Customer Reviews

Hitsville USA The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The years 1959 - 1971, when Motown was located in Detroit, is considered the golden era of the label. Motown charted over 350 singles during this time and it would probably take at least 10 cds to do this period justice. This collection, Motown's most extensive at the time of its release in 1992, is comprised of four cds. Of the 104 singles included here, only two didn't chart: Syreeta's "I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You" and Shorty Long's original version of "Devil With The Blue Dress On." The inclusion of Carolyn Crawford's rare and gorgeous "My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down)" was worth the cost of the set alone for the serious Motown collector. It and the Syreeta single were appearing on cd for the first time (both have been included on other Motown compilations since then).

Motown went for a wide variety of artists (36) instead of just choosing the obvious hits by the major artists as previous collections had done. Of the major artists, the nine selections each by the Miracles and the Temptations are a good representation of their best work during this period. The Diana Ross-led Supremes, however, are strongly neglected, with only four singles included here. Especially key omissions in a historical set such as this is their first and last number ones: "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Someday We'll Be Together." Meanwhile, all three 1970-1971 hits by the Jean Terrell-led Supremes are found here. The selection of Martha and the Vandellas' "Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things)" over "I'm Ready For Love" and "Honey Chile" doesn't work for me, while Shorty Long's only bonafide hit, the novelty "Here Comes The Judge" is left off at the expense of the non-hit "Function At The Junction" and "Devil With The Blue Dress On."

These digitally remastered singles are all in crisp mono, as they were originally mixed for radio. Many of them (such as the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" and the Temptations' "Cloud Nine" are dramatically different from the versions heard on "oldies" radio today. The singles are sequenced for the most part in release date order. Most of the major hits from the 1959 - 1963 period are included on the set: Barrett Strong's "Money," the Miracles' "Shop Around", the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman, and the Contours' "Do You Love Me", for instance. In 1964, Motown became a true hit factory (the Supremes, Temptations, and Four Tops all had their first major hits that year) and it is here that the omissions on the set start to become more pronounced. There is just too much great music from 1964 through 1971 from Motown to fit onto only four discs (actually three, since the first disc is dedicated to the 1959 - 1963 period).

The 68-page booklet is a nice accompaniment to the discs. While the biographies aren't that extensive, it is hard to find even what is listed here on the more obscure artists like Carolyn Crawford and the Monitors. A thorough track listing provides the artist's name, songwriters, publishers, producers, release date, label number, and peak chart position in Billboard (pop and r&b) for each single. Best of all is the listing - by instrument and year - of the names of the incredible musicians who played on the Motown recordings. Motown never put musician credits on any of the albums it released during this period and it is great to see them finally given their due on a major collection.

Motown subsequently released a four-disc box set companion collection (in stereo) covering 1972 - 1992. It is a shame that they never released an additional box set (or two) on the 1959 - 1971 period. This retrospective is a great introduction to the magic of Motown, but it is far from the complete story.

This boxed set of Motown's early years leaves out a lot of obvious songs, which leaves room for a lot of wonderful songs that you don't normally hear, but which are well worth a listen.

My favorite of the four CD's here is the first, containing many of the early classics that were huge hits in America but not in Britain, where Motown was slow to catch on. Only My guy, Dancing in the street and Baby love, near the end of this CD, were major hits in the UK for the original Motown artists, though other songs became UK hits via cover versions. This CD is particularly notable for several classic songs by the Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, the Miracles and Mary Wells, though Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, the Temptations and Marvin Gaye are also represented here by early examples of their greatness.

The second and third CD's show Motown at the peak of their power with many classic songs included, although Diana Ross and the Supremes are poorly represented and plenty of other classics are also omitted. However, the absence of these songs leaves room to include songs by Chris Clark, Kim Weston, Brenda Holloway, the Contours, the Monitors, the Elgins, Shorty Long, Rita Wright (better known as Syreeta) and Bobby Taylor.

The final CD contains more high quality music but it was around this time that Motown started to slip as some of their stars departed to other labels and the replacements were not always of the same standard. So the final CD is great, but the first three are even better.

A companion boxed set covering the years from 1972 is also available. There are great songs on there too but not as many as can be found here.

This box is well presented with a superb booklet, but if you want a sixties hits collection, there are many other collections that will suit you better. For the ultimate Motown sixties hits collection, I recommend the British triple CD, Motown gold, which contains over eighty songs digitally re-mastered, almost all of them classics, though a few were hits in Britain but not America.

...or at least an excellent start. This set packs together virtually all of the Motown classics you'll remember from the radio throughout the 60's, many of which are extremely hard to find anywhere else.

The complaints about the mono mixes doesn't wash with me - I've listened on headphones, on tapes made of these in the car, and on a giant stereo system, and they all sound great to me. These are directly from the masters, so they sound as good as possible - a stereo remix would've required substantial restructuring.

The only complaint I have is that I prefer other artists' versions of a couple of these (and I do mean only a couple), but you can't blame them for putting out primarily the original artists' versions.

