VA - The Complete Motown Singles Collection, Vols 1-4 (21cds) (2006)4 Volume / 21 CD | MP3 320 cbr (lame 3.97) | 2005-2006 Motown | 3.3 GB
Genre: R&B/SoulTheComplete Motown Singles has been a dream project of Motown and soulfanatics for many
years, ever since the first decade of Stax/Voltsingles was compiled in an impressive nine-disc box set in 1991. Priorto that, no soul label had its output as thoroughly documented as thatset -- there had been the Atlantic R&B box, which collectedhighlights, but it never attempted to capture the labels entire run --and while The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 missed a B-side ortwo, it was an exceptional piece of music history, and pretty damnentertaining to boot. It was so good that it seemed like Motown would bea natural to receive the same treatment, since the label not only had agreater impact -- not just musically, but culturally -- but it had amuch more diverse roster, which would make for an exciting set. TheComplete Motown Singles might have seemed like a logical move to soulcollectors and fanatics, but it remained in the realm of fantasy formany
years because, as enticing as that set was, it was difficult tocreate. First, there was the perennial problem of Motown reissues, wherethe label is always inclined to recycle the familiar hits instead ofdig deep into the vaults. That situation improved in the early 90s,after Universal acquired the catalog and began to release sturdy setslike the Hitsville USA box and multi-disc sets by the Temptations andthe Four Tops, but even with the success of these releases, there wasreluctance to launch a project like The Complete Motown Singles for twobig reasons. One, it was a massive project, dwarfing the Stax/Voltoutput, which could be squeezed into three nine-disc sets by eliminatingonly a few B-sides and a handful of singles without anybody butscholars and obsessives knowing the difference. Motowns
classic periodof 1959-1972 featured hundreds of songs -- roughly 50 discs worth ofmusic, which lead to the second big problem, which is that even if thelabel approved such a set, it would not be commercially feasible, sinceno store would stock such a series, no matter how it was broken up.