Customer Reviews

Motown Story 1: The Sixties

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Oh, the music is great, but what the other reviewers conveniently forgot to mention was that the songs are marred by a narrative introduction that is included on the same track as the song. In other words, you have to listen to the narrative introduction every time you play the song. Who wants that? It would have been great if the intros were on separate tracks but they were too stupid to think of doing the obvious.

Unlike any other collection available, The Motown Story Volume 1: The 1960s is a collection of Motown's biggest hits, evenly placed throughout amazing audio interviews by the artists who made them. It is very informative, fun, and it sounds great! The booklet is very detailed with great pictures and even more stories. If this doesn't make you a Motown fan, nothing will.

Steve Vrana's review is inaccurate. The Motown Story is not a condensed version of the Hitsville Box Set, which was a collection of Motown's mono singles. This is a collection of stories and select stereo singles, a completely different concept.

This did appear three times earlier as different collections: The Motown Story: The First Decade (5 LP vinyl set in 1970), The Motown Story: The First 25 Years (5 LP vinyl set in 1983) and The Motown Story: The First 25 Years (3 CD set in 1986), but this is the best version yet! Let's hope for Volume 2: The 1970s soon!

It was apparent that Mr. Vrana never actually listened or purchased this collection because he also said that the CDs were too short, never commenting on the interviews. These CDs are full length, they couldn't fit another song on either CD!

If you are a casual listener, or intense Motown fan and want to buy one Motown collection, get this!

A great set, but with some trade-offs. You have fewer songs by Motown's brightest, but you gain additional songs from some of the lesser known artists, such as Brenda Holloway. The artist intro's feature instrumental versions of the hits they're introducing, and they don't bleed over into the actual recordings. For me, the greatest thrill is a full vocal version of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On." This version has only previously been available on the vinyl set mentioned earlier. Mary & Florence's parts are more prominent in that they open the record with Diana and contribute more than those trademark "oo's" at the end.

Whether a long-time Motown fan or a newcomer, this is a must-have.

This collection begins with Barrett Strong's 1960 classic "Money" and ends with the Supremes' final hit with Diana Ross in 1969, "Someday We'll Be Together. Throughout the entire decade of the Sixties, was there a week when there wasn't at least one Motown artist in Billboard's Top 40? I doubt it. And with the Motown vaults teeming with hits, it wasn't difficult to fill two CDs with classic songs. In fact, both CDs had room for an additional four or five tracks each. [This would have allowed for greater representation of some artists by including Mary Wells' "The One Who Really Loves You" or the Marvelettes' "Don't Mess with Bill," as well as including some of Motown's lesser artists like The Originals' "Baby I'm for Real" or The Elgins' "Heaven Must Have Sent You."]
The bottom line is you can't get a definitive Motown collection in a two-disc set--even if you limit it to the Sixties. That's why Motown put out the 4-disc box set HITSVILLE USA in 1992. In fact, if you look closely at the track listing for THE MOTOWN STORY, essentially they just distilled that 104-track box set down to 42 tracks. There are only six tracks on STORY not found in the box set: an additional track by Marvin Gaye ("Can I Get a Witness), and five tracks by The Supremes. [The earlier box set had five Supremes' songs, but only "Love Child" is carried over to this compilation.]

If your budget can afford it, the HITSVILLE USA box set is still the best choice. But track for track, you can't go wrong with the song selection on THE MOTOWN STORY. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Superb retrospective of one of the 2 great soul empires of the 60s (Atlantic being the other). Motown perfectly balanced commerce and artistry. This music features all the greats from Smokey Robinson and The Temptations to Supremes and Stevie Wonder.

Marred unfortunately by the intro narrative which is part of the tracks, rather than being on separate tracks, forcing you to listen to it.

But for anyone wanting to know where the foundation of r&b was cemented - this is it.

I conducted the interviews for the original Motown Story, which was a 'rockumentary' on the 10th anniversary of the label. It was done as a Top-40 radio special by Drake-Chenault for Motown, and it was released as a Top-40 radio syndication "special" but also as a multi LP version of the radio show.
As a boxed record set back then, I was very proud of it, but honestly listening to the boxed set at home, it clanged on the ear and was very annoying. I knew it at the time, but the KHJ Los Angeles producers (including me: my title in the credits is "researchist") did things in the 'Boss Radio' style, which was designed to hear in your car. Because it was first and foremost a radio show, we adhered rigidly to a format that worked on the radio.

Bill Watson, one of Bill Drake's principal lieutenants, was the producer; Charley Van Dyke was the DJ and he read script ("covered") the musical intro right to the first lyric. That was the radio style of the day, but listening to the records at home the "style" drove people nuts. Thank god somebody came along and fixed it.

What Harry Weinger and Andrew Skurow did with this remake is really brilliant. They used the original interviws, which I conducted and edited, and added some new interview material, and some narrative from Smokey Robinson, and Lionel Ritchie, and Pat St. John. The actual Motown hits are all here, and unmolested interview bites or narration. I thank these guys for cleaning up after me and my producers. It turned out fabulous.
I know these interviews with Jimmy Ruffin, and Marvin Gaye, and Martha Reeves, and Levi Stubbs, Jr almost word for word. It was my job to do the interviews, and to edit the interviews down to the pure gold, the nuggets. Some of the artists are no longer with us, such as Marvin Gaye. These interviews are priceless in that way.
I was always proud of having done the project, and even more so now. I send my kudos to Messers Weinger and Skurow and Robinson for reworking of the material brilliantly. Well done, guys.
This is now a must-have collection for any fan of early Motown.

John Gibson, Fox News 5-19-08

You won't find many of these songs together ever again on CD, some of them you can't find on disc period. The only thing that I do not like the interviews that precede the songs here and that does knock my rating of this somewhat. I do know that this is a condension of the boxed set that was put out in the early 70's. While it's a nice set, you will have to be a hardcore fan to enjoy some of it ...

Motown is a Label that is timeless with Classic Music&artists&this collection continues the Great Benchmark that Motown set way back in the day. so Many great songs here by the Like sof Stevie Wonder,Marvin Gaye,Temps,Four Tops,Smokey&the Miracles&Other Greats. you can never go wrong with a Motown set you are always holding&Hearing History time&time again.

I have the original 5 vinyl album version of this wonderful salute to some of the greatest songs from arguably the greatest record label of all time. The treasure here is the wonderful, individual commentary that each song has. There are informative antidotes to how a certain song was recorded and/or the impact it made on the charts or on the Motown legacy.

I particularly like how they mixed the commentary in at the beginning of each track or at the end of the preceding track. These are not assembled with the original commentary. They mixed it up a bit. For instance, originally it was Diana actually commenting on "the battle of the bands" method they used to record "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me". On this version, it has marywilson commenting on the creation of The Primettes as sister group to The Temptations (The Primes).

When you think of your favorite song, usually the artist or one of the members of the group gives the commentary.

Finally, as a bonafide Motown head, this collection makes me proud of its legacy.

Someone else mentioned the interviews on this CD but I hadn't read it until I ordered and received this. I didn't see any mention of interviews let alone interviews that are mixed in with each of the songs. I just can't believe; who would have been stupid enough to mix the interview with the actual song in the SAME track. I mean even if you were interested in what the artists had to say(which I'm not), how many times would you want to listen to it? Even having done this they could have lessened the impact to your music listening if they had at least placed the interview AFTER the song in the track. Then at least you could have skipped forward to the next track. Someone really blew it with this one.