The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 7: 1967

Of this unique, amazingly ambitious multi-volume set, this is the third volume I've purchased, following Volume 2 (covering the 1962 singles) and Volume 4 (covering 1964). In 1962, Motown was The Little Independent Label That Could, trying to build upon its handful of big hits from the previous three years. In 1964, everything finally came together for the company and the "Motown Sound" came to maturity. By 1967, the feisty little label had become a commercial powerhouse, as the hit factory churned out one smash after another.

Except to a die-hard Motown fan, I would hesitate to recommend the 1962 or 1964 volumes, because both include lots of big misses among the gems. But I can unequivocally recommend the 1967 volume to anybody who cares about Motown, or `Sixties music in general. The hits speak for themselves: "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone," "Jimmy Mack," "Bernadette," "All I Need" "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "7 Rooms of Gloom," "I Was Made to Love Her," "More Love," "You're My Everything," "Reflections" "Your Precious Love," "(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need," "I Second That Emotion," "Honey Chile," "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You" and the Gladys Knight and the Pips version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine."

But those 1967 B-sides: wow! The past master of the B-side, Smokey Robinson, created a couple of memorable ones for The Miracles that year: the subdued "Swept for You Baby" and the lush "You Must Be Love." But he also created the kitschy-but-clever "Come Spy With Me," evoking for me a cultural moment when cinematic spies (both serious and campy) were all the rage. There's also Gladys Knight and the Pip's gentle and touching "It's Time to Go Now"; Gaye's splendid composition "If This World Were Mine"; Edwin Starr's version of Norman Whitfield's "Gonna Keep On Tryin' Till I Win Your Love"; Junior Walker's "Sweet Soul" (in which the sax master hits some impressive high notes); and The Temptation's gorgeous doo-wop tribute, the Robinson-penned "Don't Send Me Away" (with, for once, Otis Williams on lead). The best B-side of all, perhaps, is Martha Reeves & the Vandellas' "Show Me the Way" (flip side to "Honey Chile"), which is very nearly as good as her earlier hard-driving hits. (Martha's Sixties work, as opposed to the dated-sounding Supremes, seems to get better and better with age.)

This box is just full of goodies: the big, beautiful and very blonde Chris Clark ("Head to Toe"), Jimmy Ruffin ("Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got"), the lovely Brenda Holloway (her original version of "You've Made Me So Very Happy"), the Isley Brothers (an uptempo version of "That's the Way Love Is"), The Spinners ("For All We Know" -- not The Carpenters' tune), The Contours (the memorably titled "It's So Hard Being a Loser"), The Marvelettes ("My Baby Must Be a Magician"), and on and on. Even the label's MOR artists, distinctly out of place among the soul performers, do very well: the songs by veteran Billy Eckstine and supper-club singer Barbara McNair are never less than pleasant, and one recording -- McNair's haunting take on The Supremes' "My World Is Empty Without You" -- is much more than that.

The artist who dominates this volume, however, is Marvin Gaye. In the previous year, he had sung at the Copacabana nightclub in New York for a live album the company chose not to release. The experience seemed to liberate him, however, for both as a duet partner (with the wonderful Tammi Terrell) and as a solo singer, he was terrific in 1967. The final disc ends with a triple triumph for Gaye: the minor hit "You," inaugurating his "tortured lover" phase; the exuberant gospel number "At Last (I Found a Love)" and (later replacing it as the B-side) the jazzy "Change What You Can," which seems to have been inspired by the words of St. Francis.

Finally, the liner notes by Bill Dahl and Keith Hughes -- despite the occasional bewildering inaccuracy -- are tremendously informative and offer some real surprises. For example, we discover that "Jimmy Mack" was actually a tribute, by Lamont Dozier, to the writer of the classic "He's So Fine," Ronnie Mack, who died young. We learn, to our astonishment, that Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell were not in the studio together when they recorded their first hit, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Gaye dubbed his part over Tammi's solo performance). But it didn't matter because, according to Johnny Bristol, one of the song's producers, "Marvin could feel Tammi." And there's the occasional amusing anecdote: the songwriters Brian and Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier all had friends named Bernadette, each of whom thought The Four Tops' classic was written about her.

It should be noted that there is nothing in this box even remotely resembling the revolutionary 1967 work of Jimi Hendrix (Are You Experienced), Pink Floyd (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn), The Velvet Underground (The Velvet Underground and Nico) or The Beatles (Sgt. Pepper). No surprise there: Motown always owed as much to the traditions of Broadway, Tin Pan Alley and The Brill Building as to those of contemporary rock and R&B. For example, at least ninety-five percent of the songs in Volume 7 are about romantic love, when most rock artists were moving on to other themes. But Motown's songwriting and producing craftsmanship -- and musicianship -- remain peerless after all these years.

I can't imagine anyone of any age possessing the slightest feeling for soul music who would listen to these five disks with anything less than awe at the depth and range of talent on display. The music of this era never ceases to astound.

1967. I was 13 and my parents had given me a transistor radio for Christmas. I can remember taking that radio with me everywhere I went, listening intently for the local radio station (CHED) to play the Supremes "Love Is Here And Now You're Gone", which eventually became my favourite Supremes single of all time. Fortunately, the song had gone "Top Ten" so it was frequently played. Unfortunately, other than the Supremes and the Temptations, the station didn't play a lot of Motown, but my father had also given me an amazing old tube-type radio which picked up signals from stations south of the border. Especially at night, I could get my "fix" of Motown and more. I have purchased all of the "Complete Motown Singles" volumes (1 -6), and I have to say this is an amazing collection. Hip-O-Select has done a great job! The songs are wonderfully annotated in a beautiful bound "booklet" which is modeled after an old 78rpm record collector's book (my father had lots of these!). Each volume includes a faithfully recreated copy of a popular Motown 45rpm single from that year. The notes and trivia about every song in the collection make for some fascinating reading (until this collection, I had no idea that Motown had actually dabbled in County music!). One of the highlights for me was hearing the mono version of the Supremes "My World Is Empty Without You" (on Volume 5) for the first time on CD. Volume 7 represents (for me) the first year that I actually began to appreciate and pursue an interest in the Motown genre. After that, I realized I had a lot of "catching up" to do, as the company had already been in production for 8 years. This collection is a must-have for anyone who is a musical history buff, and volume 7 represents one of the peak years for Motown. If you are an avid Motown collector or just someone who wants to recall musical memories of 1967, then this volume is highly recommended.

Think about it...as I type this review , this material is 40 years old. Still classic after all these years. 5 discs , 120 songs , 5 hours , 33 minutes and 24 seconds. Through volumes 1-7 we now have 962 selections on 37 discs topping 43 hours. Four more volumes to go. It will be disappointing when it comes to an end. But , we will have ALL the Motown singles from the heyday years of 1959-1972. I can only imagine what it was like. You can hear it in these discs. All the passion , all the excitement. They had to know they were making history. History that is as alive and vibrant today as it was 40 years ago. Bring on the rest of the series !!!