A cool flight-styled record bag with the legendary Motown Records logo on the front – done in a lean, compact style that echoes vintage bags for TWA and other 60s airlines – but with more than enough durability to carry your records all around town! The bag zips on the top, and has a handy shoulder strap – and holds up to 35 pieces of vinyl at once. Bag

A very cool shoulder bag with the legendary Motown Records logo – one that's great for toting your vinyl around town, but also works with plenty of other gear as well! The bag's got a shoulder strap, to be worn like a messenger bag – and the main flap is as big as the body, so that anything inside is tucked away and safe – but easy to reach the minute you spin the bag around and open the flap! Holds up to 25 records, and made in a very durable style. Bag

A stunning look at the great Mary Wells – one of Motown's first female acts of the 60s, and one of the decade's most important early soul figures as well! Mary's work on record is very well-known, but the story behind the music is completely different, and surprisingly dark at times – a tale of a talented artist often caught between larger corporate forces, and personal antagonists as well – not to mention her own personal demons. Peter Benjaminson does a great job of getting at all these details without being overly sensational – and he works in lots of wonderful personal recollections from friends and colleagues who really help illuminate the more private moments. The book is over 300 pages, hardcover, with some black and white photos. Book

A fantastic collection of work from Sondra "Blinky" Williams – a hell of a soul singer who recorded a fair bit for Motown Records at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s – but an artist whose music ended up mostly spending the next few decades in the label's vaults! Yet Blinky never let the lack of success stop her from giving her best – as she's a fantastic vocalist, and one with an expressive range that easily matches some of the Motown greats of her generation – a list that would include Martha Reeves or Gladys Knight – but who also has these deeper, more righteous currents that make her a perfect singer for a Motown move into the 70s! Blinky only saw one full album issued at the time – a duo with Edwin Starr titled Just The Two Of Us – but this package features a fully conceived, yet never-released album – plus other singles, unissued tracks, live material, and lots more – a wealth of fully-cooked, powerfully-produced singles that finally give the singer her due. The whole thing is an amazing Motown discovery – 46 tracks in all, 28 of which appear here for the first time ever – with titles that include "Don't Leave Your Baby", "Heart Full Of Soul", "How Can I Go On", "Inside", "I'll Make It Up To You", "One Half Of Love", "Shine On Me", "For Once In My Life", "I Wouldn't Change The Man He Is", "I Can't Turn You Loose", "People Make The World Go Round", "T'Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do", "I've Gotta Get You Back", "Mr Soul Brother", "You're The Loser Now", "One Half Of Love", and lots lots more. CD

The legendary unreleased Motown recordings by The Contours – material that should have been issued as a full length LP in 1964 – but all but a couple tunes have languished in the vaults until now! The group simply kills on on these dancefloor ready stormers, with raucous, charismatic lead vocals and tight harmony backup – on a set of numbers that were no doubt ready and set to slay live audiences. We're sure The Contours were unbeatable live, but these recordings really should have made it out at the time. Better late than never, to say the very least! Includes the 60s singles "Can You Do It" and "Can You Jerk Like Me", plus the unreleased "Do The See Saw", "Foot Stomping Time", "Party Groove", "Okey Dokey", "Love Is Uncertain", "Wanted", "Boy Meets Girl", "You Hurt Me So", "Throw You Out Of My Mind", "Giant Steps", "Let's Do The Uncle Willie", "Tonight", "Nobody Fine As Dinah", "Somebody's Daughter Outta", "Let's Do The Uncle Willie" and more. 26 tracks in all! CD

