This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2010) |
The Ultimate Collection | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Compilation album by | ||||
Released | October 7, 1997 | |||
Recorded | 1964–1972 | |||
Genre | Pop, soul | |||
Length | 72:32 | |||
Label | Motown | |||
Producer | Harry Weinger | |||
The Four Tops chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
The Ultimate Collection is a compact disc by The Four Tops, released on Motown Records, catalogue 314530825-2, in October 1997. It is a collection of singles comprising many of the group's greatest hits, with liner notes written by Stu Hackel.
The disc contains all but three of the Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 enjoyed by the Four Tops and released on the Motown Records imprint. Four of the tracks included were b-sides — "I Got A Feeling," "If You Don't Want My Love," "I'll Turn to Stone," and "Sad Souvenirs" — "I Got A Feeling" being the flip to "Bernadette," and "Sad Souvenirs" the flip to "I Can't Help Myself." "A Simple Game" was recorded in collaboration with The Moody Blues, and hit #3 on the UK Singles Chart. Every iconic song by the group is present, and five of the tracks were in the top ten on the chart, with "I Can't Help Myself" and "Reach Out I'll Be There" both going to #1. The disc was part of an "Ultimate Collection" series issued that year by Motown for many of their top-selling classic artists.
Starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s, standard industry practice shifted to a focus on album sales, where a single became less a separate entity and more simply an advertisement for an LP, and a lead single would be pulled off an album as a promotional tool. Prior to this, singles were concentrated upon as a profitable commodity, especially for smaller record labels, and albums were often built around already successful singles. Since Motown fixated on the hit single until the very end of its stay in Detroit, single versions of songs often featured different mixes than versions that would be later placed on albums. Singles were usually mixed "punchier" and "hotter" to sound better on car radios receiving AM broadcast. [2] The single versions are the ones appearing here.
Singles chart peak positions from Billboard charts; no R&B chart existed from November 30, 1963, through January 23, 1965. Track with The Moody Blues marked with an asterisk. All tracks written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland, Jr., except where noted.
Track | Catalogue | Release Date | Pop Chart | R&B Chart | Song Title | Writer(s) | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Motown 1098 | 8/18/66 | #1 | #1 | "Reach Out I'll Be There" | 2:59 | |
2. | Motown 1102 | 11/28/66 | #6 | #2 | "Standing in the Shadows of Love" | 2:36 | |
3. | Motown 1104 | 2/16/67 | #4 | #3 | "Bernadette" | 3:00 | |
4. | Motown 1073 | 1/5/65 | #24 | #9 | "Ask the Lonely" | William "Mickey" Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter | 2:45 |
5. | Motown 1062 | 7/10/64 | #11 | "Baby I Need Your Loving" | 2:44 | ||
6. | Motown 1069 | 11/64 | #43 | "Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)" | 2:53 | ||
7. | Motown 1081 | 7/9/65 | #5 | #2 | "It's the Same Old Song" | 2:45 | |
8. | Motown 1096 | 5/9/66 | #45 | #12 | "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" | Stevie Wonder, Hunter | 2:45 |
9. | Motown 1076 | 4/23/65 | #1 | #1 | "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" | 2:43 | |
10. | Motown 1084 | 10/21/65 | #19 | #9 | "Something About You" | 2:48 | |
11. | Motown 1104b | 2/16/67 | "I Got a Feeling" | 2:59 | |||
12. | Motown 1132 | 10/68 | #51 | #23 | "I'm in a Different World" | 3:05 | |
13. | Motown 1119 | 1/18/68 | #14 | #15 | "Walk Away Renée" | Michael Brown, Bob Calilli, Tony Sansome | 2:43 |
14. | Motown 1147 | 4/10/69 | #53 | "What Is a Man" | Johnny Bristol and Doris McNeil | 2:33 | |
15. | Motown 1196 | 1/4/72 | #90 | #34 | "A Simple Game" * | Mike Pinder | 2:56 |
16. | Motown 1170 | 8/70 | #11 | #4 | "Still Water (Love)" | Frank Wilson and Smokey Robinson | 3:11 |
17. | Motown 1210 | 8/72 | #53 | #8 | "(It's the Way) Nature Planned It" | Pam Sawyer, Wilson | 3:18 |
18. | Motown 1164 | 4/70 | #24 | #6 | "It's All in the Game" | Charles G. Dawes and Carl Sigman | 2:50 |
19. | Motown 1113 | 9/67 | #19 | #7 | "You Keep Running Away" | 2:48 | |
20. | Motown 1113b | 9/67 | "If You Don't Want My Love" | 3:27 | |||
21. | Motown 1110 | 5/4/67 | #14 | #10 | "7-Rooms of Gloom" | 2:53 | |
22. | Motown 1110b | 5/4/67 | "I'll Turn to Stone" | Holland–Dozier–Holland, R. Dean Taylor | 2:33 | ||
23. | Motown 1090 | 2/2/66 | #18 | #5 | "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" | 2:41 | |
24. | Motown 1076b | 4/23/65 | "Sad Souvenirs" | Stevenson and Hunter | 2:39 | ||
25. | Motown 1127 | 6/27/68 | #49 | #31 | "Yesterday's Dreams" | Sawyer, Vernon Bullock, Jack Goga, Hunter | 2:56 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [3] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. It was released on May 21, 1971, by the Motown Records subsidiary label Tamla. Recorded between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, and United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California, it was Gaye's first album to credit him as a producer and to credit Motown's in-house studio band, the session musicians known as the Funk Brothers.
