Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
By far the best Pips set ever! All the hits in one place!, June 27, 2006
Gladys Knight and the Pips are one of the most successful groups in R & B history. Gladys' ultrasoulful voice was a nice blend of southern warmth and fiery gospel, while the Pips provided tuneful backup that contained plenty of character. They recorded for several labels over the years and this two-disc 39-track collection includes recordings from all of them. It is a huge improvement from the 18 track Essential collection from 1999 that also sampled all of their previous labels.
This chronological retrospective leads off with 1961's "Every Beat Of My Heart" (versions of which charted on both Vee-Jay and Fury) and its follow-up on Fury "Letter Full Of Tears" (written by the great Don Covay). A move to the Maxx label resulted in 1964's enclosed minor hit "Giving Up" (written by future disco star Van McCoy).
At this point Gladys & the Pips were major stars on the chitlin circuit, but mainstream success eluded them until they joined Motown in 1966. The collection includes 13 of their biggest Motown hits, such as the frenetic original version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and the lovely ballads "If I Were Your Woman" and "Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)." It's a good overview of their Motown years. It you want more of their recordings from this era, I suggest you check out the 22-track Ultimate Collection from 1997.
In spite of their successes at Motown, Gladys and the Pips always felt like second-class citizens there (Miss Ross of course always got preferential treatment) and moved over to Buddah in early 1973 when their Motown contract was up. It was at Buddah that they made their most memorable music and this set includes (again) 13 of their biggest hits there, among them their signature song "Midnight Train To Georgia," the funky barnburner "On And On" (from the film Claudine), the heartbreaker "Part Time Love," and an effective live version of "The Way We Were" teamed with "Try To Remember." This is by far my favorite period of Pip music and it is nice to see every key Buddah track included here.
A jump to Columbia in 1979 resulted in a lot less hits than their tenures at Motown and Buddah reaped, but there were a few great moments, such as the enclosed Grammy winner "Save The Overtime For Me," the majestic "Landlord," and a version of "Hero (Wind Beneath My Wings)" that remains definitive. A move to MCA in 1987 brought Gladys & the Pips' last number one r & b hit - another Grammy winner - the call & response funkster "Love Overboard" and it's equally rowdy follow-up "Lovin' On Next To Nothin'." They're both here. The set then closes with Gladys' theme for the James Bond film LICENSE TO KILL as well as the two standout tracks from her Good Woman solo album from 1991: "Men" and "Superwoman" (the latter a collaboration with good friend Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle).
This strong, strong retrospective puts all other Pip sets to shame. It's all of the Gladys Knight that most people will ever need.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Another great album destroyed by the "loudness war", June 30, 2008
And they did it again... It seems that Sony/BMG/Universal Music, through their many labels (like Hip-O, under which this album was released), are becoming the leaders of the infamous "loudness war" (Google the expression for more info). Basically, that means mastering the CD with the audio normalized beyond the CD format dynamic range limits. That way, on many of the songs, louder parts are simply clipped, that is, those audio frequencies are simply not present anymore, because the audio was mastered so loud that the audio was clipped (cut off) when it reached the limit the CD format allows, and those frequencies are irreparably lost in the process. The idea is to deceive the average consumer into thinking that he is getting a better sounding recording, when it's the exact opposite - it's just louder, and worse - with parts of the audio actually missing.
I've just received the CD set and ran a full audio analysis of the "On And On" track. There are at least 446 clipped samples on the left channel and at least 264 on the right channel. To see the sound carnage for yourself, just extract the track and open it with an audio editor like Cool Edit, zoom in on the clipped sections, and see the poor sound wave cut off into a flat line, with the sound it was meant to reproduce completely LOST.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
And for once, all the right versions!!, June 17, 2006
Universal/Hip-O Records continues its sublime reissue series "Gold" with the first 2-cd career-spanning collection by Gladys Knight and the Pips, and it is a winner through and through. Unlike Motown's previous "Anthology" issues, which contained re-recorded versions of their early hits, this one is the real deal. It includes the original Huntom/Vee Jay version of "Every Beat of My Heart", as well as the Fury/Maxx versions of "Letter Full of Tears" and "Giving Up", before going through the major Motown hits, the Buddah years, their Columbia rennaisance, their graceful bow-out at MCA, and onto Gladys' solo years. My only beef is that it is missing the sublime "Operator" and the 80s CBS sleeper "When You're Far Away", but gives over the spotlight to such under appreciated gems as "Where Peaceful Waters Flow" and the transcendent "So Sad the Song" from Gladys' acting debut "Pipe Dreams". All in all, probably my favorite "Gold" cd, and a worthwhile addition to anyone's collection, whether as an introduction or as (Finally!!) an addition to one's music collection.
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by Gladys Knight & The Pips 
