This is a much welcomed release from one of Motown’s favourite girl groups of the sixties and indeed The Supremes are one of the original acts to join Berry Gordy’s empire at the start of that decade. Formerly known as The Primettes it wasn’t long before they began to clock up instant chart success on both sides of the Atlantic mainly thanks to the songwriting talents of Holland Dozier Holland who wrote almost all of their songs between 1963 – 1967.

The trio were always destined to become stars not least due them looking the part, but also due to their sheer talent, and Diana Ross’ lead vocals on those great songs will always bring back memories of those great days of pop innocence, packed discotheques and dance-halls, mods, scooters, northern soul venues, Motortown Revue’s, Ready Steady Go etc etc.

Whilst the Anthology series is nothing new (who could forget those triple LP sets from the 70’s) the one thing they didn’t contain however, was the inclusion of some alternative/extended mixes of some of those great hit records. This double CD does. At a retail price of around £16.99 we are treated to forty eight of the best your money can buy including some of their album material (which in fairness were arguably strong enough to have been issued as 45’s anyway).

Side one starts off with the very early years with ‘I Want A Guy’ ‘The Tears’ and the Florence Ballard led vocal ‘Buttered Popcorn’. The obvious hit sound  kicks in big style at track eight with their 1964 uptempo smash ‘When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes’ a wonderful piece of Motown magic and after just one listen you are quickly reminded that just about everything from here on is of equal quality.
 
1964 was a big year for the girls and Motown in general. The Four Tops were breaking big, the Temptations struck gold with ‘My Girl’ and Martha was ‘Dancing In The Streets’ and it was time for the Supremes to make their mark on the recording buying public. They were not to be disappointed and the issue of the HDH song ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ was to be their starting point for bigger and better things to come. The song was a big favourite in the UK at a time when Merseybeat was at it’s peak and the likes of the Beatles/Stones/Georgie Fame/Dusty Springfield etc were dominating the charts there always seemed to be a slot somewhere for Motown.

 Next up was the issue of ‘Baby Love’ which is probably the most well know song from the group and the inclusion on this set of ‘The Cooley High’ mix will warm the hearts of many Motown fans. The much covered song ‘Come See About Me’ whilst being recorded most notably by the late Jnr Walker, was in fact a Supremes classic and has been featured on many a ‘mod’ compilation and is just perfect for the dancefloor.

1965 was a great year too, the group (and label) were on a roll and more hits were to follow and the launch in the UK of the Tamla Motown saw ‘Stop In The Name Of Love’ (TMG 501) become a smash hit that has definitely stood the test of time. Even better was the slightly faster ‘Back In My Arms Again’ and whilst not being as big a hit as the previous song, it became more of a favourite amongst R’n’B fans. The opening chords to ‘Nothing But Heartaches’ are spine-tingling and the frantic tempo had the beat clubs of that era jumping for joy. ‘Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart’ was just tailor made for dancing and is best described as an ultimate Motown dancer. This CD contains the extended mix) However, the ‘b’ side to the single ‘He’s All I Got’  which is my all-time Supremes favourite is for some strange reason not included on this Anthology?

1966 saw a repeat performance of more hit singles with ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ and their cover version of the Isleys’ ‘This Old Heart Of Mine’ which was taken from their album ‘Supremes A Go-Go’ and is one song that I personally still use on live sets and is always guaranteed to fill my dancefloor. There is an alternative mix of the song ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ and a sample of the song can be heard by clicking here.

There are then four songs from 1967 all of which saw healthy chart action with ‘Love Is Here And Now Your Gone’ ‘The Happening’ ‘Reflections’ and ‘In And Out Of Love’.
 
1968 was a massive year for the girls even though HDH had left the company for pastures new but that did not stop the hit machine and new songwriters who gave them hits with ‘Some Things You Never Get Used To’ (check out the flip to this single) ‘Forever Came Today’ and ‘Love Child’. A clever move by the Gordy empire to team up some of the best artists on the label paid massive dividends with release of I’m Gonna Make You Love Me’ with the Temptations. The result was a top five hit that year and later saw the girls team up with stablemates The Four Tops for a couple of 45’s which whilst being good, never quite captured the magic of those sessions with the Temps.

The year continued with more hits and ‘I’m Livin’ In Shame’ and ‘No Matter What Sign You Are’ both fell into the new category of Motown Sound. More and more songs were taking a dip in tempo and the whole artist roster were issuing songs at a much slower pace. Whilst most Motown hard liners were horrified at losing ‘the sound’, commercially, it was a brilliant move by the company as songwriters Barrett Strong & Norman Whitfield delivered some of the biggest hits the label had enjoyed for years. Examples include Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Hear It Through The Grapevine’ and ‘Cloud Nine’ for the Temps were all major hits on both sides of the Atlantic.

Like everything in life all good things come to an end and sadly that was to be for the Supremes as Diana Ross left the line-up to persue a solo career which produced some amazing hit singles, as well as a collaberation with the late Marvin Gaye. Their final performance in 1969 saw ‘Someday We’ll Be Together’ issued as a 45 and an alternative mix of the song is included here for your attention. Please click here for a sample.

Whilst Diana may have left the line up the group continued throughout the seventies with \\\\\\\ taking the lead role and they enjoyed some success in their own right. For many however, the group was never same without Ross, and indeed it may be fair to say that Ross was never quite the same without Cindy & Mary.

This CD contains just about everything you will ever need from the girls and whilst much of what is included is already featured on other CD’s, there are quite of few interesting new/alternative mixes that should ensure that keen Motown followers will want to own making this release a must have.

 Rating 10/10