A stunning collection of work from Kiki Dee – a British singer that most folks only discovered in the US in the mid 70s, thanks to a duet with Elton John – but one who gave her homeland some fantastic music in the 60s! The set's the first to fully dip into this part of Kiki's career, and bring all the best bits together – early singles and an album for the Fontana label, plus European material too – then her full album for Motown from the end of the 60s, plus nine more bonus tracks recorded for Motown too! The whole thing's a massive book-styled package – with loads of notes and photos – and the music shows just what a groovy singer Kiki was back in the day – the kind of powerhouse female vocalist that England always seemed to do better than us at the time. The set features 60 tracks in all – the albums I'm Kiki Dee and Great Expectations, plus rare tracks and singles – a set list that includes "Runnin Out Of Fools", "There He Goes", "The Day Will Come Between Sunday & Monday", "My Whole World Ended", "I'll Have You You'll Have Me", "Oh Be My Love", "Mr Loneliness", "You're My World", "While They Watch", "On A Magic Carpet Ride", "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You", "Hungry Heart", "Now The Flowers Cry", "I'm Going Out", "Don't Destroy Me", "Why Don't I Run Away From You", "Sunshine", "Patterns", "With A Kiss", "That's Right Walk On By", and "Senza Te". CD

In our humble opinion, just about every track that Marvin recorded for Motown is "great" – but since this set's focused on the hits, we're happy to accept their track selection, and admit they do a pretty good job of covering most of the big bases – early solo gems, duet classics, and some of the sublime 70s numbers that really made Marvin's music sparkle! Titles include "What's Going On", "Inner City Blues", "Trouble Man", "Let's Get It On", "Distant Lover", "Got To Give It Up", "Heard It Through The Grapevine", "That's The Way Love is", and "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You". CD features 15 tracks in all. CD

A huge amount of rare material from one of the coolest, classiest singers to work for Motown Records in the 60s – the wonderful Brenda Holloway, who may well be represented here by as much unreleased material as the label ever issued by her back in the day! Holloway's got a style that's a bit different than some of her labelmates – sometimes a bit more adult, sometimes a bit more suited to tunes with jazzy currents – although still served up with all the soulful richness you'd expect from Motown! Some of the tracks here have surfaced as digital downloads, in this era when the Motown vaults have been opened up wider than before – and some are making their debut here, in a 2CD collection that's overflowing with wonderful material that really reshapes the role of the singer at the label. Titles include "The Star", "I'm Spellbound", "Can't Hold The Feeling Back", "Girl On the Run", "Deep Freeze", "Don't Compare Me With Her", "What Have I Don't To Myself", "The Land Of Make Believe", "I'm The Exception To The Rule", "Lucky My Boy", "I Don't Want Anybody Perfect", "Today I Sing The Blues", "Strange Things", "This Time Last Summer", "I'm Giving Up", "The Lonely Heart & Lonely Eyes Of Lonely Me", "Without Love You Lose A Good Feelin", and "I Still Get Butterflies". 33 tracks in all! CD

A real lost gem from Motown – and a whole lot more! Greetings! We're The Monitors is the only full album ever cut by The Monitors – a 3-man, 1-woman vocal group who were in a popular Motown mixed harmonies mode. The quartet had a wonderfully strong vocal presence – blasting away at most tracks with a strength that groups like The Miracles or Gladys Knight & The Pips could never match – and like those groups, they bridge that key period between late doo wop-oriented harmonies, and tighter 60s group soul. The LP brings together singles the Monitors cut for Motown during the previous few years, but it also works extremely well as a unified album – and it's a refreshing change from some of the oft-heard Motown material. Titles include "Greetings (This Is Uncle Sam)", "Number One In Your Heart", "Bring Back The Love", "Step By Step (Hand In Hand)", and "Baby Make Your Own Sweet Music". This incredible anthologogy from Kent starts off with that album and includes 12 unissued tracks – a whole album's worth – plus 2 B-Sides. Unissued tracks include "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" , "The Letter", "Poor Side Of Town", "Anything", "Guilty" and more. 26 tracks in all! CD

