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The Ultimate Collection | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | October 7, 1997 | |||
Recorded | 1966–1974 | |||
Genre | Soul music | |||
Length | 74:01 | |||
Label | Motown Records | |||
Producer | Harry Weinger | |||
Gladys Knight and The Pips chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
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 disc contains all 19 singles released by Gladys Knight and the Pips on the Soul Records imprint of Motown; a 20th single, "The Look of Love," was released in the United Kingdom only and is not included here. All charted on the Billboard Hot 100 except for the first, "Just Walk in My Shoes"; 13 hit the Top 40 and twelve made the top ten on the rhythm and blues singles chart. "It's Time to Go Now" is the b-side of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," their version released a year before that by Marvin Gaye. The song "Here I Am Again," already issued on the If I Were Your Woman album of 1971, was initially slated to be a single, Soul 35111 for a November 1973 release date. It was withdrawn, with that single designation going to "Between Her Goodbye and My Hello." One track, their cover of "Every Little Bit Hurts" previously done by fellow Motown artist Brenda Holloway, appeared on an album of cover songs from 1968, Silk 'n' Soul. This compilation 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; Soul 35023 marked with asterisk bubbled under at position #129 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Track | Catalogue | Release Date | Pop Chart | R&B Chart | Song Title | Writer(s) | Time |
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1. | Soul 35039 | 9/14/67 | #2 | #1 | "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" | Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong | 2:53 |
2. | Soul 35042 | 1/25/68 | #15 | #5 | "The End of Our Road" | Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, Roger Penzabene | 2:21 |
3. | Soul 35034 | 6/12/67 | #39 | #3 | "Everybody Needs Love" | Edward Holland, Jr., Norman Whitfield | 2:56 |
4. | Soul 35033 | 3/16/67 | #98 | "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me" | Barrett Strong, Roger Penzabene, Cornelius Grant | 2:55 | |
5. | Soul 35045 | 5/16/68 | #40 | #9 | "It Should Have Been Me" | Norman Whitfield, Mickey Stevenson | 2:58 |
6. | Soul 35047 | 8/8/68 | #41 | #15 | "I Wish It Would Rain" | Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, Roger Penzabene | 2:54 |
7. | Soul SS711 | 1/68 | "Every Little Bit Hurts" | Ed Cobb | 3:03 | ||
8. | Soul 35057 | 2/13/69 | #63 | #11 | "Didn't You Know (You Have to Cry Sometime) | Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson | 3:33 |
9. | Soul 35023 | 6/7/66 | * | "Just Walk in My Shoes" | Helen Lewis, Kay Lewis | 2:47 | |
10. | Soul 35063 | 5/25/69 | #19 | #2 | "The Nitty Gritty" | Lincoln Chase | 3:01 |
11. | Soul 35068 | 10/6/69 | #17 | #2 | "Friendship Train" | Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong | 3:45 |
12. | Soul 35071 | 3/3/70 | #25 | #3 | "You Need Love Like I Do (Don't You?)" | Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong | 3:35 |
13. | Soul 35078 | 10/29/70 | #9 | #1 | "If I Were Your Woman" | Gloria Jones, Pamela Sawyer, Clay McMurray | 3:12 |
14. | Soul 35083 | 5/6/71 | #17 | #2 | "I Don't Want to Do Wrong" | Johnny Bristol, Gladys Knight, William Guest Merald "Bubba" Knight, Katherine Schaffner | 3:22 |
15. | Soul SS731 | 2/71 | "Here I Am Again" | Clay McMurray, Patricia Foster | 3:39 | ||
16. | Soul 35091 | 11/18/71 | #27 | #3 | "Make Me the Woman That You Go Home To" | Clay McMurray | 3:45 |
17. | Soul 35094 | 3/6/72 | #33 | #13 | "Help Me Make It Through the Night" | Kris Kristofferson | 4:19 |
18. | Soul 35098 | 12/26/72 | #2 | #1 | "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" | Jim Weatherly | 4:21 |
19. | Soul 35105 | 4/9/73 | #19 | #2 | "Daddy Could Swear I Declare" | Johnny Bristol, Gladys Knight, Merald "Bubba" Knight | 3:43 |
20. | Soul 35107 | 7/10/73 | #61 | #28 | "All I Need Is Time" | Bud Runeau | 3:22 |
21. | Soul 35111 | 5/24/74 | #57 | #45 | "Between Her Goodbye and My Hello" | Jim Weatherly | 3:50 |
22. | Soul 35039b | 9/14/67 | "It's Time to Go Now" | Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong | 2:42 |
Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul, and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s.
