KEY POINTS:
Rating: * * *
It's all very well giving folks the vote and all, but sometimes it backfires. The Motown 50 compilation, released to celebrate the legendary Detroit record label's 50th anniversary, was voted for by fans in an online poll where they chose five of the best
songs by Motown artists from a list of 100 tracks.
Great idea? Kind of. While there are some unforgivable omissions (like the Commodores' Brick House for example), it's not so much the track selection but the order of the songs that's the problem.
Unfortunately, the running order of the 50 tracks is based on what position they were ranked. So, rather oddly, the Jackson 5's I Want You Back from 1969 was the winner and is first song up on this three-disc set. It's a great, bouncy little tune but not the stylish and soulful way a collection of this standing should start, especially when there are acts like the Temptations and the Four Tops, and guys like Marvin and Smokey around.
Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (at number four) would have been an ideal opener, or maybe even The Tracks Of My Tears by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, who were the first act to be signed to the label in 1959 by founder Berry Gordy. As it is, Smokey doesn't feature until the start of the second disc with Tears Of A Clown.
Michael and his bros get a somewhat over-the-top run with six songs in the top 10 alone, although it's great to hear the teenage King of Pop's sweet and laid-back lilt on 1972's Ain't No Sunshine.
Sequencing aside, this compilation confirms that Motown is one of the most influential record labels ever. And since Motown were the leaders of the black music revolution, this collection comes at the perfect time with Obama taking office.
Plus, most of the songs (not counting Lionel Richie and Diana Ross' soppy Endless Love from 1981) are timeless.
Classic acts like the Supremes and the Four Tops are well represented; there's Stevie Wonder, of course, with some good tunes like Sir Duke (1976) and some not, like 1968 snorer For Once In My Life; then there's the Velvelettes' swinging Needle In A Haystack (1964), and best of all, The Temptations on the seven-minute Papa Was A Rollin' Stone (1972).
Although, you might still be best to jump on the internet and make up your own 50-song Motown playlist.
Scott Kara
