Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection 1972-1992

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Customer reviews

review by: Basset Hound Mother date: 2008-11-13 rating:
Hitsville USA-The Motown Singles Collection 1972-1992
I listened to each disc twice and there were some singles that were mega hits but a lot of the stuff was unfamiliar to me. Motown blew it when they left the Motor City for the smoggy skies of the City of Angels. When the Funk Brothers sound was replaced by the Wrecking Crew so went the unique groove and indelibly stamped signature of the music. The salvation of Motown, post-Detroit, was the OUTSTANDING bass work by Carol Kaye. Did you all know that Carol Kaye was responsible for the incredible bass lines on the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" and Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made For Walking" studio recordings? Anyway, in my opinion, the FIRST boxed set was the REAL DEAL!

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review by: date: 2007-09-08 rating:
Like watching fruit rot on the vine
After the first flawless Motown box set finished up with 1971, it was inevitable that there was going to be a drop in quality on the second volume. When Stevie Wonder's contribution to disc two is the masterful "Sir Duke" and just one disc later we're hit with the wretched-without-bounds "I Just Called to Say I Love You," it's virtually impossible to wonder where it all went wrong. Closing out the set with the hilariously mawkish "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men is the sadly appropriate death knell for a once proud label that lost its way. It's hard to connect most of this music to the label that once released 'Innervisions' or 'What's Going On' or 'Cloud Nine'.

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review by: date: 2006-07-10 rating:
Not the Motown I Know and Love
I have loved the Motown sound ever since I was a little kid. So many of those songs have added pleasure to my life. A few years ago I bought the first box set and voraciously consumed it. Every song there was a classic. I only wished it included a lot more music.

I recently saw that there was a second installment to Hitsville USA. I bought it immediately, and I was encouraged by the generally good reviews here on Amazon. But, wow, I regretfully must report to you that this set does not have the Motown Sound that I know and love. Perhaps a quarter of these songs are very good, but the other three-quarters I do not like at all. They are campy, disco-like atrocities which in my mind are the antithesis of the earthy, passionate, natural sound of real Motown. I do like soul music outside of Motown, but these songs do not come close to even good, authentic soul music. Most of these are bad disco songs which have the second-generation Motown label affixed for prestige. Please don't get this expecting the classic Motown sound, because you won't find it here. Even the small percentage of good songs here don't sound like Motown; I'm not sure exactly how you would categorize them.

The remaining 75% of the music on these discs is of that category of "Music that I Affirmatively Try to Avoid." If Motown was one of the pinnacles of modern music, many of these songs are the valleys. Real Motown was silk; this is a plastic tarp. Again, I emphasize the synthetic, synthesizer-intensive foundation, with the pre-pubescent, screechy, annoying vocals. Motown is all about a thumping, plodding deep bass, with a great guitar groove, and supernaturally beatiful lyrics and voices. Even most of Smokey's stuff here doesn't do much for me, and I love Smokey. The amazing documentary film "In the Shadow of Motown" might have discussed this period in Motown's history, if it did, I'm sure it is characterized as the (steep, almost vertical) decline. The folks who were the subject matter of that film were REAL MUSICIANS, the best musicians the world has ever known; they weren't a bunch of beeping, buzzing computers and polyester-wearing prancing disco-dancers.

I will never listen to these discs straight-through again. I'll just skip over to the few good tracks. The preponderance of these songs were downright painful, they represent the worst of the 70's and 80's. I wish they had merely augmented the collection of real Motown, rather than used the songs which rode on the coat-tails of the real (and legendary) Motown.

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review by: date: 2006-03-16 rating:
Order from Amazon.com directly instead.
In the past years I have ordered from individuals via Amazon as opposed to Amazon.com directly. This time, this particular item was offered through Amazon at basically the same cost and I received the item faster than I ever had before. From now on if Amazon offers any item I wish to purchase, I'll order it through Amazon directly.


review by: date: 2006-02-21 rating:
El supremo follow up to Motown V-1
Not quite as strong as the first Motown boxed set but then again I'm partial to the earlier songs during the illustrious Motown of the '60s. 4.5 stars.

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