Motown 25th Anniversary LP releases

[woodward]

I was looking at the Fall/Winter 1985 Motown Catalog to see what I could learn about the LPs that were released to commemorate the 25th Anniversary which were included in this segment. Here is what I found listed.

MOT-5308 25 #1 Hits in 25 years.
MOT-5309 25 Years of Grammy Greats
MOT-5310 Motown Superstars sing Motown Superstars
MOT-5311 Great Songs & Performances Marvin Gaye
MOT-5312 Great Songs & Performances Michael Jackson & Jackson Five
MOT-5313 Great Songs & Performances Diana Ross & Supremes
MOT-5314 Great Songs & Performances Four Tops
MOT-5315 Great Songs & Performances Temptations
MOT-5316 Great Songs & Performances Smokey Robinson & Miracles

All of the above were also released on cassettes.

There was also listed an album for the Motown Story - 1st 25 Years with a catalog number MOT5-6048. I believe, but am not positive, this was released earlier in 1983. Can anyone clarify this?

I did not realize until I saw it there that there was a Four Tops collection released.

[reese]

I was looking at the Fall/Winter 1985 Motown Catalog to see what I could learn about the LPs that were released to commemorate the 25th Anniversary which were included in this segment. Here is what I found listed.

MOT-5308 25 #1 Hits in 25 years.
MOT-5309 25 Years of Grammy Greats
MOT-5310 Motown Superstars sing Motown Superstars
MOT-5311 Great Songs & Performances Marvin Gaye
MOT-5312 Great Songs & Performances Michael Jackson & Jackson Five
MOT-5313 Great Songs & Performances Diana Ross & Supremes
MOT-5314 Great Songs & Performances Four Tops
MOT-5315 Great Songs & Performances Temptations
MOT-5316 Great Songs & Performances Smokey Robinson & Miracles

All of the above were also released on cassettes.

There was also listed an album for the Motown Story - 1st 25 Years with a catalog number MOT5-6048. I believe, but am not positive, this was released earlier in 1983. Can anyone clarify this?

I did not realize until I saw it there that there was a Four Tops collection released.

I have the Motown Story - The First Years set as well as the Great Songs collection by the Supremes.

According to the discography in Sharon Davs' book MOTOWN: THE HISTORY, the Motown Story set was released in May of 1983 while the Great Songs...collections were released the following August.

[mysterysinger]

Can see CD versions [[+1 cassette) of these albums here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...57714001278858

[luckyluckyme]

I have the Motown Story - The First Years set as well as the Great Songs collection by the Supremes.

According to the discography in Sharon Davs' book MOTOWN: THE HISTORY, the Motown Story set was released in May of 1983 while the Great Songs...collections were released the following August.

The 'Greatest Songs & Performances' lp's & cassettes by individual groups & artists were released in August of '83 as Sharon stated. But '25 #1 Hits from 25 Years' preceded them with an April release and '25 Years of Grammy Greats' and 'Motown Superstars Sing Motown Superstars' a May release. All of these were part of the Motown TMG 5000 Midline Series.
'The Motown Story: The First 25 Years' was not a midline release but part of the TMG [[Tamla, Motown, Gordy) Consolidated Series that was begun in January of '82, hence the different number from the other releases on pp 28-29 of that catalog.
This May '83 compilation was actually a shorter version of a September '82 six lp Motown promotional box set PR-84: The Artists and Music That Started It All. The 83 commercial lp/cassette release was discs 1-5 of that promo box set.
In June '83 a 7th lp was added to another promotional box set Pr-121 entitled once again 'The Motown Story: The First Twenty-Five Years'. Although Smokey Robinson had been the narrator on the previous edition, Lionel Richie was added as narrator for lp 7.

Finally in Nov '86, the cd edition was released using some selections from all previous 'Motown Story: The First Twenty-Five Years' lp/cassette editions and including Lionel Richie: "All Night Long", Rockwell: Somebody's Watching Me", DeBarge: "Rhythm Of The Night", Mary Jane Girls: "In My House" and Lionel Richie: " Say You, Say Me" in order to bring it up to date [[and adding 3 years past Motown's computation of The First Twenty-Five Years).

[drlorne]

WOW Lucky, My head is spinning, such detail. I have the vinyl 25 year collection, I thought the sound was great. I particularly remember liking the mix of What Becomes of the Brokenhearted. On the CD version, it's not the same mix.