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

The first Motown full length record by the Spinners – Original Spinners from '67 – followed by an impeccably well-chosen collection of bonus material! It's excellent stuff – an overlooked album with some very hard to find Motown work by this early version of the legendary Spinners – with lead vocals by Bobby Smith and Edgar Edwards. The tracks have a mixture of sweet and raw harmonies – crafted with an elegantly soulful sound that would later take the group way over the top during the 70s, and which here sounds sublime next to some of the group's Motown contemporaries! The first 12 tracks on this excellent Kent compilation are the Original Spinners tracklist – including "Sweet Thing", "I Cross My Heart", "I'll Always Love You", "Truly Yours", "Like A Good Man Should", "For All We Know", "How Can I", "It Hurts To Be In Love", "Nobody Else But You", "Where Is That Girl", "Tomorrow May Never Come" and "That's What Girls Are Made For". Most of the 14 bonus tracks are previously unreleased masters – revelatory stuff from earlier in the 60s – formative, yet beautifully realized recordings with productions by Harvey Fuqua and Ivy Joe Hunter! Titles include "Darling", "Words Can't Describe", "12 O'Clock", "Just Another Guy", "We're Gonna Be More More Than Friends" and more. CD

An incredible treasure trove of Motown soul – more recordings than we could have imagined by the legendary Velvelettes! The group were one of Motown's first girl groups in the early days – and although they never broke as big as The Supremes or Vandellas, they've got a great sound that's almost a rougher take on the female sound of Detroit at the time. The Velvelettes are best remembered by a few key singles, but as this set shows, the girls recorded an incredible amount of music for Motown – working surprisingly often in the studios during the mid 60s, on a large number of tracks that have never been released! This extremely well-done collection features a whopping 48 titles in all – including 5 numbers from a rare live show from 1964, 4 rare French singles, and a huge batch of previously unissued tunes, alternate mixes, and obscure singles! Titles include "Selfish Lover", "Should I Tell Them", "Needle In A Haystack", "Let You Live A Little Bit Longer (alternate)", "I'm The Exception To The Rule", "Why Must You Go", "The Boy From Crosstown (alternate)", "He's The One", "Ain't No Place Like Motown", "Your Heart Belongs To Me", "Seasons Greetings From Motown 1966", "The Monkey Time", and "Le Hokey Pokey". CD

