History
"Classic Rock" was first issued in the winter of 1988, with the first volume in the series titled Classic Rock: 1965. Like most compilation albums, songs by two of the era's most successful groups – The Beatles and The Rolling Stones – were not included due to licensing issues; however, several albums had cover art with drawings of male rock singers resembling The Beatles.
As was the case with Time-Life's other series, "Classic Rock" was advertised in television and magazine advertisements. The series was available by subscription (by calling a 1-800 number); those who purchased the series in that fashion received a new volume roughly every other month (on the format of their choice), and had the option of keeping the volumes they wanted.
Each volume was also offered for individual sale. When the series was fully issued, a customer could purchase the entire series at once (or a group of albums, as packaged by Time-Life as part of a promotion), often at a discounted price.
New volumes continued to be issued through 1991, the final one being a volume titled Classic Rock: Rock Renaissance IV (an album of hard rock from the mid- to late-1960s). An additional volume, titled Totally Fantastic '60s, was released in 1996.
Time-Life continued to offer "Classic Rock" through the early-2000s (decade), after which it was replaced by other series.
In 1999, Time-Life issued a "budget" box set, "Classic '60s: Greatest Hits", containing three CDs or cassettes of 12 songs each, for retail sale.
List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1966.
List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1968.
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
Easy is an album recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and released by Motown Records on September 16, 1969 under the Tamla Records label. One song on the album, "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy To Come By", was a hit single and remains popular to this day.
The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr, the Supremes, the Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers, among others. It is estimated they appeared on 20,000 recordings.
The Originals, often called "Motown's best-kept secret", were a successful Motown R&B and soul group during the late 1960s and the 1970s, most notable for the hits "Baby I'm for Real", "The Bells", and the disco classic "Down to Love Town." Formed in 1966, the group originally consisted of baritone singer Freddie Gorman, tenor/falsetto Walter Gaines, and tenors C. P. Spencer and Hank Dixon. Ty Hunter replaced Spencer when he left to go solo in the early 1970s. They had all previously sung in other Detroit groups, Spencer having been an original member of the (Detroit) Spinners and Hunter having sung with the Supremes member Scherrie Payne in the group Glass House. Spencer, Gaines, Hunter, and Dixon were also members of the Voice Masters. As a member of the Holland–Dozier–Gorman writing-production team, Gorman was one of the co-writers of Motown's first number 1 pop hit "Please Mr. Postman", recorded by the Marvelettes. In 1964 the Beatles released their version and in 1975 the Carpenters took it to number 1 again. This was the second time in pop history that a song had reached number 1 twice as "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, reached number 1 in both 1960 and 1961. In 2006, "Please Mr. Postman" was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations is a collaborative album combining Motown's two best selling groups, Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations. Issued by Motown in late 1968 to coincide with the broadcast of the Supremes/Temptations TCB television special, the album was a success, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200. Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations spent four weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
The Master (1961–1984) is a chronological box set album looking back at American R&B/soul Marvin Gaye's 23-year recording career. Spanning four discs, the box set goes over all portions of Gaye's career with a repertoire that spanned doo-wop, R&B, soul, psychedelic soul and funk with a mixture of themes including dance songs, love ballads, duets, socially conscious material, sensual material and autobiographical revelations. The set includes rarities such as a recorded 1981 live track of Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips each singing their seminal hit "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", Gaye's famed 1983 performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at an NBA All-Star game and an a cappella performance of "The Lord's Prayer" taped during Gaye's exile in Belgium.
The Complete Duets is a two-disc compilation album of duet recordings by Motown Records artists Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, recorded between 1965 and 1969. The set compiles all of the tracks from the duo's three albums - United,You're All I Need and Easy - as well as several of Tammi Terrell's solo recordings and other previously unissued material.
Away We a Go-Go is a 1966 album by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. The album features the singles "(Come 'Round Here) I'm the One You Need", a Billboard top 20 Pop hit, written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland; and "Whole Lot of Shakin' in My Heart ", written and produced by Frank Wilson. The album uses a different take of "I'm the One You Need" than what was issued on the single. A third single was planned for release from this album, the tune "More, More, More ", cataloged as Tamla T-54005, but the single was never released. It was later covered by the regional group Bob Brady and The Con Chords. Another single from this album, the Stevie Wonder/Ivy Jo Hunter composition of "Can You Love a Poor Boy", was released to radio stations as a special Disc Jockey Advanced Single, Tamla T-540, but was never given an official catalog number for general release. It too, inspired cover versions by Gil Bernal and Ronnie Walker.
Murray the K – It's What's Happening, Baby was a television special aired on CBS-TV on June 28, 1965 and hosted by Murray the K. The special featured performances by many of the popular artists of the day such as Jan and Dean, Mary Wells, the Dave Clark Five, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the Supremes, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, the Drifters, the Miracles, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, the Ronettes, Chuck Jackson, the Four Tops, the Temptations, the Righteous Brothers and Little Anthony and the Imperials. The music was occasionally interspersed with Murray the K's public announcements urging American youth to pursue education and summer employment.
Marvin Tarplin was an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s. He was one of the group's original members and co-wrote several of their biggest hits, including the 1965 Grammy Hall Of Fame-inducted "The Tracks of My Tears". He is also a winner of the BMI Songwriter's Award, and the ASCAP Award Of Merit, and was a 2012 posthumous inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Miracles.
Tamla Motown Gold: The Sound of Young America is a three-disc compilation album released by the Tamla Motown label in 2001. It features all the hits from the label in the 1960s, by various artists.
The History of Rock and Roll is a radio documentary on rock and roll music, originally syndicated in 1969, and again in 1978 and 1981. It is currently distributed as both a 2+1⁄2-minute short feature on internet networks, and a two-hour weekly series hosted by Wink Martindale, distributed to radio stations nationwide. This list below reflects the contents of the more widely heard 1978 version of The History of Rock & Roll.
Motown Chartbusters is a series of compilation albums first released by EMI under licence on the Tamla Motown label in Britain. In total, 12 editions were released in the UK between 1967 and 1982. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally called British Motown Chartbusters; after this the title Motown Chartbusters was used.
Paul Riser is an American trombonist and Motown musical arranger who was responsible for co-writing and arranging dozens of top ten hit records. His legacy as one of the "Funk Brothers" is similar to that of most of the other "Brothers", as his career has been overlooked and overshadowed by the stars of Motown that became household names. Some of the Funk Brothers he worked with include: Earl Van Dyke, Johnny Griffith, Robert White, Eddie Willis, Joe Messina, Dennis Coffey, Wah Wah Watson, James Jamerson, Bob Babbitt, Eddie Watkins, Richard "Pistol" Allen, Uriel Jones, Andrew Smith, Jack Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Benny Benjamin, Cornelius Grant, Joe Hunter, Richard "Popcorn" Wylie, Marcus Belgrave, Teddy Buckner and Stevie Wonder.
Soul Train: The Dance Years is a series of compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1999 and 2000, and spun off from the long-running syndicated television series Soul Train.
The Greatest is a 2011 compilation album by American singer Diana Ross and includes both her solo and Supremes material as well as duets with Lionel Richie, Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye. The album reached number 24 in the UK and was eventually awarded a BPI Gold disc for sales of over 100,000 copies.
HBTV is a series of animated music videos created by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1985 and 1986 featuring clips from various animated Hanna-Barbera programmes. The animated videos were similar to Disney's D-TV and MTV and were originally broadcast as interstitials between segments of the syndicated programming block The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.
