MOTOWN COLLECTIONS

Rip It Up, Issue 80, 1 March 1984, Page 22

MOTOWN COLLECTIONS

Marvin Gaye Every Great Motown Hit Nice packaging, good selection but the title is a misnomer. Every great Motown hit? I don’t think so. This collection ignores the early hits (‘Can I Get A Witness’, ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’, and so on) in favour of Marvin’s middle period (1968-73) with the odd late hit (‘Got to Give It Up’) thrown in. Still, nobody’s going to get all Marvin’s goodies on a single album and as this includes plenty from my favourite era from Mr Gaye, m not complaining. Stevie Wonder Original Musiquarium II The pick of the Motown compilations available. It’s hard not to run out of superlatives describing this record. Perhaps it’s simpler to , just say that it includes ‘Superstition’,' ‘Living for the City’, ‘Sir Duke’, ‘lsn’t She Lovely’, ‘I Wish’ and many other gems from the last. 10 years or so, that these tracks nave been digitally remastered and sound better than ever and that the four new tracks do not sound even slightly out of place in this company. Intelligently compiled, nicely packaged ana entirely indispensable. Diana Ross and the Supremes Greatest Hits

. Ignore the ugly cover, check the track listing and you’ll find that the record you’re holding was previously released as 20 Golden Greats Diana Ross and the Supremes and is a sanely organised (that is, chronological) history of nearly everything you’ve ever wanted to hear from the Supremes. Side One in particular is a formidable collection of 10 of the greatest singles of the 60s. Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five Greatest Hits r The Jackson Five were the last great gasp of the Motown production line. The Corporation, a group of producer/composers, whipped up a stunning’ funk maelstrom for the Fives first single ‘I Want You Back’ and managed to nearly equal this

standard with subsequent releases. But, as this collection shows, this creative burst was short lived. Motown was soon struggling to provide material equal to, Michael Jackson’s talent. So, in the end, it’s Michael who rescues this record. Whether singing to a pet rat (‘Ben’) or delivering an overwrought tear-jerker (‘One Day in Your Life’) Michael . nearly always performs with that winning mixture of innocence and authority and even the occasionally. shoddy material and eccentric organisation of the tracks don’t destroy that achievement. Smokey Robinson Blame It On Love and All the Greatest Hits

Now this one crept up on me. I had it tagged as a poorly compiled. rip-off. You know, take some of Smokey’s recent big hits (‘Cruising’, ‘Being With You’), some lesser known hits, (of no lesser quality though) and, to lure in the collectors, three previously unreleased tracks of dubious quality. Well, the solid craftsmanship of the new songs slowly impressed itself on me, the quality of the singles is indisputable (though I could do without the mediocre ‘Blame It On Love’) and it all adds up to the kind of high quality romantic music Smokey’s made for over 20 years. AD