6 Motown albums from Jr Walker & The All Stars – all long overdue for reissue! First up is A Gasssss – a gas of a record from Jr Walker & The All Stars – a set that has the magical Johnny Bristol producing – giving the group this really warm, soaring sound that's totally great! Walker still serves up plenty of strong tenor solos, but there's also some vocal currents in the mix – strong leads at times, but also some nice backups too – all of which really helps to keep things soaring! Titles a nice mix of Motown covers and original material – and titles include "I Was Made To Love Her", "Do You See My Love", "And When I Die", "Honey Come Back", "Holly Holy", "Riding High On Love", "At A Saturday Matinee", and "Groove & Move". Next up is Rainbow Funk – a record that definitely has Jr Walker & The All Stars picking up a bit of funk – but in a groove that still mixes things with that warmly soulful glow the group had right from the start! The basslines are definitely up a bit from before – although not rumbling in Norman Whitfield territory – and the sax solos get a bit more space to stretch out and bite on the longer numbers, but often with a bit of backing vocals to warm things up around the edges! Jr is great all the way through – Motown's very strong answer to King Curtis – and titles include "Right On Brothers & Sisters", "Way Back Home", "Feeling Alright", "Psychedelic Shack", "Pieces Of A Man", and "Teach Them To Pray". Moody Jr is a sweet early 70s groover from Jr Walker & The All Stars – a set that reunites the group with producer Johnny Bristol, who always has a great way of helping them set fire to their sound! Walker and company may have shot from the gate with a mix of R&B tenor and Motown soul – but the sound here is much more in the latter, more matured mode of the label – with strong deep soul lyrics on a number of cuts, which are balanced out nicely by Bristol's fuller production. There's plenty of sax solos too, of course – and titles include "Way Back Home", "Bristol's Way", "Don't Blame The Children", "Me & My Family", "Still Water Medley", and "Groove Thang". Peace & Understanding is a record that has Jr Walker and the group stepping out with some of the righteous touches promised in the title – partly in the choice of songs on the set, which are all nicely tucked into that strong mix of deep soul vocals and saxophone lines that had become the Jr Walker groove! The set features work from a number of different arrangers – all the hipper side of Motown in the early 70s, as the list includes, Willie Hutch, Gene Page, and James Carmichael – and tunes include two great originals, one by Hutch, one by Leon Ware. Tracks include "It's Alright Do What You Gotta Do", "Soul Clappin'", "Gimme that Beat (parts 1 & 2)", "It's Too Late", and "Peace & Understanding Is Hard To Find". The self-titled Jr Walker & The All Stars album is maybe the rarest in the bunch – an obscure UK-only record from 1974, and one that has the group's usual approach warmed up by some more ambitious arrangements – a bit like the direction some of the vocal acts of the 70s were taking at the time! The production on most of the set is by Clarence Paul – and there's mostly a focus on the saxophone, not any vocals at all – which makes the set feel a bit like some of the Willis Jackson or Lou Donaldson work for Atlantic around the same time – or maybe even a bit like Hank Crawford on Kudu. Titles include "Boogie Down", "All In Love Is Fair", "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life", "Break Down & Sing", and "Dancin Like They Do On Soul Train". Hot Shot is a mid-70s stormer from Jr Walker & The All Stars – a set that glides along on a fuller set of backdrops than before, with Holland-Dozier-Holland production from Brian Holland returning to Motown – but in a hip 70s style that has strings and funk dancing along in a great way beneath the strong sax solos in the lead! There's a bit of vocals on the record, but the real strength lies in the instrumentation – especially some of the weirder, fuzzier guitar lines and keyboards. Titles include "Why Can't We Be Lovers", "Hot Shot", "Probe Your Mind", "I Need You Right Now", and "You Ain't No Ordinary Woman". CD

Think Kim Weston only worked on Motown as the female voice in a set of Marvin Gaye duets? Guess again – because as this 2CD package shows, Kim had a rich rich history at the label as a solo act! Although Weston never recorded a full album for Motown, her mid 60s years at the label resulted in a tremendous number of recording sessions for singles – some of which were released successfully at the time, but a good deal of which remained unissued for years, and are making their first appearance on this set! The young Motown Weston's got a great style that's strong, bold, and proud – with few of the little girl soul touches of some of her contemporaries on the label, and a deeply mature approach that made her a good choice for the famous work with Marvin Gaye. Here, though, she's all on her own – singing on tunes that include key singles, titles from Motown collections, and 34 previously unreleased numbers! Obviously, the previously unreleased numbers are reason enough to check out the set – but the whole thing also presents Kim's work with better notes than we've ever seen on her career, and enough details to keep our discographic little minds happy! Titles include "This Dream", "I Got Good News", "Absent Minded Lover", "What Have I Done To Myself", "Joey Joey", "Just Call Me", "When I Lost You", "Where Am I Going", "Will I Find My Love", "Marionette", "Perfect Love", "Meet Me Halfway", "Loving Touch", "I Know His Name", and "Love Troube Heartache & Misery". CD

