The Ultimate Collection | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | October 7, 1997 | |||
Recorded | 1963-1969 | |||
Genre | Soul music | |||
Length | 71:26 | |||
Label | Motown Records | |||
Producer | Harry Weinger | |||
Diana Ross & The Supremes chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [2] |
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.
The disc contains every Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 enjoyed by The Supremes while Diana Ross was a member of the group. The songs "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" and "I'll Try Something New" are collaborations with and co-credited to their Motown colleagues, The Temptations. Every iconic song by the group during this period is present, and twelve of the 25 tracks here topped the chart. Historically, only Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Mariah Carey have had more #1 singles chart hits in the United States. 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. [3] 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. Tracks with The Temptations marked with an asterisk.
Track | Catalogue | Release Date | Pop Chart | R&B Chart | Song Title | Writer(s) | Time |
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1. | Motown 1051 | 10/31/63 | #23 | "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 3:09 | |
2. | Motown 1060 | 6/17/64 | #1 | "Where Did Our Love Go" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:33 | |
3. | Motown 1066 | 9/17/64 | #1 | "Baby Love" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:35 | |
4. | Motown 1068 | 10/27/64 | #1 | #3 | "Come See About Me" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:40 |
5. | Motown 1074 | 2/8/65 | #1 | #2 | "Stop! In the Name of Love" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:52 |
6. | Motown 1075 | 4/15/65 | #1 | #1 | "Back in My Arms Again" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:55 |
7. | Motown 1080 | 7/19/65 | #11 | #6 | "Nothing but Heartaches" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:42 |
8. | Motown 1083 | 10/6/65 | #1 | #2 | "I Hear a Symphony" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:42 |
9. | Motown 1089 | 12/29/65 | #5 | #10 | "My World Is Empty Without You" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:35 |
10. | Motown 1094 | 4/8/66 | #9 | #7 | "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:54 |
11. | Motown 1097 | 7/25/66 | #1 | #1 | "You Can't Hurry Love" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:52 |
12. | Motown 1101 | 10/12/66 | #1 | #1 | "You Keep Me Hangin' On" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:45 |
13. | Motown 1103 | 1/11/67 | #1 | #1 | "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:47 |
14. | Motown 1107 | 3/20/67 | #1 | #12 | "The Happening" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:50 |
15. | Motown 1111 | 7/24/67 | #2 | #4 | "Reflections" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:50 |
16. | Motown 1116 | 10/25/67 | #9 | #16 | "In and Out of Love" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 2:40 |
17. | Motown 1122 | 2/29/68 | #28 | #17 | "Forever Came Today" | Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr. | 3:18 |
18. | Motown 1126 | 5/21/68 | #30 | #43 | "Some Things You Never Get Used To" | Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson | 2:25 |
19. | Motown 1135 | 9/30/68 | #1 | #2 | "Love Child" | Pamela Sawyer, R. Dean Taylor, Frank Wilson, Deke Richards | 3:00 |
20. | Motown 1139 | 1/6/69 | #10 | #8 | "I'm Livin' in Shame" | Pamela Sawyer, R. Dean Taylor, Frank Wilson, Henry Cosby, Berry Gordy | 3:08 |
21. | Motown 1137 | 11/21/68 | #2 | #2 | "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" * | Kenneth Gamble and Jerry Ross | 3:07 |
22. | Motown 1142 | 2/20/69 | #25 | #8 | "I'll Try Something New" * | Smokey Robinson | 2:33 |
23. | Motown 1146 | 3/27/69 | #27 | #21 | "The Composer" | Smokey Robinson | 2:55 |
24. | Motown 1148 | 5/9/69 | #31 | #17 | "No Matter What Sign You Are" | Henry Cosby and Berry Gordy | 2:55 |
25. | Motown 1156 | 10/14/69 | #1 | #1 | "Someday We'll Be Together" | Jackey Beavers, Johnny Bristol, Harvey Fuqua | 3:32 |
The Supremes were an American female singing group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and are, to date, America's most successful vocal group with 12 number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland. At their peak in the mid-1960s, the Supremes rivaled the Beatles in worldwide popularity, and it is said that their success made it possible for future African American R&B and soul musicians to find mainstream success.
