I've been jamming a lot of Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye the last day and a half and want some direction as to what albums I should continue with while in this mode. I would like more Smokey since I have next to nothing other than a mix of the more popular stuff. What else can you recommend?

I recommend the DVD:
Standing In the Shadows Of Motown
Documentary about the musicians who truly defined the "Motown Sound": the Motown house band, "The Funk Brothers".

Essential.

Music Cds:
Smokey Robinson - The Essential Smokey...
Marvin Gaye - Super Hits
Marvin Gaye - What's Goin' On?
Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, and Delivered
Stevie Wonder - Songs In the Key Of Life

HELL, just get the Hitsville U.S.A. box.
Motown was a singles label, at heart and if you want that REAL (read: early) Motown sound, you need the singles. And the 1959-1972 box has them ALL.

Sweet. I have the Stevie Wonder albums already and What's Goin' On. I may have to check out the box set for sure.

It's worth the price.
Incredible.

it's not available on CD, but there is a 3 LP set of Stevie Wonder's early stuff leading up to his string of 70's LP's. It's amazing and essential.

Get that 2-disc comp of the best of The Temptations where they are walking in green/blue suits.

They cover some good ground from "My Girl" and "Ain't To Proud to Beg" to "Ball of Confusion" and "Cloud 9", more social commentary and psychedelic soul.

If you really love the pop-oriented soul hits of Smokey, then you need a good Temptations comp and a Supremes comp. There's a 4 disc box of the Supremes which is really stellar. Although not on the Motown label, my personal favorite act of the more hit oriented, smooth pop/soul sound is the Impressions which featured Jerry Butler and a young Curtis Mayfield. Don't limit yourself to Motown. Get at least a good Impressions comp (Ultimate Collection is the one I have).

Back to Motown, in addition to the Temptations comp, their studio album, "Psychedelic Soul" is really great although its less hit oriented. Other less hit-oriented Motown acts that I really like are Leon Ware and Willie Hutch.

The best advice I can give you though is really don't limit yourself to Motown. There's a whole big world of soul out there and I've found that I personally prefer gritty southern soul and more politically charged blaxploitation era stuff to most of the radio friendly hits of Motown.

I fucking love Curtis by Mr. Mayfield.

Fuck yeah.

I bookmarked this thread because I really want to get into Motown/Soul, whatever one wants to call it. I wanted to get into it since hearing this close to nine minute mix from DJ Z-Trip. I would think this is appealing to all, even the enthusiasts.

http://s45.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=11OF ... W298FEHO2S

Thank you for that mix.

My 2 cents. If you don't go out and get Solomon Burke's comp, Home In Your Heart, right now, you're doing yourself a disservice.

There's a 3 or 4 CD set called Hitsville USA covering most all of the biggest hits of Motown's golden era. It's a great listen for the casual fan that wants a good collection and also for the more hardcore fan since it gives you all the hits by lesser lights that you may miss if you'er buying individual artist albums.

I grabbed my copy at the Motown Museum in Detroit, which by the way is a wonderful place to visit if you're ever nearby. They've got the original studios preserved and even Barry Gordy's apartment with original furnishings and everything.

One interesting trick they mention on the tour as to how they recorded the vocals that I hadn't heard before... This was the days before electronic reverb, so they recorded in a fairly large room and opened the attic, one of those attic entrances that si esentially a hole in the ceiling, and put a second mike in the attic to give that familiar Motown Sound.

I have that set.
It's 4 CDs and it's amazing.

And that was some cool imfo about their reverb sound. thanks!

i'm a bigger fan of Atlantic R&B. great stuff from ray charles, otis redding, booker t, sam and dave, aretha, etc.

the box set to get IMO is Rhino's Soul Spectacular. About two-thirds of it is made up of hits from Motown and Atlantic R&B, along with some other misc. gems in there. so with Rhino's set you get the best of both worlds.

bort

Good call, bort.

Love that Motown, but sometimes I just gotta head south to Muscle Shoals...

A label called Hip o Matic released a 6 disc comp of Motown singles with more volumes to follow. You can track down the label site by googling hip o matic. It's pretty complete and comprehensive.

The Beg, Scream and Shout box set is divine too.

Are these collections that Pitchfork has been reviewing the real deal? Is this a good way to jump head first into this "genre"?

http://www.hip-oselect.com/catalogue_motownsingles1.asp

http://www.hip-oselect.com/catalogue_motownsingles2.asp


np: Diplo-Fire Fire

That's not head first, that's drowning. These have gotta be for hardcore Motown freaks only, not for beginners.

For Motown, that is an excellent collection, or you can start with the Hitsville Box Set- 4 CDs of wonderful hits and easy on your wallet (Hint: sign up at yourmusic.com and the box set sells ~ &27 shipped). Which is a condensed, hit oriented version of the full motown singles boxes

I would also second not limiting yourself to Motown soul- for the "big three" check out some Chicago soul and Memphis Soul in order to get at least a sense of how the 'soul' sound differed by city and region.

Continuing on with 'sampler' type intros (which I am a big fan of when entering a new genre), I would suggest,( in addition to the Hitsville box):

For Memphis Soul there is always the 9 CD genius of The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 - which compiles all the A-sides and select B-sides during the "Atlantic Years". A great box set but a lot to wade through. For more manageable compilations, seek out Stax: Top of the Stax, Vol. 1: Twenty Greatest Hits and Stax: Top of the Stax, Vol. 2: Twenty Greatest Hits. Both, I believe, are also from the Atlantic Years.

For Chicago Soul - Im not as familiar (not saying I know much at all ) but perhaps something that showcases the Brunswick record label- like The Story of Brunswick: The Classic Sound of Chicago Soul and/or Chess, Chess Soul: A Decade of Chicago's Finest. There is also the less characteristic 'gritty' Chicago soul represented by comps like Charly's Chicago Twine Time

Of course there are numerous other stylistic variations on Soul, by region etc- but these three represent the major ones (as far as Im aware of) - and while I know you were looking at Motown specifically, I cant help but think you would dig this other stuff as well.


Hope this helps as an introduction.