Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible music and packaging, but not the whole story, April 29, 2003
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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating look at sixties Motown, October 17, 2003
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.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like owning your own oldies station..., July 28, 2001
...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.
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