Gladys Maria Knight, known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer. A ten-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten.
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time.
"Come See About Me" is a 1964 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label. The track opens with a fade-in, marking one of the first times the technique had been used on a studio recording.
Barrett Strong Jr. was an American singer and songwriter known for his recording of "Money ", which was the first hit single for the Motown record label. He is also known for his songwriting work in association with producer Norman Whitfield; together, they penned such songs as "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "War", "Just My Imagination ", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone".
"Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" is a 1968 single released by American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, on the Tamla label in 1968. The B-side of the single is "Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl" from the duo's United LP. The first release off the duo's second album: You're All I Need, the song—written and produced by regular Gaye/Terrell collaborators Ashford & Simpson—became a hit within weeks of release eventually peaking at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart, the first of the duo's two number-one R&B hits. In the UK "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" reached number 34.
"Midnight Train to Georgia" is a song most famously performed by Gladys Knight & the Pips, their second release after departing Motown Records for Buddah Records. Written by Jim Weatherly, and included on the Pips' 1973 LP Imagination, "Midnight Train to Georgia" became the group's first single to top the Billboard Hot 100. It also won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus and has become Knight's signature song.
In the Groove is the eighth studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released on August 26, 1968 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. It was the first solo studio album Gaye released in two years, in which during that interim, the singer had emerged as a successful duet partner with female R&B singers such as Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. In the Groove was reissued and retitled as I Heard It Through the Grapevine after the unexpected success of Gaye's recording of the same name, which had been released as a single from the original album.
"The Way We Were" is a song by American singer Barbra Streisand from her fifteenth studio album of the same name. It was released as the album's lead single on September 27, 1973, through Columbia Records. The 7" single was distributed in two different formats, with the standard edition featuring B-side track "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"; the Mexico release instead included an instrumental B-side. The song was written by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and Marvin Hamlisch, while production was solely handled by Marty Paich. "The Way We Were" was specifically produced for the record, in addition to three other tracks, including her then-upcoming single "All in Love Is Fair" (1974).
"Giving Up" is a popular song written by Van McCoy that was introduced by Gladys Knight & the Pips with an April 1964 single release.
"Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" is a song recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips. Released in December 1972 on Motown's Soul Records imprint as S 35098, it became one of their biggest hit singles to date, and was also the last single the group released prior to them leaving Motown for Buddah Records in February 1973.
Everybody Needs Love is the third studio album by Gladys Knight & the Pips and their first album for Motown Records' Soul imprint. The LP, chiefly produced by Norman Whitfield, features the singles "Just Walk in My Shoes", "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me", "Everybody Needs Love" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine".
The song "You're My Everything" is a 1967 single recorded by The Temptations for Berry Gordy's Motown record label. It reached number three on the U.S. R&B chart and number six on the U.S. Pop chart. It was the third single from the group's 1967 album The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul.
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 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.
"It Should Have Been Me" is a 1963 song written by William "Mickey" Stevenson and Norman Whitfield for Kim Weston. It has been performed by Yvonne Fair, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Adeva among others. Knight's version peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 and number 33 in Canada. Fair had her only hit single with her recording of the song in 1976, reaching number 5 in the UK, number 85 in the US and number 10 in Australia.
"Don't You Miss Me a Little Bit Baby" is a 1967 soul song originally recorded by Motown singer Jimmy Ruffin and released on the company's Soul subsidiary label.
All I Need Is Time is the tenth studio album by American R&B quartet Gladys Knight & the Pips, released in June 1973 by Motown Records on the Soul Records label.
"Letter Full of Tears" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Don Covay and released by Gladys Knight & the Pips as a single in November 1961. It became their second top-20 hit, peaking at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was covered the following year by English singer Billy Fury who had a minor hit with it in the UK.