When Motown: The Musical opens at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on April 14, it will mark yet another career landmark for Berry Gordy, the songwriter-producer-entrepreneur who turned Detroit, Michigan into Hitsville, USA some fifty-five years ago. The musical, written by Gordy and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, depicts the rise to prominence of the Sound of Young America, with Brandon Victor Dixon (The Color Purple, The Scottsboro Boys) starring as Gordy. He’s joined by a cast of roughly 40 including Valisia Lekae as Diana Ross, Charl Brown as Smokey Robinson, Bryan Terrell Clark as…
With a Song in Their Hearts: Supremes’ “Symphony” is Latest Expansion from Hip-O Select
Hip-O Select’s latest release is quite literally “so inviting, so exciting”: The Supremes’ 1966 LP I Hear a Symphony is the latest in the girl group’s discography to get the deluxe treatment. The year before, Motown founder Berry Gordy was shocked by the soft chart placement of his Supremes’ latest effort, “Nothing But Heartaches.” The single “only” placed just one spot under the Billboard Top 10 – but it was still a blow for Gordy, who’d seen his onetime “no-hit” trio enjoy a run of five consecutive No. 1 singles. Bolstered by a memo in…
Review: The Supremes, “The Supremes at the Copa”
The building on New York’s East 60th Street might between 5th and Madison Avenues might not have looked like much from the outside. But within the walls of 10 E. 60th, it was a different story altogether, as that address housed the fabled Copacabana. Lyricist Fred Ebb asserted of New York City itself, “If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere,” but he could have been writing of The Copacabana. And Berry Gordy wanted to make it there. More accurately, the Motown Records chief wanted his acts to make it…
Release Round-Up, Week of May 29
Amen Corner, Round Amen Corner: The Complete Deram Recordings (RPM) The complete Deram output of Andy Fairweather-Low’s soulful group Amen Corner is collected by RPM Records, including the 1968 album that gives this reissue its title! The Critters, Younger Girl: The Complete Kapp and Musicor Recordings (Now Sounds) The first album from New Jersey’s Critters (“Younger Girl,” “Mr. Dieingly Sad”) is reissued along with a plethora of rare singles and bonus songs! Everything But the Girl, Eden…Plus / Idlewild, Plus… / Baby The Stars Shine Bright…Plus / Love Not Money…Plus (Edsel) Edsel…
At The Copa: The Supremes Take New York City By Storm On New Expanded Edition
The name of the Copacabana conjures up many memories: maybe of Lola’s love triangle with Tony and Rico, maybe of Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz trying to get their husbands there in the very first episode of I Love Lucy to air. The famous New York nightspot opened in 1940 on East 60th Street, playing host to the biggest and brightest names in entertainment and becoming synonymous with sophistication and glamour. It made headlines when it ended its “no blacks” policy, playing host to acclaimed gigs by Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr….
Eight More ICON Sets for You to Briefly Consider
What you will see after the jump are eight more of Universal’s generic ICON titles, released this past Tuesday. There are two country acts, two Motown acts, two Motown compilations, one from Dean Martin and one from pop/rock band Fall Out Boy. A stranger collection you’ll rarely find. I’d give a halfhearted recommendation to the Motown ones if you want to spend a little money on someone who has the distinct displeasure of never having heard any Motown song, ever. If you have more money to spend, though, get a box set or…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 15
A brief note before we kick off the Release Round-Up: first, an apology for missing the last one. And second, a moment of crowd-sourcing from you, our beloved readers. As nice a service as the Round-Up is, it also seems….boring. Do you agree? How might one change it up? Sound off in the comments. The Who,
New Diana Ross Compilation “Coming Out” in the U.K.
