Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Money (That's What I Want) - Barrett Strong
2. Shop Around - Shorty Long
3. Please Mr. Postman - The Velvelettes, The Velvelettes
4. Jamie - Martha & the Vandellas, Martha & the Vandellas
5. One Who Really Loves You - Jimmy Ruffin
6. Do You Love Me - The Marvelettes
7. Beechwood 4-5789 - Nickolas Ashford, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell
8. You Beat Me to the Punch - The Originals
9. Stubborn Kind of Fellow - The Spinners, The Spinners
10. Two Lovers - Mary Wells
11. You've Really Got a Hold on Me - Martha & the Vandellas, Martha & the Vandellas
12. Come and Get These Memories - Martha & the Vandellas
13. Pride and Joy - Stevie Wonder
14. Fingertips, Pt. 2 [Live] - Martha & the Vandellas, Martha & the Vandellas
15. (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave - Martha & the Vandellas
16. Mickey's Monkey - Eddie Holland
17. Leaving Here - The Temptations, The Temptations
18. Way You Do the Things You Do - Mary Wells
19. My Guy - The Miracles, Smokey Robinson
20. Devil With a Blue Dress On - Brenda Holloway
21. Every Little Bit Hurts - The Four Tops
22. Baby I Need Your Loving - Martha & the Vandellas, Martha & the Vandellas
23. Dancing in the Street - Martha & the Vandellas
24. My Smile Is Just a Frown (Turned Upside Down) - Crawford, Carolyn
25. Needle in a Haystack - Velvelettes
26. Baby Love - Supremes
27. Come See About Me - Supremes
28. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) - Gaye, Marvin

Disc 2:

1. Nowhere to Run - Martha & the Vandellas
2. Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) - Martha & the Vandellas
3. My Girl - The Marvelettes
4. He Was Really Sayin' Somethin' - The Four Tops
5. Ask the Lonely - Junior Walker & the All-Stars
6. Shotgun - Martha & the Vandellas, Martha & the Vandellas
7. Nowhere to Run - Brenda Holloway
8. When I'm Gone - The Miracles
9. Ooo Baby Baby - The Four Tops
10. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) - The Contours
11. First I Look at the Purse - The Miracles
12. Tracks of My Tears - The Four Tops
13. It's the Same Old Song - Eddie Holland
14. Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) - Kim Weston
15. Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While) - Stevie Wonder
16. Uptight (Everything's Alright) - The Marvelettes
17. Don't Mess with Bill - The Elgins
18. Darling Baby - The Isley Brothers
19. This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You) - The Monitors
20. Greetings (This Is Uncle Sam)
21. Shorty Long - Junior Walker & the All-Stars
22. (I'm A) Road Runner - The Temptations, The Temptations
23. Ain't Too Proud to Beg - Mary Wells
24. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted - Junior Walker & the All-Stars
25. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) - Chris Clark
26. Love's Gone Bad - The Supremes, The Supremes
27. You Can't Hurry Love - The Temptations, The Temptations
28. Beauty Is Only Skin Deep - The Elgins
29. Heaven Must Have Sent You - The Four Tops

Disc 3:

1. Reach Out (I'll Be There) - The Temptations, The Temptations
2. (I Know) I'm Losing You - The Four Tops
3. Standing in the Shadows of Love - Marvin Gaye, Kim Weston
4. It Takes Two - The Contours
5. Hunter Gets Captured by the Game - Martha & the Vandellas, Martha & the Vandellas, The Marvelettes
6. Jimmy Mack - The Four Tops
7. Bernadette - Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell
8. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
9. More Love - Gladys Knight & the Pips, Gladys Knight & the Pips
10. I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
11. I Second That Emotion - The Temptations
12. I Wish It Would Rain - Rita Wright
13. I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel for You - Bobby Taylor
14. Does Your Mama Know About Me - The Marvelettes, The Marvelettes
15. Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing - Diana Ross, Diana Ross, The Supremes, The Supremes
16. Love Child - Stevie Wonder
17. For Once in My Life - The Temptations, The Temptations
18. Cloud Nine - Marvin Gaye
19. I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
20. Baby, Baby Don't Cry - Edwin Starr
21. Twenty-Five Miles - David Ruffin
22. My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me) - Junior Walker & the All-Stars
23. What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) - The Temptations
24. I Can't Get Next to You - Mary Wells
25. Baby, I'm for Real - The Supremes, The Supremes
26. Up the Ladder to the Roof - The Jackson 5, The Jackson 5

