If there is one Motown act that is underrated then it has to be the Marvelettes. They were one of the first female groups to be signed to the label in 1962 and whose product in the UK was issued on Oriole and Stateside and are unquestionably some of the most expensive singles in the UK today.

Their product has been limited to a greatest hits package in the late eighties and it has taken twelve years for this release to surface. The wait has been well worth it. This eighteen track CD features some very tasty sought after items and whilst leaving out a couple songs that one would have expected to see included (My Baby Must be a Magician/Destination Anywhere/I’ll Keep on Holding On) it more than makes up by the inclusion of a few songs seeing a UK release for the first time.

I have to admit that their early recordings such as Postman/Beechwood/Finders Keepers do very little for me and that goes for  lot of the very early releases from other Motown acts where the sound was very raw indeed compared to the sound we all love and know. In 1964 the whole Motown sound changed into a vibrant uptempo cocktail of Detroit pop and soul. Northern soul fans will be more than pleased to see Norman Whitfield and Eddie Holland written ‘The Boy from Crosstown'  included  here in legal format as most copies of this song were owned on white label 12” bootlegs.

Big northern soul classics are here too in the form of ‘Because I Love Him’ which apparently is one of the biggest tunes on the scene at the moment.  ‘Danger, Heartbreak Dead Ahead’ a popular mod classic from ‘65’ is here, as is ‘Reaching for Something’ from ‘68’ which never fails to fill any dance floor.

Those of you who collect the unreleased recordings will thoroughly enjoy listening to four such goodies in the form of ‘I Just Can’t Let Him Down’ ‘On The Other Side of Town’Maybe I Dried My Tears for the Last Time’ and ‘Caught You Puttin’ the Game on Love’ bear testament to vast wealth of unreleased material in the Motown vaults. I remember Martha Reeves telling me that there were some 800 unreleased recordings of hers there.

Personal rating 9/10
Expect to pay £6.99 in the UK
Available now