both here. The set then closes with Gladys' theme for the James Bond film LICENSE TO KILL as well as the two standout tracks from her Good Woman solo album from 1991: "Men" and "Superwoman" (the latter a collaboration with good friend Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle).

This strong, strong retrospective puts all other Pip sets to shame. It's all of the Gladys Knight that most people will ever need.

And they did it again... It seems that Sony/BMG/Universal Music, through their many labels (like Hip-O, under which this album was released), are becoming the leaders of the infamous "loudness war" (Google the expression for more info). Basically, that means mastering the CD with the audio normalized beyond the CD format dynamic range limits. That way, on many of the songs, louder parts are simply clipped, that is, those audio frequencies are simply not present anymore, because the audio was mastered so loud that the audio was clipped (cut off) when it reached the limit the CD format allows, and those frequencies are irreparably lost in the process. The idea is to deceive the average consumer into thinking that he is getting a better sounding recording, when it's the exact opposite - it's just louder, and worse - with parts of the audio actually missing.

I've just received the CD set and ran a full audio analysis of the "On And On" track. There are at least 446 clipped samples on the left channel and at least 264 on the right channel. To see the sound carnage for yourself, just extract the track and open it with an audio editor like Cool Edit, zoom in on the clipped sections, and see the poor sound wave cut off into a flat line, with the sound it was meant to reproduce completely LOST.

Universal/Hip-O Records continues its sublime reissue series "Gold" with the first 2-cd career-spanning collection by Gladys Knight and the Pips, and it is a winner through and through. Unlike Motown's previous "Anthology" issues, which contained re-recorded versions of their early hits, this one is the real deal. It includes the original Huntom/Vee Jay version of "Every Beat of My Heart", as well as the Fury/Maxx versions of "Letter Full of Tears" and "Giving Up", before going through the major Motown hits, the Buddah years, their Columbia rennaisance, their graceful bow-out at MCA, and onto Gladys' solo years. My only beef is that it is missing the sublime "Operator" and the 80s CBS sleeper "When You're Far Away", but gives over the spotlight to such under appreciated gems as "Where Peaceful Waters Flow" and the transcendent "So Sad the Song" from Gladys' acting debut "Pipe Dreams". All in all, probably my favorite "Gold" cd, and a worthwhile purchase, whether as an introduction or as a replacement for all the other hit collections.

Now they should think about an exhaustive four-CD box set, Gladys and the Pips and Martha and the Vandellas are the only major Motown groups who haven't yet gotten one.

The excellent Universal Music Group GOLD series continues with this great collection of classic cuts by Gladys Knight & The Pips. What makes this compilation so special is that it contains all but three of the group's top-20 r&b hits (the three not on this collection are 1968's "Didn't You Know You Have To Cry Sometime" and "I Wish It Would Rain", and 1978's "It's A Better Than Good Time"). With improved sound and always great liner notes, GOLD is definitely the perfect introduction to this legendary group.

This compilation may be the ultimate Gladys Knight & the Pips in the number of songs but the quality of the recording is very poor. This CD has every song you could ever wish for but unless you don't mind your music sounding like your listening to it under water, stay away from this one. Gladys sounded better on AM radio back in the day than on this compilation recording. Do not accept quantity over quality, you will be disappointed.

Because Gladys & the Pips recorded for so many labels, until now there has been no single collection which includes tracks from all of those labels -- a most annoying situation. Hip-o has been able to get their hands on everything, finally, and put it into a concise, chronologically-arranged collection. The remastering is pretty meticulous and the price tag is amazing. Bravo!

Most of the reviews to date for this great 2006 release are appropriately in the 5-star category, with those dropping it to 1- and 3-star reviews clearly being audiophiles who somehow found some major fault with the sound reproduction. Personally, I think they should check their equipment because it's just fine, thank you very much.

After starting out with Brunswick in 1958 as The Pips (named after their cousin and manager James "Pip" Woods), and when they consisted of Gladys, brother Merald (Bubba) and sister Brenda, along with cousins Eleanor and William Guest, they underwent their first personnel change in 1959 with the replacement of Eleanor and Brenda by cousins Langston George and Edward Patten. This was the lineup that recorded the first track here, Every Beat of My Heart, in 1961 for Huntom Records b/w Room In Your Heart (Huntom 2510).

That same year they had moved to Fury Records where the sides were re-recorded and released on Fury 1050 as by Gladys Knight & The Pips. Meanwhile, Huntom sold their master to Vee-Jay who put their copy out simultaneously as by The Pips on Vee-jay 386, resulting in the unique situation of the group competing with themselves on the charts. For the record, the Vee-Jay release finished at # 1 R&B/# 6 Pop Hot 100 while the Fury release wound up at # 15 R&B/# 45 Hot 100.

After that, with Langston leaving in 1962, the remaining quartet would go on to rack up 56 more R&B, 39 Hot 100, and 14 Adult Contemporary hits, and in this 2-CD set you get all the major entries for the more lucrative Hot 100 listings in a package that includes 4 pages of liner notes written by Brian Chin and a complete discography of the contents.

If there's a complaint it's in the inclusion of R&B entries only like Make Yours A Happy Home and You're Number One (In My Book), along with three Gladys solo cuts that also made only those charts, at the expense of these omitted entries from the more lucrative Hot 100 listings: Operator (# 97 - Fury 1064 - April 1962); Lovers Always Forgive (# 89 - Maxx 329 - Sept 1964) NOTE: The R&B charts were suspended from late 1963 and all of 1964 and any chart positions shown now for that period were only added much later - and are the same as the Hot 100 results - for "historical" purposes: Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me - # 98 - Soul 35033 - May 1967; I Wish It Would Rain - # 41 Hot 100 (and # 15 R&B) - Soul 35047 - Sept 1968; Didn't You Know (You'd Have To cry Sometime?) - # 63 Hot 100 (and # 11 R&V) - Soul 35057 - March 1969; All I Need Is Time - # 61 Hot 100 (and # 28 R&B) - Soul 35107 - Aug 1973; Between Her Goodbye And My hello - # 57 Hot 100 (and # 45 R&B) - Soul 35111 - July 1974; Don't Burn Down The Bridge - a # 21 Hot 100 flip "follow-along" - Buddah 433 - Nov 1974.

A minor listing error for track 13 in Disc 1 should be noted: the correct title is Make Me The Woman That You Go Home To.

It's interesting to note too that, due to legal problems, Gladys could not record with The Pips from 1977 to 1980. In 1989 she went solo - as reflected in tracks 15 to 17 on Disc 2.

Pay no attention the negative reviews. This is a gem in every respect.

Loved Gladys Knight growing up and had to come back to my roots. This is a great compilation of the group's work at a great price. Two weeks ago, I paid 2X the current $10.99 for the 2-disk set and thought it well worth the price.

Call your self a singer well let me tell you this lady is if not the best they don't make them like her anymore love Gladys Knight !!!

I recieved my shipment of the CD that I had ordered in a few days and was well pleased with the order.