Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
bad copy, August 1, 2000
By A Customer
Great introduction to Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. But QUICKSAND has some audio problems...I returned the original copy I purchased ...exhanging if for another. The problem still exists....kind of hard to describe but during one part of the song the speakers in my car sound like they are going to pop. It's not as noticeable when played on my home stereo but it's still there. Also the version found here is not mixed properly. Although HEATWAVE is played over and over again on the radio and included in so many compilation discs...the version found on this disc includes one with a longer instrumental break during the middle of the song. I've only heard this on the radio ...I assume it was a "radio cut" sent to DJ's. However, by adding the longer instrumental break the producer of this disc sacrifices the classic ending to the song. Bummer. The collection also features the alternate version to JIMMY MACK without the forceful drum intro. Not my favorite but still a good cut.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Here we go again, August 18, 1999
By A Customer
After reissuing, reissuing, reissuing and reissuing its artists' hits, Motown now follows "The Ultimate Collection" with what could be titled the "Anything But Ultimate Collection." It's the same old song, arranged in no particular order, with uninspired packaging. How much more can this particular horse be dragged to the watering hole? Meanwhile, Motown has in the can a great unreleased Martha and the Vandellas album titled "Moments to Remember" (the title number is not the same song as the Four Lads hit) including a fabulous single titled "Coney Island." It has SEVERAL "Martha Reeves and the Vandellas at the Copa" albums unreleased, absolutely terrific. It has about 100 unreleased Martha and the Vandellas singles, among them a good two dozen as good or better than anything ever released. It has the SAME for the Marvelettes. For Diana Ross there's whole unreleased albums and dozens of incredible singles; for the Supremes about a dozen unreleased albums and hundreds of great unreleased singles. And year after year after year this still vibrant and definitely significant work goes unheard while for the umpteenth time we get "Jimmy Mack" (which version totally unpredictable each time out). Each of Motown's successive owners has only been able to mine the same increasingly dull diamonds--zero creativity, zero venturesomesome, zero initiative. (Well, we did finally and miraculously get a Velvelettes album.) Even Martha must be fed up--there's SO much she did that is SO extraordinary and there it sits year after year after year while the same dozen or so tunes come out over and over and over and over. Is there anyone left who doesn't have this music by now? Berry never, ever should have sold the company. He was always afraid this might happen. It did. All Motown fans need to get vocal about this insult to the public which makes the company possible. No one on the planet needs ANOTHER copy of "Heat Wave." But there's thousands of devotees out there who would be thrilled to hear music hidden from public hearing for so long.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The very best of Martha & the Vandellas, January 27, 2003
After Diana Ross and the Supremes, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas were Motown's biggest female stars. But whereas the Supremes offered listeners sophistication the music of Reeves was more in the gospel tradition. Reeves got her big break when she was a secretary at Motown and Mary Wells failed to show up for a recording session. The song, "I'll Have to Let Him Go," which is not included in this collection, was the first song credited to the suddenly created Martha & the Vandellas. The original Vandellas were Annette Sterling and Rosalind Holmes, although the lineup changed over the years; the name came from combining a couple of Detroit favorites, Van Dyke Street and local singer Della Reese). The group's second single "Come and Get These Memories" made the Top 5 of the R&B charts and the girls were on their way. Other Top 5 hits included "Dancing in the Street," ""Nowhere to Run," "Jimmy Mack," "I'm Ready for Love," "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave," and "Honey Chile." These danceable R&B hits made Martha & the Vandellas the chief rivals to the Supremes until 1968, when Reeves had a nervous breakdown after a bad acid trip. The group disbanded after a farewell concert in Detroit in 1973 and after an undistinguished solo career away from Motown, Reeves was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Class of 1995. This Millennium Collection offers up all of the group's hits, but is limited to only 11 cuts. Consequently, while this album certainly covers the basics there is more of Martha & the Vandellas out there for you to enjoy.
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~ 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection (Series)
~ Shirelles
~ Supremes
~ Drifters
by Martha and the Vandellas 
