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.
"I Can't Help Myself" is a 1965 song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.
"That's the Way Love Is" is a 1967 Tamla (Motown) single recorded by The Isley Brothers and produced by Norman Whitfield.
"Forget Me Not" is a 1968 single by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. Though the song failed to ignite charts in America, barely hitting the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 93, and failing to chart on the US R&B charts, it became a hit on the UK Singles Chart singles chart peaking at No. 11 netting them their biggest UK hit in several years.
"I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playin'" is a 1968 funk-soul single by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas.
"(We've Got) Honey Love" is a 1967 song by Motown girl group The Velvelettes that later became a 1969 single released by another Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas from their album Ridin' High released in 1968. The song returned the Vandellas to the top forty of Billboard's R&B singles chart where it peaked at number twenty-seven while it hit the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at number fifty-seven. It was the group's sixth record where they were listed as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas following the successful "Honey Chile" single two years earlier. The song talked of how one woman's lover's charm was like "sugar and spice" adding names of candy and soda adding "a little bit of me, a little bit of you and we've got honey love." The Velvelettes, meanwhile, had recorded two versions of the song, both of which would go unreleased for almost 40 years. All three versions were written by Richard Morris and Sylvia Moy, and produced by Morris. Every version also used the same track with The Andantes as background vocals.
"Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things)" is a 1965 pop ballad by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. A rare ballad for the group, whose forte was reportedly uptempo soul dance numbers including "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run", the b-side to the group's single, "You've Been in Love Too Long", although the song only peaked at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #22 on the Billboard Hot R&B singles chart. Cash Box described it as a "plaintive, slow-shufflin’ heart-throbber with a nostalgic years-back sound."
Watchout! is the fourth studio album and fifth album overall by Martha and the Vandellas, released on the Gordy (Motown) label in 1966. The album included the top 10 hit singles, "I'm Ready for Love" and "Jimmy Mack" and the ballad single, "What Am I Gonna Do Without Your Love?". This was one of the last albums by the group with songs by Holland–Dozier–Holland who, the following year, left Motown, and with William "Mickey" Stevenson, who helped put the group on the musical map. The title of the album was derived from a song on the B-side of their hit single "My Baby Loves Me" entitled "Never Leave Your Baby's Side". That song's chorus warned to "Watchout!" for "other girls" who could steal your man.
Patsy Ruth Lewis was an American soul singer and backing vocalist from the 1960s. Lewis was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame twice; as a solo artist in 2015 and as a member of Isaac Hayes Hot Buttered Soul group in 2017.
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.
"A Breathtaking Guy" is a 1963 song written and produced by Smokey Robinson and released first by Motown singing group The Supremes (1963) and later by The Marvelettes (1972). The single was originally released under the title "A Breath Taking, First Sight Soul Shaking, One Night Love Making, Next Day Heartbreaking Guy" by The Supremes, but was shortened after its official release. All three Supremes members - Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson - sang the chorus with the original title together.
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.
"After All" is a 1960 song written by Smokey Robinson and originally recorded and released by The Miracles on the Tamla label. It was first recorded as an unreleased single by The Supremes for Tamla; it was supposed to be their first single but it was canceled in favor of "I Want a Guy", and their cover wasn't released until it appeared on the 2000 box set, The Supremes. The song is noted for both groups' unusual choices for leads. For the Miracles' version it serves as a rare lead for Claudette Rogers Robinson, instead of the group’s main lead, Claudette's husband, Smokey Robinson. In the Supremes' case it is their only single to feature Barbara Martin singing on lead vocals. Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Diana Ross sing verses, and Martin sings the bridge. "After All" was also later covered by The Marvelettes, in the early 1970s, with group member Wanda Young Rogers as lead. Their version appears on the album The Return of the Marvelettes, and later became the group's belated final single.
"I'll Keep Holding On" is a song composed by Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter and recorded by Motown singing group The Marvelettes, who released the single on the Tamla imprint in 1965. Peaking at #34 on the Billboard Hot 100, This was among the first A-side singles that longtime Marvelettes member Wanda Young sung lead on. Before 1965, the majority of the leads in Marvelettes songs had belonged to original member Gladys Horton. The single features a woman determined to win the love of an unfulfilled conquest telling him that she'll convince him to love her "until my will to resist is gone". Her Marvelettes band mates Gladys Horton and Katherine Anderson egg her on with her ad-libbing "oh yeah/sho' nuff" in the bridge leading up to the chorus. The single was covered by British mod-pop act, The Action in 1966. It then returned across the Atlantic in 1998 to be released on Mink Rat or Rabbit by the Detroit Cobras.
"When You're Young and in Love" is a song composed by Van McCoy which first became a Top 40 hit single for the Marvelettes in 1967: a remake by the Flying Pickets reached the UK Top Ten in 1984.
"My Baby Must Be a Magician" is a 1967 song written and produced by Smokey Robinson and recorded by the Marvelettes.
The Spinners: Their Early Years is a compilation album featuring The Spinners and other various artist that were signed to the Tri-Phi Records/Harvey Records label(s) from 1961 to 1963. It contains the five singles that the group made while signed at Tri-Phi, and a few tracks where they sang backing vocals for other acts on both labels. The album also contains songs performed by various other acts that didn't make the transition to Motown.
"Just Another Lonely Night" is a 1965 song co-written and co-produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter. It was recorded by four Motown acts: The Temptations, Brenda Holloway, The Four Tops, and The Fantastic Four.
"Too Hurt to Cry, Too Much in Love to Say Goodbye" is a 1963 song and single written and composed by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland. Credited to the Darnells, the performers on both sides of the single were the Andantes, Holland–Dozier–Holland, Mary Wilson of the Supremes (B-side), and members of the Marvelettes, the Four Tops, and the Temptations. Nobody involved with the production on either side was pleased with the false credit. The single peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.
"(Like A) Nightmare" is a 1964 single recorded by The Andantes for the V.I.P. (Motown) label. Written and composed by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, it became the second and last official single by the session group from the company.
