To celebrate Motown Records’ 60th anniversary, Motown/UMe has announced global release plans for a newly expanded edition of Motown: The Complete No. 1’s boxed set. The special 11-CD and digital anniversary edition will be released around the world on June 28.
Preorder Motown: The Complete No. 1’s at the link below.
Motown: The Complete No. 1’s features 208 chart-topping Motown hits. Showcasing the American label’s cultural significance, the collection includes classics that topped U.S. and international charts. The Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” the Jackson 5’s “ABC,” Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing In The Street,” the Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman,” Diana Ross’ “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ “I Second That Emotion,” the Supremes’ “Where Did Our Love Go,” the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” are among the tracks featured in the collection.
Listen to “Heat Wave” from Martha and the Vandellas
Related: Motown artists covering Motown songs
The boxed set’s new edition peppers 10 bonus tracks across its first 10 discs, all Motown classics that had cover versions by other artists that went to #1, from David Bowie and Mick Jagger’s chart-topping turn on “Dancing In The Street” to Coolio feat. L.V.’s re-working of Stevie Wonder’s original “Pastime Paradise” for the hit “Gangsta’s Paradise.” The set’s newly added Disc 11 adds six more Motown #1’s, including two that were not included in the set’s original release and two Diana Ross remixes that have more recently topped the Billboard Dance/Club chart: “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (2017 Remix) and “ I’m Coming Out”/“Upside Down” (2018 Mix).
Housed in a replica of Motown’s original Hitsville U.S.A. headquarters in Detroit, Michigan (now home to the Motown Museum), the box also includes a 100-page book with rare and classic photos, detailed track annotations and an introduction by Smokey Robinson, who is himself responsible for 20 Motown #1’s, both with his group the Miracles and as a solo artist.
Listen to “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” from the Four Tops
And here’s Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her.” Perfection…
Motown 60: A Grammy Celebration, presented by The Recording Academy, AEG Ehrlich Ventures and CBS, will be broadcast this Sunday, April 21, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network. Hosted by Cedric the Entertainer and Smokey Robinson, the tribute will feature Boyz II Men, Chloe X Halle, Ciara, Lamont Dozier, Fantasia, Brian and Eddie Holland, Thelma Houston, Tori Kelly, John Legend, Little Big Town, NE-YO, Pentatonix, Diana Ross, Valerie Simpson, Mickey Stevenson, Meghan Trainor and Stevie Wonder.
On April 13, the LBJ Presidential Library opened a new exhibition, “Motown: The Sound of Young America.” Curated by the Grammy Museum, the exhibition traces the evolution of the label, focusing on its artists and musical achievements, and explores how the sound of Motown continues to influence some of pop music’s most important artists today. This is the first time many of the exhibition’s artifacts have been seen in in a museum setting. Visit Motown.LBJLibrary.org for more information about the exhibition.
Watch the Temptations perform “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”
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Jump into a conversationWhy is the Motown group THE ONES who did YOU HAVEN’T SEEN MY LOVE lost to cd sets or not available … Just wondering as is HERE COME THE JUDGE and JUST LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE, and one more FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE by Martha and the VANDELLAS ??? thank you Tony Mansfield