Customer Reviews

Motown Anthology

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All I can really say to get started, is to say FINALLY Kim Weston gets her due. After many other of her 2nd tier comrades for the Detroit label have been properly anthologized, she gets this great collection that avoids excellently duplication from her previous single disc compilations. Another blessing is the absolute lack of Marvin Gaye Duets! not to say I hate those, but it is great to see Mrs. Weston presented as the great SOLOIST she is.

Ok to actually get to the music. oh-mi0god what Music. I'm really starting to believe the rumours that her relationship with husband Mickey Stevenson did not help her release schedule. She went through 5 releases between 1963 thru 1965 that did not chart, despite excellent quality of each. The fact that there is such copious music of great quality that wasn't released is amazing. Early tracks like " I Know His Name(Only His Name)" which was also recorded at a much faster pace by The Velvelettes is given a tough Brill Building treatment not unlike Little Eva's "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby." It seems that from the start Motown did not know how to really market her, since all the recordings on the 2nd disc cover some pastiche of 1963-64 music."When We Get Together" seems like a lost Ruby & The Romantics album track(like their "Daydreaming"). "Build Him Up" seems like your typical Holland-Dozier-Holland girl group classic from 1963, but it displays some of Kim Weston's finest gospel belting towards the fade. Also throughout both discs you note that Mrs. Weston was handed more "adult" songs lyrically in comparison to her label mates. Also remarkable is the fact that so many of her songs weren't immediately passed to someone else for covering, if at all.

This set shows yet again how much female talent was wasted at Motown. In Mrs. Weston's case you cannot directly blame the Supremes however, since she signed a year ahead of any real success by that group. Given the tracks that dominate disc one she would have had one of the finer Motown Dance albums ever in 1965 had an actual album been planned. Beautiful tracks like "You Can Do It" and "I Don't Know If I'm Coming Or Going" are pure Motown graced with the warmth and sincerity not normally found in most dance music("You Can Do it" is particularly touching, one can see it as someone grieving even the death of a love one and learning how to live again...maybe I'm reading a bit too deeply, but that's how much emotion is dripping out of the song). I actually prefer Kim's version of "Hurt a Little Everyday" for it's lack of overdramatic histrionics musically (Not necessarily vocally) of Brenda Holloway's version. I can't exactly tell if The "Come and Get These Memories" track is the same used for "The Supremes A-Go-Go" in 1966, they seem similar. Also it's great not to have to listen to hissing, droning or poorly mixed bootleg tracks like "Any Girl In Love (Knows What I'm Going Through)," "Absent Minded Lover " and the outstanding "You Hit Me Where It Hurt Me" you can't really appreciate the greatness of that particular track until you've heard it in the Stereo mix heard here.

again the British Tamla Motown people give the people what they want, I dunno what to ask for next, I'm pretty sure they are digging for an all out Elgins or Tammi Terrell set.

In a word, sublime. Kim Weston was Motown's greatest female singer and, if used properly, could have had a career like her contemporaries, Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick. Motown aficionados will want it for one track alone, YOUR WONDERFUL SWEET, SWEET LOVE. Yes, this is the same song that was an unsuccessful single from the Supremes' joyous FLOY JOY album in 1972. Kim's version was recorded in 1966 and, despite having hit written all over it, was never even released! Shameful, as the song is a knockout. Another unreleased gem is ANY GIRL IN LOVE (KNOWS WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH) which seems to have the same track as the Supremes' version from their I HEAR A SYMPHONY album. Of the 48 tracks, only 9 are repeated from Kim's GREATEST HITS & RARE CLASSICS collection.