A long-overdue fifth entry in this amazing series – and like the previous volumes, a double-length set of rare material from the Motown vaults! 20 of the 43 tracks on the set are previously unreleased – and all of the material here goes way past the hits – to really show the full amazing scope of music that Motown was recording back in the day – with obscure cuts from the big names on the label, and some equally great tracks from artists who never fully got their due! The groove is upbeat on most tracks – very much in the Northern Soul spirit of the label – and titles include "Whisper You Love Me Boy" by The Lewis Sisters, "True Fine Boy" by The Funk Brothers, "A Toast To The Lady" by Frank Wilson, "I Want A Love I Can See" by The Underdogs, "Don't Be Too Long" by Anita Knorl, "All I Have Left Are Memories" by Sammy Turner, "Hold On To Me Darling" by Ann Bogan, "Determination" by Ivy Jo Hunter, "I Don't Want You Anymore" by Chris Clark, "There's No Love Left" by Eddie Holland, "Then" by The Temptations, "A Miracle Happened" by Johnny Bristol, "All I Want Is A Little Bit Of Love" by Barbara McNair, "In Your Heart" by Patrice Holloway, "Tomorrow's Child" by Terry Johnson, "It" by Little Lisa, "When Someone's Good To You" by Oma Page, "Too Much To Hope For" by Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston, "I Wish I Liked You" by Connie Haines, "The Truth Does Hurt" by Funk Brothers, "I Don't Know What You Got" by Edwin Starr, "Only You" by Brian Holland, and "I Found My Love In You" by Tommy Good. CD

An amazing package – one that comes in a tiny replica of the original home of Motown Records in Detroit! As you'd guess from the title, the 11CD set features every single Motown track that ever hit #1 on the charts – almost 200 classic songs, running from the early 60s right up through the 90s – with work by The Temptations, Four Tops, Diana Ross, Boyz II Men, The Contours, Rockwell, The Originals, Marvin Gaye, The Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, High Inergy, The Dazz Band, Rick James, Commodores, and lots more! The package also includes a photo book with classic images and notes – but man, what we dig most of all is that tiny house of hits packaging – a really amazing thing! Plus, this version of the set also features a bonus CD that wasn't in the original version – with 12 more tracks whose cover versions charted at #1! CD

A great little package of clubby soul from Motown – four 12" singles in a box! Though the label wasn't particularly known as a home to disco, they weren't allergic to it either, and fielded their share of nice club friendly tracks throughout the late 70s, and even on through the 80s, though this set features some great highlights from 1978 and 1979. Five tracks are spread out across four 12" singles, with a handful of instrumental flip sides, too, and the numbers include both the vocal and instrumental takes of Rick James' "Bustin' Out", vocal and instrumental takes of High Inergy's "Shoulda Gone Dancin'", vocal and instrumental takes of Billy Preston & Syreeta's "Go For It", and "I Just Keep Thinking About You Baby" and "Get Up For Love" by Tata Vega. LP, Vinyl record album

A treasure trove of rare Motown from some of legendary label's most classic acts – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Four Tops, Brenda Holloway, Martha & The Vandellas, The Supremes, The Originals, Bobby Taylor, The Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye & The Jackson 5 – prime vintage late 60s to early 70s recordings that have barely if ever seen light of day! Motown recording artists put a lot of work into the recording side of their artistry back in the day, so there was a lot classic level material that didn't come out right away, some finding release on later compilations or on box sets, some STILL just now seeing release. Half of this dozen song collection have never come out in any form until now – including "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" by The Originals and stereo mixes of "For Once In My Life" by Diana Ross & The Supremes, "Pretty Little Brown Skin Girl" by The Temptations and "Touched By Love" by Bobby Taylor and more – plus the rarities "You're Walking Out With My Heart" by Brenda Holloway, "Which Way Is The Sky" by the Four Tops, "Let's Have A Party" by the J5, "The Boy From Crosstown" (Version 1) by The Marvelettes and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A never-heard album from this excellent Detroit vocal group – recorded for Motown at the end of the 60s, but appearing here for the first time ever – and compiled with lots of bonus tracks from the vaults! The Fantastic Four never hit the bigger heights of some of the big Motown male groups of the 60s – but in some way, especially at this time in the label's history, they were a much more cohesive, organic ensemble – one that's a bit like The Originals in their strong commitment to great harmonies, and ability to always hold onto their own sort of personality, even amidst the larger Motown production machine. As with most great "lost" projects, we're not sure why this record never saw the light of day – because every aspect is great, from the vocals down through the arrangements and instrumentation – and although a few shorter singles came out over the years the rest of the set is wonderful – and matched here by another 13 rare bonus tracks, including many other unreleased singles! Titles include "A Little Too Much", "We Can Work It Out", "Take Him Back If It Makes You Happy", "You Turn Me Around", "I Feel Like I'm Falling In Love Again", "How Big Is Your Heart", "It Keeps Raining Down Tears", "In A Bad Way", "Fan The Flame", "I Shall Not Be Moved", "Double Cross", and "Loving You Is Hurting Me". CD

