Today's compilation:
25 #1 Hits From 25 Years
1983
R&B / Soul / Girl Groups / Pop-Soul / Disco
Seriously, it's so wild to me that just three years before Motown put out this double-LP that took 25 of their #1 hits from a 25-year period, they released another compilation with the same concept that took 20 #1 hits from a 20-year period; and almost half the tunes between these two releases don't actually overlap at all! To put this in perspective, I don't think there's another record company in America, outside of enormous major labels that have been around for many more decades and have released music across a much broader spectrum of genres, that could put together even one volume of US chart-toppers. But if a single volume consists of roughly 20 to 25 songs, then Motown would need to put out a total of two volumes and change in order to cover every #1 hit that they've ever had! They're just so head-and-shoulders above everyone else.
And while the 20-songs-in-20-years comp put a lot of its focus on the 70s, this one operates chronologically, and starts in 1961 with Motown's first ever #1, the super catchy girl group classic, "Please Mr. Postman," by The Marvelettes. It doesn't then go on to provide every single #1 from the 60s from there, but the album still spends a little less than a third of its tracklist within that decade, which was a critically important part of Motown's history that the prior compilation really seemed to gloss over.
So, again, no obscurities here whatsoever on this thing, but I think this is the most definitive document of Motown's greatest hits that I've ever come across. And if you want even more #1s, you can take this one in tandem with 20/20: Twenty #1 Hits From Twenty Years at Motown too 😊.
Highlights:
The Marvelettes - "Please Mr. Postman"
The Supremes - "Baby Love"
The Temptations - "My Girl"
The Four Tops - "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)"
Diana Ross & The Supremes - "You Can't Hurry Love"
The Four Tops - "Reach Out (I'll Be There)"
Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
The Jackson 5 - "I Want You Back"
The Jackson 5 - "ABC"
Diana Ross - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
The Jackson 5 - "I'll Be There"
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - "Tears of a Clown"
The Temptations - "Just My Imagination"
Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On"
Thelma Houston - "Don't Leave Me This Way"
Marvin Gaye - "Got to Give It Up (Part 1)"
The Temptations - "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"
Eddie Kendricks - "Keep On Truckin'"
Stevie Wonder - "Superstition"
Rick James - "Give It To Me Baby"
Stevie Wonder - "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"
Marvin Gaye - "Let's Get It On"
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Release: May 6, 2016
Lyrics:
I got this feeling inside my bones
It goes electric, wavey when I turn it on
And if you want it, inside your soul
Just open up your heart, let music take control
I got that sunshine in my pocket
Got that good soul in my feet
I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops, ooh
I can't take my eyes up off it, moving so phenomenally
The room on lock the way we rock it, so don't stop
Under the lights when everything goes
Nowhere to hide when I'm getting you close
When we move, well, you already know
So just imagine, just imagine, just imagine
Nothing I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance
A feeling good, good, creeping up on you
So just dance, dance, dance, come on
All those things I shouldn't do
But you dance, dance, dance
And ain't nobody leaving soon, so keep dancing
I can't stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
I can't stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance, come on
Ooh, it's something magical
It's in the air, it's in my blood, it's rushing on
I don't need no reason, don't need control
I fly so high, no ceiling, when I'm in my zone
'Cause I got that sunshine in my pocket
Got that good soul in my feet
I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops, ooh
I can't take my eyes up off it, moving so phenomenally
The room on lock the way we rock it, so don't stop
Under the lights when everything goes
Nowhere to hide when I'm getting you close
When we move, well, you already know
So just imagine, just imagine, just imagine
Nothing I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance
Feeling good, good, creeping up on you
So just dance, dance, dance, come on
All those things I shouldn't do
But you dance, dance, dance
And ain't nobody leaving soon, so keep dancing
I can't stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
I can't stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
I can't stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
I can't stop the feeling
So keep dancing, come on
I can't stop the, I can't stop the
I can't stop the, I can't stop the
I can't stop the feeling
Nothing I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance
(I can't stop the feeling)
Feeling good, good, creeping up on you
So just dance, dance, dance, come on
(I can't stop the feeling)
All those things I shouldn't do
But you dance, dance, dance
(I can't stop the feeling)
And ain't nobody leaving soon, so keep dancing
Everybody sing (I can't stop the feeling)
Got this feeling in my body
(I can't stop the feeling)
Got this feeling in my body
(I can't stop the feeling)
Wanna see you move your body
(I can't stop the feeling)
Got this feeling in my body
Break it down
Got this feeling in my body
Can't stop the feeling
Got this feeling in my body, come on
Songwriter:
Justin R. Timberlake / Martin Karl Sandberg / Johan Karl Schuster
SongFacts:
👉📖
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Today's compilation:
16 #1 Hits from the Early 60's
1982
Soul / Pop / Girl Groups / Pop-Soul / R&B
Again, I don't think that there's another label in the world, outside of the enormous ones that have had their hooks firmly dug into a wide array of genres, that could possibly have put out a whole series of compilations that consist solely of just their own #1 hits, like Motown managed to do here in the early 80s. Sure, they were just putting together these budget cheat code comps of easily accessible tunes, but by that same token, no other label that produced and released their own music had that same capability to just use US chart-toppers from their very own catalog. It's really such an impressive muscle-flex on their part, and really goes to show why Motown is the single-greatest institution in the history of American pop music 💪.
Now, they had a lot of successful acts, but throughout much of the 60s, the straw that really stirred Motown's drink was the inimitable songwriting and production trio of Holland-Dozier-Holland, whose work appears on eight of these sixteen tracks here. And the one partnership they had that ended up launching Motown into a previously uncharted stratosphere was with Diana Ross & the Supremes, who have six #1s that appear on this comp, all of which were produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland.
In 1964, The Supremes achieved their first ever #1 with "Where Did Our Love Go," and then proceeded to rattle off four more consecutive #1s in "Baby Love," "Come See About Me," "Stop! In the Name of Love," and "Back in My Arms Again." Their streak would then break in '65, but they'd still manage to squeeze out another #1 that year with "I Hear a Symphony." And the acoustics on all of these, along with a common formula of bouncy, undergirding rhythms and percussion, makes them simply unbeatable.
So, without that combination of Holland-Dozier-Holland and The Supremes, the 60s definitely wouldn't have turned out as nearly as fortunate as they did for Motown. HDH would doubtlessly apply their talents to other acts and probably achieve other big hits, but none would probably end up clicking as consistently and perfectly as they did with Diana Ross & the Supremes.
And what's perhaps even more impressive about all of this is that, by the end of the decade, Holland-Dozier-Holland would leave Motown and Diana Ross would go solo, and the label would still manage to rack up #1s in the next decade like no other label could, despite those drastic changes.
So, a killer slate of tunes here that really demonstrates just what an absolute powerhouse Motown really was. An excellent starter pack for any Motown novice out there who wants to get a taste of a bunch of the label's biggest successes in their earlier years.
Highlights:
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - "Shop Around"
The Marvelettes - "Please Mr. Postman"
The Contours - "Do You Love Me"
Stevie Wonder - "Fingertips, Pt. 2"
Martha & the Vandellas - "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave"
Mary Wells - "My Guy"
Diana Ross & the Supremes - "Where Did Our Love Go"
Diana Ross & the Supremes - "Baby Love"
The Temptations - "My Girl"
Junior Walker & the All-Stars - "Shotgun"
Diana Ross & the Supremes - "Stop! In the Name of Love"
The Four Tops - "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)"
Diana Ross & the Supremes - "Back in My Arms Again"
Diana Ross & the Supremes - "I Hear a Symphony"
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