Miss Diana Ross – arguably the Queen of Motown both with The Supremes and on her own, varied solo ventures – easily has one hit for every one of her 67 years on Earth. A new U.K. compilation, The Greatest, packs 44 tracks onto two discs, providing the market with a new way to discover her. The Greatest brings together just about all the facets of Ross’ career: ten tracks from The Supremes, the Motown label’s white-hot girl group supreme, a healthy helping of tracks from Diana’s solo years on Motown from…
Release Round-Up: Week of October 24/25
It’s Tuesday, but most of the new music this week has already been out for a day. But assuming you were too busy to get out to the shops, here’s a look at what’s new. And there’s quite a bit! Various Artists, Phil Spector Presents The Philles Album Collection (Phil Spector Records/Legacy) Six of the first seven Philles albums presented in mono, along with a bonus disc of those delightfully out-there instrumental B-sides. Seriously, have you heard any of them? They’re crazy. In a good way, that is. Diana Ross & The Supremes,…
More of “More Hits by The Supremes”
Rejoice, Supremes fans! Hip-o Select today announced the release of the next expanded album package by Motown’s most famous girl group, a double-disc edition of More Hits by The Supremes with tons of exciting bonus content. By 1965, the years of the “no-hit” Supremes at Motown Records were history. The previous year had seen three consecutive No. 1 hits – “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love” and “Come See About Me” – and another two consecutive chart-toppers would be added to the list with “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “Back…
Motown Commemorates Supremes’, Temptations’ Golden Anniversary with Two New Releases
Motown’s 50th anniversary was celebrated in style in 2009 – a year before The Second Disc even existed – with some excellent box sets and reissues. But this year marks another important set of golden anniversaries for the label: the debut of Motown’s world famous groups, The Supremes and The Temptations. And no commemoration would be complete without a little bit of product to attract fans and collectors. With that in mind, Hip-o Select announced over the weekend a pair of triple-disc sets commemorating the singles (both A- and B-sides) of each…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 13
Jimi Hendrix, Winterland / Hendrix in the West / Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival / The Dick Cavett Show (Experience Hendrix/Legacy) Another wave of Hendrix catalogue titles from Legacy, all of a live nature. The Winterland set captures The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s legendary run at the venue of the same name over four discs (or one, if you’re into the whole brevity thing), while In the West provides an expanded, slightly alternate presentation of the posthumous live LP. The DVDs Blue Wild Angel and The Dick Cavett Show show Hendrix at his live prime, with…
Motown Memories Captured on New DVDs
Oh, for the days when there was a bounty of venues to hear the latest, greatest music on television. By far, one of the greatest vanguards of popular music in the halcyon days of the medium was Ed Sullivan, host of his eponymous show from 1948 to 1971. While Sullivan found himself somewhat bemused by the wide variety of talent he showcased – legendarily confining camera angles on Elvis Presley to tight shots that wouldn’t expose too much of his gyrating hips – he generally picked performers regardless of the approval of…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 17
Queen, Queen / Queen II / Sheer Heart Attack / A Night at the Opera / A Day at the Races: Deluxe Editions (Hollywood) No, you’re not seeing double. The first batch of 40th anniversary Queen expanded editions, available in the U.K. since March, make their stateside debuts. There’s an Amazon-exclusive box with all of them included, too. Dear readers: any big box retailers carrying these? The only one I imagine that is would be Best Buy. (Official site) The Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat: 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Capitol/EMI) The first time this seminal album…
Hip-o Select Preps Supremes’ Final Sessions
The wait is over: Hip-o Select has finally anthologized the last years of one of Motown’s most beloved groups – The Supremes – in their newest limited-edition set. Let Yourself Go: The ’70s Albums, Vol. 2 1974-1977 – The Final Sessions fills in part of the story that hardcore Supremes fans know – that the group didn’t just disappear when Diana Ross embarked on her stunning solo career. Jean Terrell replaced Ross on lead vocals on five Supremes LPs between 1970 and 1972. This era saw the last of the group’s charting singles,…
Re-Meet the Supremes
Although the track list was up and running at Amazon some time ago, Meet The Supremes: Expanded Edition is finally up for pre-order from Hip-O Select. And this two-disc set has a lot of rarities for Motown fans. The set has the original stereo and mono versions of the LP, a four-song set from the Apollo Theater in 1962 (touted by Universal as “the earliest known Supremes live recording”), seven more live tracks from 1964 and more than a dozen unreleased alternate takes. The packaging looks pretty sweet, too, utilizing the original…
News Round-Up: Meet The Supremes (Again), Costello Clues and More Stones
Amazon has posted the track list for Hip-o Select’s upcoming deluxe reissue of Meet The Supremes before Hip-o Select actually did. Read it here and expect an analysis here soon. It seems that Japan is getting a SHM-CD release of Live at Winterland, San Francisco by Elvis Costello and The Attractions in June. It’ll be out on Universal, but not part of The Costello Show series of live material. Will it end up part of the series in America? Doubtful, since the show was recorded only a few days after Live at Hollywood…
El Sonido de la Joven América
I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time: Hip-O Select is releasing a new compilation of classic Motown songs in a whole new way. Motown Around the World: The Classic Singles compiles 38 songs from the label as recorded in other languages for international markets. The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, The Velvelettes, Smokey Robinson and Edwin Starr sing the songs you know and love (plus a few folk ballads native to other countries) in Italian, Spanish, French and German, almost entirely preserved in their original single…
Back Tracks: The Supremes
Introducing Back Tracks, a new feature where we take an upcoming release and introduce you to some of the other reissued works from the same group. Today, we start with The Supremes, whose first album, 1962’s Meet The Supremes, is scheduled for reissue by Hip-O Select on May 18 (credit where it’s due to MusicTAP for the date). The trio is much loved by Motown fans and staff alike. As such, Hip-O Select has dug lots of their treasures from the vault. Hit the jump to take a look at nine Supremes…
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