... CD

BJ The Chicago Kid's second full length for Motown! BJ has a way of recalling classic Chicago soul in the earnest, emotional realness of his lyricism and relatively mellow style, which is a nicely grounding anchor given the modern overall aesthetic. It's a contemporary sound with a timeless soul at the center. BJ's years as a guest vocalist himself makes him such a great host for guest singers, MCs and producers on his own records, too – and this one features Anderson.Paak, Rick Ross, Afrojack and others with production by Danja, Cool & Dre, Karriem Riggins and more. Includes "Feel The Vibe" feat Anderson.Paak, "Champagne", "Get Away" feat JID, Buddy & Kent Jamz, "Tome Today", "Can't Wait", "Playa's ball" feat Rick Ross, "Too Good", "Close", "Rather Be With You", "Worryin' Bout Me" feat Offset, "Reach" feat Afrojack and more. LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A great later album from Bloodstone – recorded after their initial classics for London, but in a sweet and mellow soul mode that's totally outta site! Part of the strength of the set is the mighty Al Johnson – who provides arrangements here that push the group firmly into a more modern take on harmony soul, and which have a gentle groove that makes for plenty of sweet steppers and mellow midtempo groovers. The vocals are every bit as great as on the earlier albums – just given a brighter setting in which to shine. Titles include "Just Wanna Get The Feel Of It", "She Wants To Hear The Words", "It's Been A Long Time", "Throw A Little Loving My Way", "It's All Been Said Before", and "Don't Stop". CD

A near-lost chapter in the career of Jean Carn – her one and only album recorded for Motown, cut in the early 80s with production by Norman Connors! Oddly, although Connors was the first producer to give Jean Carn a chance back in the 70s as a smooth soul vocalist – finding her voice a perfect fit for his warm and jazzy arrangements – here, he's going for a style that's a bit more conventionally soul-based, with more guitars and mainstream production than you'd expect. Jean's still pretty great, though, showing why she was one of the best female soul artists of the modern soul era – on tunes that include "My Baby Loves Me", "Don't Let Me Slip Away", "Steady On My Mind", "Completeness", and "Better To Me". CD

The Commodores tenth album – as you might guess from the big X on the cover – and a set that features some of the last great moments of Lionel Richie with the group! The album's a bit overlooked, but has a really great groove – kind of a middle ground between The Commodores' heavier funk and mellower ballads – served up here with the tight instrumentation that always made the group a self-contained standout – and arranged and produced to perfection by the great James Anthony Carmichael. Richie's lead is strong, but understated too – and titles include "Old Fashion Love", "Heroes", "Sorry To Say", "All The Way Down", "Wake Up Children", "Mighty Spirit", and "Celebrate". CD

