Motown 50: Various Artists: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Frequently Bought Together

Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Disc 1:

Samples

To view this content, download Flash player (version 8.0.0.0 or higher)

Song Title Artist Time Price

1. I Heard It Through The Grapevine Marvin Gaye 3:17 �0.89

2. Dancing In The Street Martha Reeves & The Vandellas 2:36 �0.89

3. Baby Love The Supremes 2:36 �0.89

4. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) The Four Tops 2:46 �0.89

5. Needle In A Haystack The Velvelettes 2:31 �0.89

6. Get Ready The Temptations 2:33 �0.89

7. You Can't Hurry Love The Supremes 2:46 �0.89

8. Heaven Must Have Sent You The Elgins 2:32 �0.89

9. Nowhere To Run Martha Reeves & The Vandellas 2:57 �0.69

10. Jimmy Mack Martha & The Vandellas 2:54 �0.89

11. This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) The Isley Brothers 2:47 �0.89

12. The Tears Of A Clown Smokey Robinson 3:05 �0.89

13. ABC Jackson 5 3:00 �0.59

14. It Takes Two Marvin Gaye 2:56 �0.89

15. My Guy Mary Wells 2:49 �0.59

16. Do You Love Me The Contours 2:54 �0.89

17. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) Frank Wilson 2:22 �0.89

18. There's A Ghost In My House R. Dean Taylor 2:15 �0.89

19. Stop! In The Name Of Love The Supremes 2:53 �0.89

20. Shotgun Jr. Walker And The All Stars 3:00 �0.89

21. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours) Stevie Wonder 2:40 �0.89

22. I Want You Back Jackson 5 2:58 �0.89

23. You Are Everything Diana Ross 2:54 �0.89

24. Ain't No Mountain High Enough Diana Ross 3:37 �0.89

Visit our audio help page for more information

Disc 2:

Samples

Song Title Artist Time Price

1. Superstition Stevie Wonder 4:01 �0.89

2. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone The Temptations 6:52 �0.89

3. What's Going On Marvin Gaye 3:54 �0.89

4. Brick House Commodores 3:35 �0.89

5. War Edwin Starr 3:22 �0.89

6. My Girl The Temptations 2:57 �0.89

7. The Tracks Of My Tears Smokey Robinson 2:55 �0.89

8. Endless Love Diana Ross 4:27 �0.89

9. Easy Commodores 4:18 �0.89

10. Reflections Diana Ross & The Supremes 2:50 �0.89

11. Reach Out, I'll Be There The Four Tops 2:56 �0.89

12. Let's Get It On Marvin Gaye 4:53 �0.69

13. What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted Jimmy Ruffin 2:56 �0.89

14. Got To Be There Michael Jackson 3:20 �0.89

15. Being With You Smokey Robinson 3:57 �0.89

16. I'm Still Waiting Diana Ross 3:46 �0.89

17. Sir Duke Stevie Wonder 3:54 �0.89

18. Love Machine The Miracles 2:54 �0.69

19. All Night Long (All Night) Lionel Richie 4:14 �0.89

20. Love Hangover Diana Ross 3:48 �0.89

Visit our audio help page for more information

Disc 3:

Samples

Song Title Artist Time Price

1. Master Blaster (Jammin') Stevie Wonder 4:51 �0.89

2. Nightshift Commodores 4:58 �0.89

3. Upside Down Diana Ross 4:03 �0.89

4. Super Freak Rick James 3:18 �0.89

5. Treat Her Like A Lady The Temptations 4:12 �0.89

6. My Destiny Lionel Richie 3:41 �0.89

7. Light My Fire Stevie Wonder 3:40 �0.89

8. Everybody's Talking The Four Tops 2:53 �0.69

9. Get Ready Rare Earth 2:45 �0.89

10. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) Kim Weston 2:22 �0.89

11. I Say A Little Prayer Martha Reeves & The Vandellas 3:03 �0.69

12. Wichita Lineman Smokey Robinson 2:53 �0.69

13. Jumpin' Jack Flash Thelma Houston 3:23 �0.89

14. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face The Temptations 4:08 �0.89

15. Come Together The Supremes 4:08 �0.89

16. Put A Little Love In Your Heart David Ruffin 2:43 �0.89

17. You've Got A Friend Michael Jackson 4:55 �0.89

Visit our audio help page for more information

Product Description

Review

The music of Motown means a hell of a lot to a hell of a lot of people. So how do you compile a definitive best of for the label's 50th anniversary without leaving swathes of the listening public in the cold?

Well Universal Music - of whom Motown is now a subsidiary - think they have the answer. Instead of drafting in the experts with their own agendas and subjective opinions or using potentially flawed statistics like record sales or critical acclaim, they set up a four week online poll to choose the top 50 Motown songs of all time and let the people do the talking.

A big part of the fun of this concept is finding out how your predictions of the most popular tracks compare to those of the voters. The top three - I Heard It Through The Grape Vine, Dancing In The Street and Baby Love - yield no major surprises. But The Velvettes' Needle In A Haystack, The Temptations' Get Ready, and The Elgins' Heaven Must Have Sent You are refreshingly high (at 5,6 and 8 respectively) and the funky side of the label (in the form of Stevie Wonder's Superstition and Rick James' Super Freak) is well represented. All this gives the project a distinctive flavour far removed from the humdrum Marvin-Smokey-and-Diana-heavy, weepy bargain bin comps of the past.

The only problem with such a democratic approach is the sequencing of the tracks. Tuning into to a listener's poll on the radio keeps the excitement building because it runs in reverse order. Motown 50 starts at number one, counting up the chart, so the Cd may feel a little front loaded and the music doesn't always flow in the way a chronologically or aesthetically selected collection would. Then again, this is Motown we're talking about so there isn't much of what you could call filler and once you tire of the ranking you can always hit shuffle instead. Furthermore, the final disc includes a series of unlikely (and occasionally brilliant) cover versions should you wish to take the road less travelled for a while.

Cd compiling for the American Idol generation? Perhaps. In the end this compilation is what it is - a diverting concept and crowd-pleasing party album in one. --Angus Taylor

Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window