"A Thrill A Moment" is what this great legendary Motown Diva is for the lucky listener of this peerless collection of classic performances! Kim Weston technically is the greatest singer from the classic Motown Years but for some strange reason was not properly promoted although she is the duet partner with Marvin Gaye in the timeless classic "It Takes Two" which should have made Kim Weston a household name but maybe being married to the Vice President of Motown Records was a drawback as big ego's must have been raging when her husband decided to leave Barry Gordy and Motown Records...this great singer went on to record many classic recordings but seemed to be blackballed from the industry and her great work received no airplay. Without radio support a singer becomes lost and this was even true in the great musical sixties as Kim kept on recording masterworks that even to this day have not been released on compact disc and this is a sad commentary for the music industry which should have build it's house on talent and today would have been much stronger and probably would not have suffered major closures such as Tower Records...but thankfully from the British we have this incredible and brilliant double-disc delight with Kim Weston in prime form from her classic Motown days! Filled with many of the greatest burning tracks from those tremendous and wondrous Motown years, this is a magical musical feast for fans of this great fiery singer and fans of the Classic Sixties Motown years so do not miss out while this incredible Import Collection of masterful performances is available...soulful singing just does not get better than this and thank you Kim Weston!!! You are a truly incredible singer and performer and please come out wherever you are...talent like yours is needed today more than ever!!!

U can't miss with this album !
Compositions from Smokey Robinson,Holland-Dozier-Holland,William Stevenson and others create hits you will enjoy listening for a long time.
Kim's music will make you "hold on to the one you love !"

Kim was, is and will always be my favorite female singer. A fan for decades, I was extremely pleased with this anthology, which shows her inimitable honey-toned voice off to best advantage. Sure, not all of her Motown highlights are there, but the tracks included (and there are many) are nothing short of remarkable -- like the lady herself!

In my opinion Kim Weston was the most talented and versalite of all the Motown divas. She was that rare singer, male or female, who was equally at home with dance-floor fillers as she was with big, powerful ballads and the more jazz inflected numbers and all those styles are generously represented on this 48 track, 2 CD compilation. It's now a given that Motown badly mis-managed Kim Weston's recording career during her time with them in the 60s and this is borne out by the remarkably high quality of many of the 34 tracks that didn't see the light of day at the time and which get their first official release here. Believe me, 'You Can Do It', 'Fancy Meeting You Here' and 'Your Wonderful Sweet, Sweet Love' are as good or even better than her most famous tracks, 'Take me in your Arms (Rock me a little while)' and 'Helpless'. Other absolute gems that make this compilation a must for all Motown fans are 'You hit Me where it hurt Me', 'I don't know if I'm coming or Going', 'Marionette', 'Where am I Going', 'Any Girl in Love (Knows what I'm going through) and 'Drop in the Bucket'. Even on the weaker material she is always very listenable and never less than totally convincing. It's been a long time coming but at last we have a compilation that does Kim Weston's time at Motown justice

kim weston was another of the mighty female vocal titans that got maligned when diana ross came through the hitsville door. though she wasn't a musician in the respects of a brenda holloway, she was a massively talented vocalist with a great range.

most of the tracks on this disc were not released until their inclusion on this collection. but time has righted the wrong and here is kim weston, alternately brassy, silky and smoky in good material like 'it should have been me', 'thrill a moment' and 'go ahead and laugh'. these three songs stick out in particular because of the background personnel. the supremes do back up on it should have (and diana is doing her damnedest to be heard), and i would swear ashford and simpson are helping her out on the other tracks. ashford's distinctive falsetto is very apparent. but it's good. and weston stands up to each setting like an r and b brunhilde.

There is something so SPECIAL about BLACK MUSIC from the SIXTIES.....the Groups ,the Singers,and THE INCREDIBLE PRODUCTION!!!The Musicians were so TALENTED ....they were a MANIFESTATION of the Turbulent Times....A PROJECTION,A YEARNING OF THE SOUL .I grew up in the U.K ,my Teenage years were in the Seventies and looking back on the influence of the Youth clubs and Dance clubs that introduce me to this Wonderful Music,I was really Blessed ....Because I still get GOOSE LUMPS on the back of my NECK when I listen to this !!...Were talking almost FORTY years later and I still Love it.