The Commodores tenth album – as you might guess from the big X on the cover – and a set that features some of the last great moments of Lionel Richie with the group! The album's a bit overlooked, but has a really great groove – kind of a middle ground between The Commodores' heavier funk and mellower ballads – served up here with the tight instrumentation that always made the group a self-contained standout – and arranged and produced to perfection by the great James Anthony Carmichael. Richie's lead is strong, but understated too – and titles include "Old Fashion Love", "Heroes", "Sorry To Say", "All The Way Down", "Wake Up Children", "Mighty Spirit", and "Celebrate". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer start to the 80s for the Dazz Band – with great tunes in a funky mode as well as more measured group soul numbers – and it all adds up one of their best albums ever! Tunes like the opener "Shake It", plus "Shake It Up" and "Magnetized" bring the funkier vibes – with a vamping guitar, thumping bass groove, punchy horns, and top notch vocals from the group – while tunes like the title track and "Beyond The Horizon" have a more soaring arrangement of horns and some strings,still with an impeccable core groove. It's not as smoothed out in the production booth as some of their later grooves of the 80s – a total gem! Other titles include " Skate Lovers", "Carry On", "Do It Again", "Do It Again", "Sooner Or Later" and "Beyond The Horizon". CD includes the bonus track single version of "Invitation Of Love". CD

Dazz Band keep it plenty live on this early 80s gem – a killer set from the group's hit run for Motown! The set's got a bouncy groove that's very much in the best Motown funk style at the time – lots of bass at the bottom, and plenty tight on production – but never as smooth or commercial as work from a few years later. The group balance things out well with a few mellower cuts – numbers that still have some sort of a groove, but one that's a bit more laidback, and which shows they're not just a funk-driven outfit. Titles include the massive hit "Let It Whip" – plus "Gamble With My Love", "Just Can't Wait 'Till The Night", "Shake What You Got", "Keep It Live", and "Let Me Love You Until". CD also features the bonus track "Let It Whip (12" version)". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Despite the fame of their big hits – like "Reach Out I'll Be There", "I Can't Help Myself", "Baby I Need Your Loving", and "It's The Same Old Song", all of which are on this set, and which have been heard ad infinitum – the Four Tops are actually a heck of a great vocal group, with harmonies that blew away many of their contemporaries, and which keep their work shining long past the hits. This set's got some nice cuts that fall into that category – like "Bernadette", and "Ask The Lonely" – and the package is about as solid as you'd expect. LP, Vinyl record album

The Four Tops weren't the first of the Motown groups to get the broadway treatment, but they do a pretty nice job with it! Thanks to some swinging help from producer Frank Wilson, the quartet manage to still shine even though they're shackled with a set of tunes from over-blown broadway shows of the late 50s and 1960s. Tracks include "I Want To Be With You", "On The Street Where You Live", "What Did I Have That I Don't Have", "For Once In My Life", and "Make Someone Happy". Also features "Hello Broadway". LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Why did Motown ever let the Four Tops get away? This album was their last for the label – and it's an excellent one, filled with soul, sweetness, and some of the best arrangements the group had in their later years! The soul component is super-high – with tight group instrumentation that reminds us of the best Philly backing combos of the same time, but leaner too – as Dennis Coffey and Wah Wah Ragin are on guitars, Jack Ashford handles percussion, and Leonard Caston adds some nice funky keyboards. The real talent, though, is the group – and Levi Stubbs is in fine fine form on cuts like "She's An Understanding Woman", "I Am Your Man", "If You Let Me", "Nature Planned It", "Walk With Me, Talk With Me Darling", and "Happy (Is A Bumpy Road)". Even includes a great version of Todd Rundgren's wonderful track "We Gotta Get You A Woman"! CD

Two lesser known albums by Marvin – but both great ones, not reissued on CD before and ones that we've always treasured on vinyl! There's a total of 24 cuts in all, and Marvin's really pushing the envelope of his 60s style here – on cuts that include "You", "Tear It On Down", "Chained", "You're What's Happening In The World Today", "One For My Baby", "Night Life", "I'll Be Doggone", "Take This Heart Of Mine", "Ain't That Peculiar", and "Hey Diddle Diddle". CD

