Hip-O Select/Motown are coming out with two new mammoth singles compilations for both The Tempts and The Supremes this winter. Even though both sets are interesting and collects all of their period from the 60s to early 70s, there have been better compilations. Certainly The Tempts have the Emperors of Soul box set, while The Supremes have their 2000 box set and Anthology. Hmmm...well maybe these are aimed at heavy Motown collectors. But anybody interested in these?

For the first time ever, on the occasion of the group's 50th anniversary, every single from the legendary Diana Ross & the Supremes is now in one package--the 3-CD box set 50th Anniversary: The Complete Singles 1961-1969, featuring every A- and B- side, from the very beginning to their triumphant farewell, when lead singer Diana Ross left for a solo career.

Included are the group's 14 No. 1 Pop and R&B hits, from "Where Did Our Love Go" to "Someday We'll Be Together," and the smashes in-between--the iconic "Baby Love" and "Stop! In The Name Of Love," the controversial "Love Child," "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," a duet with the Temptations. With these hits, the Supremes--Ms. Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, who was replaced in 1967 by Cindy Birdsong--broke down social barriers and became cultural icons. They were the first American group to have five consecutive No.1 pop hits, representing Motown as a classic American success story, and were a beacon of beauty and class during a tumultuous decade.

Because it's "Complete," the beautifully packaged 3-CD box set also includes the early, though beloved, flops, when the "girls" were known around Motown as the "no-hit Supremes"--among them the rarities "Buttered Popcorn," featuring Flo, and "Your Heart Belongs To Me," a thinly veiled love letter to a boyfriend in Vietnam issued in 1962, well before the topic was reflected in popular music. It also includes rare alternate pressings, promotional releases including a group interview and a theme to a cult film, and much more. Also included: the much sought-after foreign language singles.

Diana Ross & the Supremes - 50th Anniversary: The Complete Singles 1961-1969 is housed in packaging similar to the acclaimed series The Complete Motown Singles, accompanied by a booklet filled with detailed information about each single, reproductions of spectacular-looking picture sleeves from around the world, and classic and rare photos of the world's greatest female group of all time.

[Edited 9/15/11 16:30pm]

Motown just keeps on re-packaging and re-selling the same songs over and over.Instead of wasting time on projects like this,why don't they finally remaster the classic albums by The Commodores and Rick James?

SoulAlive said:

Motown just keeps on re-packaging and re-selling the same songs over and over.Instead of wasting time on projects like this,why don't they finally remaster the classic albums by The Commodores and Rick James?

Pretty much! I'm not feelin' these too much, but they have some rare stuff I haven't heard. Still not enough to warrant a purchase on neither one of them. I was more excited when Motown reissued the DeBarge albums recently. Where is the Switch, Commodores and Rick James stuff? And Marvin's Trouble Man box set?

SoulAlive said:

Motown just keeps on re-packaging and re-selling the same songs over and over.

What's new? They've been doing that since the 1970's or even the late 1960's. They must be making money from them or they wouldn't keep putting them out. It's not like they constantly release compilations by Rare Earth, High Inergy, Jermaine Jackson, Brenda Holloway, or Chris Clark. Just their big 1960's acts and maybe the J5. Even Smokey Robinson's albums have been out of print until recently and most of them had never been on CD (and he was the Vice-president at one time).

Did the Supremes have any b-sides that weren't on the albums?

They need to reissue Baby It's Me!

silverchild said:

SoulAlive said:

Motown just keeps on re-packaging and re-selling the same songs over and over.Instead of wasting time on projects like this,why don't they finally remaster the classic albums by The Commodores and Rick James?

Pretty much! I'm not feelin' these too much, but they have some rare stuff I haven't heard. Still not enough to warrant a purchase on neither one of them. I was more excited when Motown reissued the DeBarge albums recently. Where is the Switch, Commodores and Rick James stuff? And Marvin's Trouble Man box set?

That's what I'd like to see! The stuff that hasn't already been released over and over a thousand times

Hudson said:

Did the Supremes have any b-sides that weren't on the albums?

They need to reissue Baby It's Me!

YES! Hip-O Select and Motown did an excellent job on last year's Touch Me In The Morning deluxe reissue. Baby It's Me, Diana Ross (1976) and The Boss are the good ones for them to nail.

SoulAlive said:

silverchild said:

Pretty much! I'm not feelin' these too much, but they have some rare stuff I haven't heard. Still not enough to warrant a purchase on neither one of them. I was more excited when Motown reissued the DeBarge albums recently. Where is the Switch, Commodores and Rick James stuff? And Marvin's Trouble Man box set?

That's what I'd like to see! The stuff that hasn't already been released over and over a thousand times

Harry Weigner is on some other stuff. Where's that shelved Stevie/MJ album?

silverchild said:

SoulAlive said:

That's what I'd like to see! The stuff that hasn't already been released over and over a thousand times

Harry Weigner is on some other stuff. Where's that shelved Stevie/MJ album?

Several years ago,I used to post on the Motown message boards and Harry Weigner posted in there from time to time.Me and the other fans gave him alot of cool suggestions but I can see that he didn't pay attention

Couldn't the same be said for the Beatles and countless other groups who played out 4 or 5 decades ago?

Motown know they got other artists too...

Timmy84 said:

Motown know they got other artists too...

but does the general public?

sosgemini said:

Timmy84 said:

Motown know they got other artists too...

but does the general public?

The public doesn't wanna educate themselves on Motown so that shit don't even matter anymore. Fuck that.

Timmy84 said:

sosgemini said:

but does the general public?

The public doesn't wanna educate themselves on Motown so that shit don't even matter anymore. Fuck that.

Well, isn't that the problem? There's isn't enough public interest?

sosgemini said:

Timmy84 said:

The public doesn't wanna educate themselves on Motown so that shit don't even matter anymore. Fuck that.

Well, isn't that the problem? There's isn't enough public interest?

They're as much to blame themselves for being brainless zombies and not following their own interests.