Disc 4:

1. I Want You Back - The Originals
2. Bells - Rare Earth
3. Get Ready - The Jackson 5, The Jackson 5
4. ABC - The Temptations
5. Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today) - The Jackson 5, The Jackson 5
6. Love You Save - Stevie Wonder
7. Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours - Edwin Starr
8. War - Marvin Gaye
9. It's a Shame - Diana Ross
10. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - The Four Tops
11. Still Water (Love) - The Jackson 5, The Jackson 5
12. I'll Be There - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
13. Tears of a Clown - The Supremes
14. Stoned Love - Gladys Knight & the Pips, Gladys Knight & the Pips
15. If I Were Your Woman - The Temptations, The Temptations
16. Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) - Marvin Gaye
17. What's Going On - The Jackson 5, The Jackson 5
18. Never Can Say Goodbye
19. Nathan Jones - The Supremes, The Supremes
20. I Don't Want to Do Wrong - Gladys Knight & the Pips, Gladys Knight & the Pips
21. Smiling Faces Sometimes - The Undisputed Truth
22. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) - Marvin Gaye
23. I Just Want to Celebrate - Rare Earth, Rare Earth
24. I Just Want to Celebrate - The Miracles

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19730 in Music
• Released on: 1992-11-03
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Box set

Amazon.com
Motown did so many things well in the '60s and early '70s that this overview of the label's smashes (and some lesser-known classics) practically demands four CDs. It gets them, too, filling them with single mixes of more than 100 tracks. That the running order begins with Barrett Strong's statement of purpose "Money (That's What I Want)" and ends with Marvin Gaye's statement of concern "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" says a lot about how far the company moved in its golden decade--but no more so than what the same two cuts' differences in sound get across. The company was able to blend the smooth and the harsh in ways that few other pop entities have ever mastered, thereby getting over not only to the feet and the wallet, but to the heart. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Incredible music and packaging, but not the whole story
The years 1959 - 1971, when Motown was located in Detroit, is considered the golden era of the label. Motown charted over 350 singles during this time and it would probably take at least 10 cds to do this period justice. This collection, Motown's most extensive at the time of its release in 1992, is comprised of four cds. Of the 104 singles included here, only two didn't chart: Syreeta's "I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You" and Shorty Long's original version of "Devil With The Blue Dress On." The inclusion of Carolyn Crawford's rare and gorgeous "My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down)" was worth the cost of the set alone for the serious Motown collector. It and the Syreeta single were appearing on cd for the first time (both have been included on other Motown compilations since then).

Motown went for a wide variety of artists (36) instead of just choosing the obvious hits by the major artists as previous collections had done. Of the major artists, the nine selections each by the Miracles and the Temptations are a good representation of their best work during this period. The Diana Ross-led Supremes, however, are strongly neglected, with only four singles included here. Especially key omissions in a historical set such as this is their first and last number ones: "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Someday We'll Be Together." Meanwhile, all three 1970-1971 hits by the Jean Terrell-led Supremes are found here. The selection of Martha and the Vandellas' "Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things)" over "I'm Ready For Love" and "Honey Chile" doesn't work for me, while Shorty Long's only bonafide hit, the novelty "Here Comes The Judge" is left off at the expense of the non-hit "Function At The Junction" and "Devil With The Blue Dress On."

