The complete Tamla and Motown singles of The Satintones – the soul, R&B & popular music juggernaut's first male vocal group – and a treasure trove of rare post doo wop from the end of the 50s/beginning of the 60s! It's fascinating for the history herein – the group is hugely under-anthologized in a world of myriad Motown compilations – which is a real shame, as you'll hear in this sweet set – with numbers that rely on the doo wop influences as well as tunes more devoted to lead vocals – with a slew of early Berry Gordy productions and compositions. The set includes the then legally challenged Shirelles knockoff/answer song "Tomorrow and Always" plus "Motor City", "Going To The Hop", "Sugar Daddy", "A Love That Can Never Be", "Foot Stomping Time", My Kind Of Love", "Boogie Woogie Heart", "Because I Love You", "You Can't Beat My Lovin" and many more. 26 tracks in all. CD

A truly amazing album – unlike anything Eddie Kendricks ever did before, or since – and one of those records that really helped shape the sound of soul in the 70s! The music is as rich and powerful as the image on the cover – with some righteous undercurrents that really mark the time and place of the record, yet also help it transcend so many other standard soul modes of the period too! Arrangements are wonderfully complex – as you'll hear on the classic groovers "Girl You Need A Change Of Mind" and "Date With The Rain" – each very different numbers, but both a showcase for Kendricks' wonderful vocal approach. Other titles include the progressive "People Hold On" – plus "I'm On The Sideline", "Day By Day", "If You Let Me", "Let Me Run Into Your Lonely Heart", and "Someday We'll Have A Better World". CD

A great debut from Tata Vega – her first album for Motown, and a sparkling soul effort – recorded after an early career stretch with some headier crossover groups! Vega's got a positive, upbeat feel on the record that's mighty nice – a sort of energy that really draws from her roots, but points things in a sparkling new direction – still mostly sticking in mature soul modes, and avoiding any of the easier disco pitfalls that might have been taken at the time! Al Johnson handles the arrangements – with the same sort of balance of smooth and mature styles he brought to his own great records – a balance that works perfectly for Tata, as it allows her to work the full, wide range of her vocals, yet without ever going too far to end up as a cliche. Titles include "Try Love From The Inside", "Full Speed Ahead", "Keep It Coming", "Just As Long As There Is You", "Just When Things Are Getting Good", and "Music In My Heart". CD features 3 bonus tracks – "Full Speed Ahead (disco version)", and the cuts "Sunshine Man" and "Soul Eyes", both recorded with Tata's old group, Earthquire! CD

A beautiful collection of all the great and rare material Eddie Holland cut as solo singer in the late 50s and early 60s – including the incredible early Motown material, plus tracks he cut for Mercury, Kudo, Tamla and United Artists! Of course Eddie Holland is best remembered for uber-legendary work as producer, composer and arranger with the Holland-Dozier-Holland super soul unit – for damn good reason, but it's his early work as singer is way too strong to be considered a mere footnote to his greater legacy. Many of the cuts were written and produced by Berry Gordy, along with numbers written and produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, some recorded more famously by later acts, so what you truly have here is the foundation for great things to come – it's beautiful stuff that shines brightly in its own light. Eddie's a solid singer and the songs are terrific, formative stuff that's a pivotal bridge from earlier R&B to massive soul. 56 tracks on 2CDs: "Little Miss Ruby", "Will You Love Me", "Just A Few More Days", "It's Not Too Late", "Just Ain't Enough Love", "Brenda", "Baby Shake", "Magic Mirror", "If Cleopatra Took A Chance", "Action Speaks Louder than Words", "Bashful Kind", "Too Late To Cry", "Happy Go Lucky", "Pretty Little Angel Face", "Day Dreamer", "Rain And Thunder", "I Like Everything About You", "Happy Days" and many more. This set goes deeper than any compilation we've seen of Eddie's recordings, too, with a number of previously unissued Mercury recordings. CD

A wonderful collection of work from Brenda Holloway – one that really digs deep to find some overlooked gems from her 60s years at Motown – including 8 previously unissued tracks! The core of the collection features The Artistry Of Brenda Holloway album – a late 60s UK-only recorded issued by Tamla, and one that features rare singles from Holloway that weren't on any other albums – kind of a special overseas package dedicated to those early UK soul fans who helped Motown explode so strongly at a global level. Holloway's vocals are wonderful – as careful a mix of class and soul that you'd find from the best Motown artists of the period – served up at a solo lead level that's only matched by Mary Wells on the label at the time, and which really seems to point the way towards a solo direction that Diana Ross would later take on her own. In addition to the 16 track album, the CD also features 8 more gems from the Motown vaults – making for a set that's all-great, no-filler, and filled with properly finished killers that should have made much bigger waves at the time. Titles include "Together Til The End Of Time", "I'll Be Available", "Hurt A Little Every Day", "Where Were You", "I've Got To Find It", "Operator", "I'll Always Love You", "Just Look What You've Done", "Mr Lifeguard", "After All That You've Done", "The Love Line", "Can't We Be Strangers Again", and "Just Another Lonely Night". CD

A wonderful batch of rare Motown material from Detroit singer Marv Johnson – a vocalist who started out working for Berry Gordy in the late 50s, recording the some of the first material to be released on the Tamla Motown label, and recorded all of the terrific material on this set for Motown from the mid 60s to the start of the 70s! Johnson didn't find his way into the historical canon the way many of the great solo singers and groups he helped pave the way for, but he's no less worthy! This set from Kent UK includes all the tracks from the I'll Pick A Rose For My Rose LP plus previously unreleased numbers numbers and rare mono single mixes – really beautiful stuff and a vital rediscovery of Marv's overlooked work at Motown! Titles include "I'll Pick A Rose For My Rose", "I'm Not A Plaything", "Why Do You Want To Let Me Go", "Bad Girl", "I Miss You Baby (How I Miss You)", the previously unreleased gems "There Goes A Lonely Man", "Understanding", "Farewell Is A Lonely Sound" and more, plus mono versions of several album tracks. 26 tracks in all! CD

Ike's got the distinction of being one of a number of 70s soul artists who were in prison while recording their debut efforts – and we're not ever sure if he made it out of the pen after this album came out. Whatever the case, the album's a surprisingly nice album of mellow soul tracks – endorsed by Stevie Wonder on the back, and clearly coming out of a trajectory that follows the best of Stevie's early 70s albums on Tamla. The album includes a killer long slow funky instrumental called "Antoinette" – with spacey keyboards, nice drum fills, and a bit of fuzzy guitar breakdowns. The cut's a monster – more than enough reason to buy the record – but the other tracks are nice too, a bit out there and spacious, and kind of in the same high concept soul territory as work by Eugene McDaniels. Titles include "I Remember George", "Love & Affection", "Changin Times", and "Comin Home". CD features the bonus 7" single mix of "Changin Times". CD