The Best of Diana Ross & The Supremes - 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Supremes, Diana Ross

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1999)
• Original Release Date: August 31, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Motown
• ASIN: B00000K1I1
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,060 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Supremes' catalog (as well as that of every other hit-making artist who ever recorded for Motown) has been packaged and repackaged so many times that yet another go-round of the same material would seem pretty uninviting if the music weren't so good. The songs collected here certainly constitute some of the Supremes' prime stuff. But like many of the entries in MCA's 20th Century Masters collection, it's a product of flawed logic. The set is made up entirely of No. 1 hits, except for "Reflections," which charted at No. 2. It's unclear why that song takes precedence over two of the group's other No. 1s, "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" and "The Happening" (both of which end up on Volume 2). The album could have stuck to the Supremes' early period, before Diana Ross became front woman in name as well as in fact. In that scenario, earlier hits could have subbed for "Love Child" and "Someday We'll Be Together," and those songs saved for a subsequent volume. Maybe these are quibbling arguments, but the perpetual mishandling of Motown's peerless catalog continues to puzzle. --Daniel Durchholz

Product Description

The 20th Century Masters series is the best-selling single-artist line in music history and is being re-released by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) in its ground-breaking, environmentally-friendly packaging format. A first for the music industry, the standard package (both sleeve and tray) will be completely paper-recyclable, continuing the company's long-standing commitment to being "green."

To further reduce the amount of paper in the Eco-Pack, the CD booklet will no longer be offered. Official liner notes are easily accessible on the Internet at http://www.ilovethatsong.com/green.

UMe is the first North American music company to replace the traditional jewel case with recycled paperboard sleeves and the plastic tray with trays made from PaperFoam®, a new packaging technology from Shorewood Packaging, a business of International Paper, that is paper-recyclable and biodegradable. Shorewood Packaging is the first North American packaging supplier to produce disc trays from PaperFoam®. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I know, I know. Another compilation but..., October 23, 1999

By A Customer

...There are a couple of reasons to spring for this one. #1, it includes the alternate take of "I Hear A Symphony" that has Diana Ross harmonizing with the background on her outro lead. This version is hard to find and was originally only available on LP. Reason #2, it contains the even rarer version of "Someday We'll Be Together" which opens with a tambourine and soft conga drum intro. This was once available in the U.S. on Cimco Records' "64 Motown Greats." According to the Mary Wilson International Fan Club, this version was also available on the Japanese Greatest Hits collection. The sound on all eleven tracks is quite clean and Florence Ballard's strong vocals are heard clearer than ever assisting Diana Ross on "You Keep Me Hangin' On." Brian Chin provides some great liner notes and the photos inside and on the rear of the jewel case are ones not often seen.

This CD is part of the "20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection," which isn't entirely clear here at Amazon.com. With yet another greatest hits package, it still puzzles me why Motown constantly repackages the same material and expects us to buy these sets over and over. Several of the last few I've simply skipped. However, if you're a fan of the Supremes or Motown, you'll want this particular disc in your collection, if for nothing more than the two gems mentioned above.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for content, 2 for execution, May 24, 2004

By	Zub "Zubenelgenubi" (North Plainfield, NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

For years now, Universal has been cranking out basic, mid-priced compilation CD's of artists in their huge catalog of labels. In many cases, these CD's have been welcomed as they have provided overview collections for some artists that have not been collected before or are an improvement, sonically and/or content-wise, over existing product. However, with the myriad of CD's available for supergroups such as the Supremes, there really is no need for this collection but here it is anyway. If by some chance a music fan does not already own a Supremes collection, this would be a decent sampling but unfortunately, the sound quality here leaves a lot to be desired. So while it's hard to dispute getting all number one tunes with one number two side, this CD falls on its face when it comes to how it performs. Much of the early Motown stuff is muddy-sounding and when mastered for lp the high end was pumped up to compensate for the warming effect of going to vinyl. However, use these masters for CD and without the smoothing out effect of vinyl, these sound terribly shrill and harsh. Two of the tracks here, "Baby Love" and "Come See About Me" are particularly difficult to listen to for this reason. Since stereo versions are available on other Supremes' CD's there is little reason to purchase this only to get sound that is inferior to that which can be obtained elsewhere. With their monumental charting success, a second Millennium collection volume was necessary to merely skim off the Supreme's biggest hits and that companion volume to this one is a bit better technically. Nonetheless, neither of these collections offer anything new and are actually a step down. Better Supremes collections are easily found elsewhere and are preferable to these Millennium pieces.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bad sound quality, May 12, 2000

By A Customer

I have listened to this cd and quite frankly, the sound (remaster) in my opinion, is terrible. I also own the Supremes 25th Anniversary collection and that sounds much better - go figure. I would not recommend this cd nor the volume 2 that is due to be released later this month which will probably sound just as terrible. I bought this cd based upon other reviewers opinion and now that I have listened to it, I don't know how they can say the sound is terrific!