The music itself is vibrant, catchy, and full of emotion. It truly reveals the musical genius exhibited by the classic songwriters and arrangers in Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy. Their contributions to modern music cannot be overestimated.

In all, this is an absolutely *essential* set for any fan of popular music (or of music in general). Throw these in a four or five disc changer and get housework, homework, or just a nice relaxing afternoon of reminiscing on old memories done.

The sound is terrific-fresh, clean and crisp. Don't be too concerned with complaints about the set being in Mono-the fact is that this does not matter. What's important is NOT whether the songs are in stereo or mono, but how well the track is mixed and balanced. In the 60's, stereo mixing was mostly an afterthought, where most of the effort went into getting a well balanced mono mix for the 45 rpm market. These mono mixes may very well represent the original intentions of the artist and producers over the stereo versions.

The set represents how fine mono mixes can be, as good as some of the mono mixes of 60's recording pioneer Joe Meek in the UK.

The digital age was with us at least a decade before this collection hit the streets and, although other Motown collections have followed, it's still the best around. In the 1960's, monophonic AM radio was king and the era's luminaries concentrated on making their mono mixes as exciting as possible. Stereo mixes were an afterthought, done quickly, and often left to production assistants. Still, until this collection came around, the only Motown available were the inferior stereo mixes, not the ground-shaking mono monsters that exploded from radios worldwide during the 60's. From the massive basslines of James Jamerson, the thrilling arrangements of Holland-Dozier-Holland and others, to the exciting vocals of the Four Tops, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, and others, this collection nails it! The "Sound of Young America" has never sounded better.

I can't put this strongly enough. Disregard the warnings about the sound on this set. These are original mono single mixes. They have warmth, clarity, and punch. The sound is natural and deeply engaging. Best of all, they haven't been tampered with for the sake of more recent tastes. What you get here are clear, lively, digital versions that faithfully approximate the way these singles were originally meant to sound. This set is prized by many audiophiles and with good reason.

every song I can remember. I've been looking for a motown collection for a long time and this is the best I've seen. Couldn't find one better. Whats great about these classics is the whole family can enjoy them and the box set simply lets you play great music preformed by great artists on and on.

I was born in Los Angeles in 1957,so I was pretty young when these songs came out. On Los Angeles AM radio in the early 60's. The top songs were easygoing safe stuff. Any time a Motown song came on you just had to dance,you couldn't help yourself. This HITSVILLE U.S.A. is the best collection of Motown hits by far. From the early days of Smokie Robinson & the Miracles,Supremes,Martha and the Vandellas,Four Tops and The Temptations to The Jackson five,Rare Earth. The standerd was always higher then anything else out there! Take it from the little white boy from LA who has kids of my own now. They hear these songs,and just have to dance.Todays music it's hard to find any music that will grab you this way,and not turn you lose. MAKES A GREAT GIFT,TOO! Thank you,JaminJim

HITSVILLE USA is a box set that's clearly marked as a SINGLES COLLECTION-- that means these 104 tracks are in the original monaural sound. If you're looking for stereo mixes, this isn't the collection for you. That issue aside, the only real criticism of the album is one of programming-- songs tend to be clustered by artist or group. Perhaps a more thorough shuffle was in order.

Each CD jewel case is fronted with a repro of a Gordy Co. label, including one of the very first MOTOWNs, which was pale pink in color. The accompanying 68-page long box book is quite comprehensive. Recording dates for all songs and chart positions are given. There's lots of great photos; artists and groups are given a few pages of bio each. This HITSVILLE USA four-CD box set is fairly extensive, and about all you'd ever need in a compilation of MOTOWN 45s.

TOTAL RUNNING TIMES --
DISC ONE -- 76:10
DISC TWO -- 75:21
DISC THREE -- 77:09
DISC FOUR -- 74:10

Motown doesn't get the respect that, say Atlantic or Stax/Volt got in the 60s; "not black enough", whatever that's supposed to mean, is the usual criticism from Rock Snobs. They just miss the point.
This box has the greatest dance music ever made, thanks to the immortal rhythm section of Benny Benjamin and James Jamerson. If the songs don't make you get up, then you must be dead.
Oh, the songs... well you know most of them by heart. You do, don't you? "Money", "Shop Around", "Baby Love"... heck I knew over 80 out of the 104 songs before I bought this. Holland/Dozier/Holland and Smokey Robinson wrote the bulk of them, cranking out hit after hit like Detroit used to crank out Thunderbirds.
As for the artists, it's still amazing that ONE LABEL had the Supremes, Temptations, Four Tops, Martha & the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye. And even they didn't get all the best songs. Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" is THE saddest song in the world and one of the greatest.
Now I'm sure some of you out there are holding back because every song's in mono. Well that's how records were made back then, for AM radio. All you have to do is crank up the volume and be prepared to be blown away by some of the most propulsive music ever captured for the ages.