CD-Charts Position 1
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Motown Chartbusters Volume 3

by: Various Artists

Release Date November 10, 1997
This album has, in our house, the code name "Every Home Should Have One". This is the quintessential Motown album - a steal at this price!!!

CD-Charts Position 2
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Motown Chartbusters Volume 2

by: Various Artists

Release Date November 10, 1997
After the runaway success of Volume 1, which made No 2 on the album chart, this Volume 2 followed less than a year later.

Volume 2 did not sell as well, but still made No 8. In spite of the growing popularity of Motown in Britain, and more airplay due to Radio 1 pumping out of millions of transistor radios, this one contained less British hits than Volume 1. I think that is because they songs were chosen from a shorter period than the first one.

My favorite here is Diana Ross & The Supremes 'Reflections', a fine tamborine driven masterpiece. Simple on one level, but there is a lot going on in there. The writers and producers at Motown knew how to get the best out of their artists.

The British gave white Canadian ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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Motown Chartbusters Vol 4

by: Various Artists

Release Date November 10, 1997
This one followed Volume 3 to the top of the UK Album chart. It was tucked between Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin in October 1970.

The hits were coming thick and fast for Tamla Motown. Wheras Vol 3 was nearly half re-releases, there was only one on here. The Four Tops' anthemic 'I Can't Help Myself', finally got UK justice with a top ten placing. Their version of Jimmy Webb's 'Do What You Gotta Do' made number 11. Motown and Jimmy had a win-win relationship. His first song writing royalty cheque came from a song he wrote on The Supremes' 1965 Christmas album.

The stock split of Diana Ross & The Supremes is catalogued here. In America, their final single together 'Someday We'll Be Together' was their biggest hit, selling 2 million ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
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Motown Chartbusters Vol 5

by: Various Artists

Release Date November 10, 1997
This one followed barely six months after Vol 4, and spent three weeks as the UK's No 1 album in April/May 1971.

The star track for me is 'Tears Of A Clown' from Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, which had hit No 1 in 1970. It was recorded a few years earlier, and was 'discovered' by a Tamla Motown employee in London. They releaesd the track, and the rest is history. Following the British success, they put it out in America, where it also did the business. The song is still never off the radio, but it is one that I never tire of.

Tamla Motown in London had a fairly free hand in what they released. They knew their market, and they knew what would get airplay. This Chartbuster series can be a good source of British only hits, that you don't ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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Motown Chartbusters Volume 6

by: Various Artists

Release Date November 10, 1997
This one was released at the end of 1971, and just missed the No 1 album slot.

It opens with 'I'm Still Waiting' from Diana Ross, a British No 1. When I hear it start, I can still feel my sun-burned back from that August. This was the start of Diana Ross becoming more popular here than in her native US. When they released it there, it stalled at #63 pop and #40 R&B. She also has another big hit on here 'Remember Me'. Her old group The Supremes were still doing well in the UK. Their exciting three part harmony lead on 'Nathan Jones' made our top 5, and I'm sorry , but to my ears it knocks spots off Bananarama's weedy cover. The girls also teamed up with The Four Tops for a fun but worthy verson of 'River Deep Mountain High'.

The Four Tops hit No ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Motown Chartbusters Vol.7

by: Various Artists

Release Date July 06, 1998
Dont do this very often but I would like to completely echo MJ King's views - a very well considered review - especially re the brilliance of "Walk in the Night" surely one of the 10 greatest soul singles ever
Worth buying for this and If you Really Love me - one of Sir Stevie's lesser known gems

CD-Charts Position 7
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Motown Chartbusters Vol.8

by: Various Artists

Release Date July 06, 1998
By 1973 the golden age of Tamla Motown in the UK was about over. The music was more diverse in style than in the 60s. They were still making some good music.

Stevie Wonder had entered his most creative and successful period. The two hits here are from the first of his handful of albums that set charts around the world alight. Marvin Gaye also had his own thing going on, but was not as hot internationally as Stevie was. 'Lets Get It On' sold tens of thousands on import here, which meant there was little sales inertia when it was finally released.

Glad & The Lads get three tracks which marks their Chartbuster apex. With typical British quirkiness the biggest US hit, the Grammy winning 'Neither One Of Us' was the smallest hit here of the three. It is the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Motown Chartbusters Vol.9

by: Various Artists

Release Date July 06, 1998
You have to like Diana Ross to appreciate this compilation. She was so hot on our charts in 1974, as a solo artist, as a duet partner of Marvin Gaye and with a re-release of an old Supremes classic. They broke the unwritten Chartbuster rule, with her singing lead on consecutive tracks, numbers 9 and 10.

Also re-released was Jimmy Ruffin's 'What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted', which accounts for this volume having 17 tracks, as it had also been on Volume 1 in 1967. It was so big in 1974, they couldn't have left it off, so it is sort of a bonus track. 'There's A Ghost In My House' from R Dean Taylor was also huge in '74 following Northern Soul action. This was about the last time that a Motown record got on our charts that way.

Stevie Wonder had three hits from ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Motown Chartbusters Vol.10

by: Various Artists

Release Date July 06, 1998
By the late 70s Motown was far from the powerhouse it had been a decade earlier but, as this collection shows, was still turning out great records. Eleven of the tracks included here made the UK Top 20; some are still known to everybody, but this compilation also provides the opportunity to catch up with others, such as Yvonne Fair's remarkable 'It Should Have Been Me', which have largely slipped under the radar in the intervening decades.

Of the non-hits, the tracks from Teena Marie, Tata Vega and Rick James are well worth acquiring - very much of their time but very strong records nevertheless, and unlikely to feature on other general Motown compilations.

The only odd omission is David Ruffin's 1976 Top 10 hit 'Walk Away From Love'. Maybe there was a reason this ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Motown Chartbusters Volume 11

by: Various Artists

Release Date July 06, 1998
With UK top ten hits by Diana Ross (Upside down, My old piano), Teena Marie (Behind the groove), Billy Preston and Syreeta (With you I'm born again), the Commodores (Still) and Jermaine Jackson (Let's get serious), this compilation shows that Motown were still a force to be reckoned with as the seventies ended and the eighties began.

Several of the tracks here missed the UK charts but are still worth hearing. Cruising (Smokey Robinson) was an American top five hit although it missed the British charts. I don't know if it was released as a UK single, but it's a great song anyway.

This is a great compilation highlighting the music coming out of Motown as the seventies gave way to the eighties.