These digitally remastered singles are all in crisp mono, as they were originally mixed for radio. Many of them (such as the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" and the Temptations' "Cloud Nine" are dramatically different from the versions heard on "oldies" radio today. The singles are sequenced for the most part in release date order. Most of the major hits from the 1959 - 1963 period are included on the set: Barrett Strong's "Money," the Miracles' "Shop Around", the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman, and the Contours' "Do You Love Me", for instance. In 1964, Motown became a true hit factory (the Supremes, Temptations, and Four Tops all had their first major hits that year) and it is here that the omissions on the set start to become more pronounced. There is just too much great music from 1964 through 1971 from Motown to fit onto only four discs (actually three, since the first disc is dedicated to the 1959 - 1963 period).

The 68-page booklet is a nice accompaniment to the discs. While the biographies aren't that extensive, it is hard to find even what is listed here on the more obscure artists like Carolyn Crawford and the Monitors. A thorough track listing provides the artist's name, songwriters, publishers, producers, release date, label number, and peak chart position in Billboard (pop and r&b) for each single. Best of all is the listing - by instrument and year - of the names of the incredible musicians who played on the Motown recordings. Motown never put musician credits on any of the albums it released during this period and it is great to see them finally given their due on a major collection.

Motown subsequently released a four-disc box set companion collection (in stereo) covering 1972 - 1992. It is a shame that they never released an additional box set (or two) on the 1959 - 1971 period. This retrospective is a great introduction to the magic of Motown, but it is far from the complete story.

Fascinating look at sixties Motown
This boxed set of Motown's early years leaves out a lot of obvious songs, which leaves room for a lot of wonderful songs that you don't normally hear, but which are well worth a listen.

My favorite of the four CD's here is the first, containing many of the early classics that were huge hits in America but not in Britain, where Motown was slow to catch on. Only My guy, Dancing in the street and Baby love, near the end of this CD, were major hits in the UK for the original Motown artists, though other songs became UK hits via cover versions. This CD is particularly notable for several classic songs by the Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, the Miracles and Mary Wells, though Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, the Temptations and Marvin Gaye are also represented here by early examples of their greatness.

The second and third CD's show Motown at the peak of their power with many classic songs included, although Diana Ross and the Supremes are poorly represented and plenty of other classics are also omitted. However, the absence of these songs leaves room to include songs by Chris Clark, Kim Weston, Brenda Holloway, the Contours, the Monitors, the Elgins, Shorty Long, Rita Wright (better known as Syreeta) and Bobby Taylor.

The final CD contains more high quality music but it was around this time that Motown started to slip as some of their stars departed to other labels and the replacements were not always of the same standard. So the final CD is great, but the first three are even better.

A companion boxed set covering the years from 1972 is also available. There are great songs on there too but not as many as can be found here.

This box is well presented with a superb booklet, but if you want a sixties hits collection, there are many other collections that will suit you better. For the ultimate Motown sixties hits collection, I recommend the British triple CD, Motown gold, which contains over eighty songs digitally re-mastered, almost all of them classics, though a few were hits in Britain but not America.

Like owning your own oldies station...
...or at least an excellent start. This set packs together virtually all of the Motown classics you'll remember from the radio throughout the 60's, many of which are extremely hard to find anywhere else.

The complaints about the mono mixes doesn't wash with me - I've listened on headphones, on tapes made of these in the car, and on a giant stereo system, and they all sound great to me. These are directly from the masters, so they sound as good as possible - a stereo remix would've required substantial restructuring.

The only complaint I have is that I prefer other artists' versions of a couple of these (and I do mean only a couple), but you can't blame them for putting out primarily the original artists' versions.

The music itself is vibrant, catchy, and full of emotion. It truly reveals the musical genius exhibited by the classic songwriters and arrangers in Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy. Their contributions to modern music cannot be overestimated.

In all, this is an absolutely *essential* set for any fan of popular music (or of music in general). Throw these in a four or five disc changer and get housework, homework, or just a nice relaxing afternoon of reminiscing on old memories done.