"Someday We'll Be Together" is a song written by Johnny Bristol, Jackey Beavers, and Harvey Fuqua. It was the last of twelve American number-one pop singles for Diana Ross & the Supremes on the Motown label. Although it was released as the final Supremes song featuring Diana Ross, who left the group for a solo career in January 1970, it was recorded as Ross' first solo single and Supremes members Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong do not sing on the recording. Both appear on the B-side, "He's My Sunny Boy".
"Come See About Me" is a 1964 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
"Love Child" is a 1968 song released by the Motown label for Diana Ross & the Supremes. The second single and title track from their album Love Child, it became the Supremes' 11th number-one single in the United States, where it sold 500,000 in its first week and 2 million copies by year's end.
"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" is a soul song most popularly released as a joint single performed by Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations for the Motown label. This version peaked for two weeks at #2 on the Hot 100 in the United States, selling 900,000 copies in its first two weeks, and at #3 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1969.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a pop/soul song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and became a hit again in 1970 when recorded by former Supremes frontwoman Diana Ross. The song became Ross's first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
"(I Know) I'm Losing You" is a 1966 hit single recorded by the Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label and produced by Norman Whitfield.
"Since I Lost My Baby" is a 1965 hit single recorded by The Temptations for the Motown Records' Gordy label. Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore and produced by Robinson, the song was a top 20 pop single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, on which it peaked at number 17. On Billboard's R&B singles chart, "Since I Lost My Baby" peaked at number four.
Together, released by Motown in 1969, was the second and final duets studio album combining Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations into an eight-person Motown act. Like the first duets LP, Diana Ross & the Supremes Join The Temptations, it is composed almost entirely of covers, including versions of The Band's "The Weight", Sly & the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song", Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and Motown songs like "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "Uptight ". "The Weight" was the only single in the US, and failed to make it into the American Top 40. "Why ", a UK exclusive single, was a Top 40 hit on the UK singles charts.
Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations is, as the title implies, 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. Originally the lead single was to have been "The Impossible Dream" as featured in the climax to the TV spectacular TCB. However, it was decided to release "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" as a single instead even though it was not featured on TCB. This became a number-two hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the R&B charts, and the follow-up, "I'll Try Something New", was a Top 30 hit. A third single, "I Second That Emotion", was released exclusively in the United Kingdom, where it became a Top 20 hit.
Love Child is the fifteenth studio album released by Diana Ross & the Supremes for the Motown label in 1968. The LP was the group's first studio LP not to include any songs written or produced by any member of the Holland–Dozier–Holland production team, who had previously overseen most of the Supremes' releases.
"I Second That Emotion" is a 1967 song written by Smokey Robinson and Al Cleveland. First charting as a hit for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on the Tamla/Motown label in 1967, "I Second That Emotion" was later a hit single for the group duet Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations, also on the Motown label.
"What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" is a hit single recorded by Jimmy Ruffin and released on Motown Records' Soul label in the summer of 1966. It is a ballad, with lead singer Jimmy Ruffin recalling the pain that befalls the brokenhearted, who had love that's now departed. The song essentially deals with the struggle to overcome sadness while seeking a new relationship after a breakup.
"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.
"In and Out of Love" is a 1967 song recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label. It was the second single issued with the group's new billing of Diana Ross & the Supremes, the penultimate Supremes single written and produced by Motown production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, and the last single to feature the vocals of original member Florence Ballard.
"I'll Try Something New" is a song written by Smokey Robinson and originally released in 1962 by The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla subsidiary label. Their version was a Billboard Top 40 hit, peaking at #39, and just missed the Top 10 of its R&B chart, peaking at #11. The song was released later as a joint single by Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations, also becoming a charting version on the Billboard 100 pop singles chart, peaking for two weeks in April 1969 at number 25.
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 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 The Temptations, released on Motown Records, catalogue 314530562-2, in March 1997. It is a collection of singles comprising many of the group's greatest hits, with liner notes written by producer Harry Weinger.
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