More Motown Magic Volumes 1 & 2

1981 Music For Pleasure/Tamla Motown MFP 50536/MFP 50537

What's so special about two more Motown compilations, you may ask. Well, not that much I grant you - not that you'd really expect anything, these being compilations, but there's nothing new here: no previously unreleased, alternate, remixed or redigitised takes. What is here represents the core Motown hits that everybody knows or remembers from what was then two decades of classic, unforgettable singles. Of course, all the tracks here had been available for a considerable time previously, probably at nice prices too, but for me this was the perfect package, coming in at only £1.99 each for 20 tracks apiece at the late, lamented Woolies in Leamington Spa near Warwick University where I was a student at the time.

As the scans are too small to read clearly, I've listed all the tracks. Other than this I've no critique to offer here, as the songs are universally known. OK, there are two anomalies: I like both Syreeta's work in general and this tune in particular, with its faux reggae rhythm, but I always thought Your Kiss Is Sweet an odd release for Motown and it doesn't sit well here; and the late Yvonne Fair's It Should Have Been Me (one of only two Motown singles I bought when it was first issued in 1975 - the other was the 1971 rerelease of The Elgin's 1966 hit Heaven Must Have sent You, not included). It's OK, a bit mawkish maybe, but it doesn't rank alongside these gigantic tunes. So here we go with a full rundown of tracks from MFP's super 1981 pairing (note: the titles and artist names are as annotated on these compilations, but eagle-eyed Motowners will notice that they are not always exactly as they appeared on original 45 labels).

Volume 1, Side 1: 1. Four Tops - Reach Out I'll Be There (1966); 2. Diana Ross & The Supremes - Baby Love (1964); 3. Marvin |Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine (1968); 4. Diana Ross & The Supremes & The Temptations - I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (1968); 5. Jr Walker And The Allstars - Walk In The Night (1971); 6. Diana Ross - I'm Still Waiting (1970); 7. Stevie Wonder - Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday (1969); 8. Jackson 5 - I'll Be There (1970); 9. Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Jimmy Mack (1967); 10. Isley Brothers - Behind A Painted Smile (1967). Volume 1, Side 2: 1. Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye - You Are Everything (1973); 2. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Help Me Make It Through The Night (1971); 3. Jimmy Ruffin - What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted (1966); 4. Supremes - Stoned Love (1970); 5. Michael Jackson - Got To Be There (1971); 6. Temptations - Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) (1971); 7. Syreeta - Your Kiss Is Sweet (1974); 8. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - The Tears Of A Clown (1967); 9. Commodores - Machine Gun (1974); 10. Eddie Kendricks - Keep On Truckin' (1973).

Volume 2, Side1: 1. Stevie Wonder - Superstition (1972); 2. Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way (1976); 3. Edwin Starr - War (1970); 4. Marv Johnson - I'll Pick A Rose For My Rose (1968); 5. Diana Ross & The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go (1964); 6. Jackson 5 - I Want You Back (1969); 7. Yvonne Fair - It Should Have Been Me (1975); 8. Commodores - Easy (1977); 9. Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston - It Takes Two (1966); 10. Jr Walker And The All Stars - (I'm A) Road Runner (1965). Volume 2, Side 2: 1. Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (1970); 2. Supremes - Automatically Sunshine (1972); 3. Detroit Spinners - It's A Shame (1970); 4. Temptations - Papa Was A Rollin' Stone (1972); 5. Marvin Gaye - Too Busy Thinking About My Baby (1969); 6. Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself (1965); 7. Isley Brothers - This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) (1966); 8. Mary Wells - My Guy (1964); 9. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - The Tracks Of My Tears (1965); 10. Martha And The Vandellas - Dancing In the Street (1964).

Obviously with a budget compilation of this kind - especially coming from MFP - many classics will have been omitted, and fans will be missing their own personal favourites - for example, I would have liked to see Stevie's He's Misstra Know-It-All or You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, The Miracles' Shop Around or one or two of Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell's classic Tamla duet hits - but on the whole, for the money, this was a pretty good collection - the only other pitfall being that, as a cheapo comp, there is no copiously researched booklet to digest or sheaf of 'luxuriant' photos to ogle over. It is what it is - but what it is ain't bad.