The Spinners are an American rhythm and blues vocal group that formed in Ferndale, Michigan, United States, in 1954. They enjoyed a string of hit singles and albums during the 1960s and 1970s, particularly with producer Thom Bell. The group continues to tour, without any original members, after Henry Fambrough retired in 2023.
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 Contours is one of the early American soul singing groups signed to Motown Records. The group is best known for its classic chart-topping 1962 hit, "Do You Love Me", which sold over 1 million copies and became a major hit again in 1988.
"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" is a 1965 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.
"Baby I Need Your Loving" is a 1964 hit single recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song was the group's first Motown single and their first pop Top 20 hit, making it to number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four in Canada in the fall of 1964. It was also their first million-selling hit single.
"It's the Same Old Song" was recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. It was released in 1965 as the second single from their second album. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is today one of The Tops' signatures, and was reportedly created—from initial concept to commercial release—in 24 hours. It reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard R&B chart. It also reached #34 in the UK.
"Reach Out I'll Be There" (also formatted as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)") is a song recorded by the Four Tops from their fourth studio album Reach Out (1967). Written and produced by Motown's main production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most widely-known Motown hits of the 1960s and is today considered the Four Tops' signature song.
"The Tears of a Clown" is a song written by Hank Cosby, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder and originally recorded by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles for the Tamla Records label subsidiary of Motown, first appearing on the 1967 album Make It Happen. The track was re-released in the United Kingdom as a single in July 1970, and it became a #1 hit on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending 12 September 1970. Subsequently, Motown released a partially re-recorded and completely remixed version as a single in the United States as well, where it quickly became a #1 hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B Singles charts.
Cloud Nine is the ninth studio album by American musical group The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1969.
The Supremes Sing Holland–Dozier–Holland is the tenth studio album released by The Supremes for Motown in 1967. It includes the number-one hit singles "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone". As the title states: all songs on the album were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting team of Holland–Dozier–Holland. Most of the album was recorded during the spring and summer of 1966; however several songs date back to the summer of 1964.
"Go Now" is a song composed by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett and first recorded by Bessie Banks, released as a single in January 1964. The best-known version was recorded by the Moody Blues and released the same year.
"Shake Me, Wake Me " is a song recorded by the American quartet Four Tops for their third studio album, On Top (1966). It was released in February 1966 as a 7" vinyl single through Motown records. It was written and produced by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland. A gospel rock track, its lyrics detail a relationship that has ended. It has since been regarded as one of Four Tops' most successful singles ever. It charted moderately well in both the United States and Canada, and became the group's fifth consecutive entry to chart within the top five of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Four Tops has performed "Shake Me, Wake Me " on various occasions throughout their careers and have included it on several greatest hits albums, including on The Four Tops Greatest Hits (1967) and The Ultimate Collection (1997).
The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet from Detroit who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes.
The Ultimate Collection is a compact disc by Gladys Knight and The Pips, released on Motown Records, catalogue MOTD 0826, in October 1997. It is a collection of singles comprising many of the group's greatest hits, with liner notes written by Ruth Adkins Robinson.
The Ultimate Collection is a compact disc by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, released on Motown Records, catalogue 314530857-2, in February 1998. It is a collection of singles comprising many of the group's greatest hits, with liner notes written by Stu Hackel.
The Ultimate Collection is a compact disc by Diana Ross and the Supremes, released on Motown Records, catalogue 314530827-2, in October 1997. It is a collection of singles comprising many of the group's greatest hits, with liner notes written by Diane Marie Weathers.
"Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music" is a 1967 song co-written by Richard Drapkin and Marty Coleman. In 1968 it was assigned to Artie Fields' Top Dog label in Detroit and issued as a 45 by rhythm and blues singer Joe Towns.
"Something About You" is a song written by Holland-Dozier-Holland and was first released by the Four Tops on their 1965 album Four Tops' Second Album.
Four Tops Live! is the first live album by American rhythm and blues vocal band The Four Tops, released on Motown in 1966. The album was recorded as part of a series of concerts by the record label featuring their premier artists held in Detroit and had positive critical and commercial reception.