Ultimate Collection

Temptations | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 25, 1997)
• Original Release Date: March 25, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Motown
• ASIN: B000001AMZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,166 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #14 in Music > R&B > Motown
  • #14 in Music > R&B > Classic R&B
  • #44 in Music > Classic Rock > Psychedelic Rock

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great Motown groups, March 1, 2003

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

This is not quite the ultimate Temptations collection, but it comes close. You could never fit all their great songs on one CD anyway, but the compilers were clearly determined to include some of their later recordings - the last three tracks on this CD. Angel doll, though recorded in 1967, was not one of their big hits - indeed, it was not even released at the time. The inclusion of these four tracks at the expense of real classics, including Beauty is only skin deep, devalues the title somewhat.

Despite the omissions, this is the best single-CD collection of Temptations music currently available and contains many familiar songs. It begins with The way you do the things you do. A big hit in America, it did not chart in Britain. I first came across the song via an excellent cover by Rita Coolidge, but the original version is impressive. Other classic sons here include My girl, Get ready, Ain't too proud to beg, I wish it would rain, Cloud nine, I can't get next to you, Ball of confusion, Just my imagination and Papa was a rolling stone.

Anybody seriously interested in sixties music in general and Motown in particular will enjoy the Temptations. Unless you want to go for a double-CD or a boxed set, this is the CD to choose.

58 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very misleading title for a mediocre compilation, October 29, 2004

By 

Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

Stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes! In this day of slick marketing and advertising gimmicks you can pretty much call any product anything you want to and make just about any claim you care to. Unfortunately such is the case with "The Ultimate Collection". For any true Temptations fan will tell you that this disc is certainly not reflective of its title and simply does not cut the mustard. Issued in 1997, "Ultimate Collection" is merely another in a string of largely inadequate offerings that purport to be the definitive Temptations Greatest Hits.
"Ultimate Collection" is not a terrible disc. It does offer tunes from all of the many phases of the Temptations dynamic career. The remastering job is just fine and I would rate the 12 page booklet acceptable but nothing more. The problem here is that there are 8 or 9 pretty important titles missing including 1966's "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep", "(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need" and the highly successful 1968 collaboration with Diana Ross and the Supremes "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me". Some of these tunes should have been included on "Ultimate Collection" in place of filler like "Don't Look Back" and "Error Of Our Ways". For casual fans, "Ultimate Collection" might be an acceptable choice. But collectors and hard core Temptations fans should demand better. Hopefully, Universal will release a 2 disc set in the near future similar to the Four Tops "50th Anniversary" set. Such an offering is long overdue. In the meantime, I'll make due with what I already have.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It makes you cry...for the wrong reasons, March 18, 2004

By 

"zooropaflygirl" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

For a serious Temptations fan (exempli gratia, ego) this is a pretty lousy and insufficient compilation. The pattern of lineups in this group can best compared to Lynard Skynard-there are so many flamin' line ups that it gets to the point where it's not the same group anymore; it's just the Temptations by name only. David Ruffin, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, all of them gone. If you ask me, the real Temptations died the early 1970s. In place of indispensable gems of their golden years (id est, the REAL Temptations) such as "Slow Down Heart", "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep", "Just Let Me Know", etc. this "ultimate collection" includes mediocre, (relatively terrible) latter cuts such as "Error of Our Ways". If you endeavor the enchanted staggering, and soul-moving work buy their studio albums prior to 1976 like "Meet The Temptations" and "Temptations Sing Smokey"; the earlier the better. They are more rare, but they are worth the purchase. Also, almost any other Temptations hits compilation is way better. I give this one an extra star for the beautiful closing track, the acapella of "My Girl". It makes me cry and reminds me:

RIP TEMPTATIONS 1961-1976