A hell of a bonus for any fan of the fantastic Trouble Man soundtrack – as this sweet little set adds in a full album's worth of extra material from the original sessions – and thus doubles a record that's already one of Marvin Gaye's greatest efforts of the 70s! The set was done after the huge step forward that Marvin took with What's Going On – and uses the more sophisticated sense of arrangement and instrumental adornment that made that soul record so great – served up here in a cinematic mode that's right up there with Isaac Hayes' music for Shaft, or Curtis Mayfield's famous Superfly soundtrack! The titles of the tracks here give a good idea of what they've got to offer – brought together here on vinyl for the first time ever – with tracks that include "Main Theme From Trouble Man (alternate take with strings)", "Trouble Man (vocal version from score)", "T Stands For Trouble (unedited vocal version)", "Main Theme From Trouble Man (vocal version)", "Trouble Man (extended version)", "T Plays It Cool (unedited)", "Poor Abbey Walsh (part 2 take 1)", and "T Stands For Trouble (alt version)". LP, Vinyl record album

A tremendous live performance from Marvin Gaye – recorded at the Kennedy Center in 1972, and based around his classic album What's Going On – yet handled in a completely different way! The set's not just a straight reading of the record – as the song order is different, and the presentation is unusual too – with Marvin at the piano, bringing a more intimate style to some of the songs – while also opening them up with looser, more fluid backings – all in ways that show us just how much was going on in his ever-fertile mind during this high point of creativity! The material was issued originally as a bonus CD of the deluxe release of the core album – but it stands proudly here on its own, in a new package that also offers up an even better mix of the music than before. Titles include "Wholy Holy", "Save The Children", "Right On", "Inner City Blues", "What's Going On", "Flyin High", and "God's Love" – plus a very cool 13 minute "Sixties Medley", which offers changed-up takes on Marvin Gaye tunes from the earlier years of Motown. CD

A tremendous live performance from Marvin Gaye – recorded at the Kennedy Center in 1972, and based around his classic album What's Going On – yet handled in a completely different way! The set's not just a straight reading of the record – as the song order is different, and the presentation is unusual too – with Marvin at the piano, bringing a more intimate style to some of the songs – while also opening them up with looser, more fluid backings – all in ways that show us just how much was going on in his ever-fertile mind during this high point of creativity! The material was issued originally as a bonus CD of the deluxe release of the core album – but it stands proudly here on its own, in a new package that also offers up an even better mix of the music than before. Titles include "Wholy Holy", "Save The Children", "Right On", "Inner City Blues", "What's Going On", "Flyin High", and "God's Love" – plus a very cool 13 minute "Sixties Medley", which offers changed-up takes on Marvin Gaye tunes from the earlier years of Motown. LP, Vinyl record album

A mindblowing collection of work from Marvin Gaye – tracks recorded in the space right after What's Going On – many of which were never issued at the time! All this incredible material from 1972 has been brought together to create a stunning double-length album – one that features a few tracks that only ever saw issue as 45s back in the day, others that only later turned up as bonus tracks on CDs or box sets, and still others that appear here for the first time ever – all to show the incredible talents that Marvin was working with during this incredibly fruitful time in his career! Much of the material has the same righteous, socially-conscious spirit as What's Going On – and, if anything, the whole set provides a much-needed missing link between that album and the more sensual territory of Let's Get It On. There's definitely some of the spirit of that later album in place here too, as well as the instrumental complexity that Gaye would display on his soundtrack for Trouble Man – and the set even features a few Christmas tunes too. Titles include two versions of "You're The Man" – a killer 45 cut that we've loved for years – plus "Piece Of Clay", "I'm Gonna Give You Respect", "Try It You'll Like It", "You Are That Special One", "We Can Make It Baby", "My Last Chance", "Symphony", "I'd Give My Life For You", "Woman Of The World", "The World Is Rated X", "Where Are We Going", "I Want To Come Home For Christmas", "I'm Going Home (Move)", and the killer "Checking Out (Double Clutch)" – one of the funkiest tunes that Marvin ever recorded! LP, Vinyl record album