The Marvelettes

Forever – The Complete Motown Albums Volume 1

Release date 22nd June 2009

Format: 3CD Set & Digital Download

Catalogue # 1775605

In 1961, a singing group out of Inkster High School put Motown on the national map: The Marvelettes. They were Motown’s first hit “girl group,” pioneers of the Motown Sound, the company’s first Pop No. 1 hitmaker. Superstars of the early Motor Town Revue tours. The first Motown artists besides Smokey Robinson to co-write their own songs and so much more. Now, for the first time, their majestic rise to the top is chronicled in a beautiful new 3-CD set, Forever: The Complete Motown Albums, Volume 1.

“They had a lot to work with,” notes producer Brian Holland in the package’s liner notes. “They had two lead singers [the sassy, pop-friendly Gladys Horton and the smoky, sophisticated Wanda Young] and were very musical when they all sang together. You could be confident they would be able to do something special with whatever you gave them.”

This collection brings together the group’s first four studio albums Please Mr. Postman, Smash Hits Of 1962, Playboy and The Marvelous Marvelettes plus, their only live album, the stereo Greatest Hits set, and every stray single, B-side and rare cut from the early era that have been issued on various compilations through the years. Every track has been newly remastered from the original LP and single masters in the Motown vault. Among the hits: “Please Mr. Postman,” “Playboy,” “Beechwood 4-5789,” “Forever,” “Someday, Someway,” “Too Many Fish in the Sea,” “Don’t Mess With Bill” and all the rest, covering the girls’ output 1961 through mid-1966.
           
Among the rarities: the Marvelettes’ short-lived stint as “The Darnells,” a Phil Spector-production soundalike; the non-album B-sides “Tie A String Around Your Finger,” “No Time For Tears,” “A Little Bit Of Sympathy, A Little Bit Of Love,” and others; the vault tracks “Knock On My Door,” Berry Gordy’s “Because I Love Him,” “I Should Have Known Better,” and more; the unedited live version of “Strange I Know,” taken from the original December 1962 Apollo Theater recording that produced segments of the Motortown Revue LP, Live At The Apollo Vol. 1.

Their body of work is presented in a beautiful 36-page booklet that lovingly recreates the original LP artwork, alongside classic and rare images from the Motown photo archives. There’s an essay by Gary Graff, an award-winning music journalist based in Detroit who has written extensively about Motown, and detailed track annotations release dates, recording info and producer credits missing from the original releases.

Forever: The Complete Motown Albums, Volume 1 is a fitting tribute to the original Motown superstars.

The Marvelettes

Forever – The Complete Motown Albums Volume 1

3 CD Set – Tracklisting