A Collection of 16 original big hits vol. 7

[BayouMotownMan]

Hoping someone can help me, I have this on cd and the cd has gone defective. It's one of my fav collections, does anyone know where I can purchase another one of these? Ebay and amazon do not have it and it's not listed on iTunes

[woodward]

There are 2 listed on www.discogs.com. One is located in Japan the other Sweden.

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/13232222?ev=rb

They don't appear to be very plentiful.

[Sotosound]

Hoping someone can help me, I have this on cd and the cd has gone defective. It's one of my fav collections, does anyone know where I can purchase another one of these? Ebay and amazon do not have it and it's not listed on iTunes

Have you tried ripping it on a computer so as to at least get a copy of data, i.e. the music?

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I wasn't aware that the "Collection Of 16 Original Big Hits" LP series had been reissued on CD. Had I known it at the time, I would have bought them all. Back in the day, those LPs filled in many a gap in my ever-growing Motown collection. I remember how especially thrilling Vols. 5 & 6 were. So many important tracks that I wasn't even aware of at the time like THE MARVELETTES "I'll Keep Holding On"; KIM WESTON "Helpless"; TAMMI TERRELL "I Can't Believe You Love Me"; THE VELVELETTES "Needle In A Haystack"; etc. It was a great series that Motown remained consistent with through Vol. [[I think) 11. Of course, I now have all of the tracks contained within that series, but still it brings back many fond Motown memories from that time. Just seeing the LP cover for each volume is still a thrill for me.

PS: Has anyone ever figured out why Vol. 2 was uniquely titled "A PACKAGE Of 16 Original Big Hits" instead of the usual "COLLECTION Of 16 Original Big Hits"?

Best of luck, Bayou. I hope you',re able to find one of the two copies available at Discogs.

[kenneth]

@Gary,

Wow, for once we actually agree on something Motown related!


It was a fantastic series. I absolutely agree with you about volumes five and six. Volume five was the very first Motown album I ever bought and I too was thrilled with it because it contained lots of somewhat obscure singles at the time which I either hadn’t heard before or had heard only briefly. The album was a great bargain because it also contains 16 songs instead of the usual 12, or even less at times.


I didn’t recall that volume two had a slightly different title, but I know the first cover of the original series was called “a package“ and had the picture of a package on the cover instead of the usual marquee looking cover with all the song titles listed on the album cover in the design that became so familiar. The original cover of volume one is harder to find. I do have it in my collection and will gladly post a photo of it if anyone hasn’t seen it before.

[DWSheffer]

I've just always thought it weird that Vol. 2 was released on Tamla, while the rest of the series are all Motown releases. That's more of a mystery to me!
Darin

[daviddesper]

I could not agree more that Volume 6 was the absolute best in this series. I assume the above person has tried Ebay? Also sometimes WOB [[World of Books) will have hard-to-find items.

[daviddesper]

After typing that suggestion I checked WOB myself. They do not have the item he wants but they certainly do have an extensive Motown collection. These will be used products, like with Discogs, but I have ordered from them before and never been disappointed. So for our original poster, as well as any other interested party, just visit WOB.com. Switch the search engine from books to music, and then type in Motown. As of a moment ago, they had 167 Motown products, some of which I have never heard of. The good news is that shipping is free on all orders but the bad news is that they offer no track listings or information about any given release. So when you find something you want, you either have to know all about it already or you have to cross-reference it elsewhere to get the information.

[danman869]

I remember coming across all 10 volumes of this series on CD back in 1989/90 at a forgotten chain music store in the Bridgewater Mall in New Jersey. I think I might have been on a date at the time, we had been aimlessly walking through the mall, and I discovered these and promptly geeked out. This mall was at least 45 minutes or more away from my house, so there would've been no reason for me to have been there checking for music--total coincidence. There were plenty of music stores in the malls near my house that I'd always been regularly checking for new Motown CDs. Being only around 20/21 at the time, I must not have had enough money with me because I can recall having had to go all the way back to that mall the next day and buying whatever CDs I hadn't bought. I don't think I ever saw this series in any other music stores after that. Maybe a disc or two, but never the entire set. What was nice was that, at the time, as others have said, this series exposed me to Motown music that I hadn't yet heard at the time [I'd only been collecting/listening to Motown since 1987] and the set seemed like such a great find!

As we entered the age of iTunes in the early 21st century, my collection had grown and I'd begun adding all of my CDs onto my computer. At that time, I'd collected music on many Motown artists that had subsequently been released and this set seemed less necessary to my collection so they weren't added. However, in the years since, I've learned here on SDF that there were a few alternate mixes/versions on these CDs [presumably these alternates were also on the vinyl versions when originally released back in the '60s] so, in the last 5-6 years, several tracks from these CDs have been ripped to my hard drive and added to my Apple Music library.

Hopefully Rick can find a copy of that CD he needs. It's definitely upsetting when a piece of your collection gets damaged or destroyed!

[BayouMotownMan]

The reason Vol. 7 is so unique is that it has a mix of Ain't Too Proud To Beg with strings mixed in. This mix has never been issued on any other package...or has it?

[reese]

The reason Vol. 7 is so unique is that it has a mix of Ain't Too Proud To Beg with strings mixed in. This mix has never been issued on any other package...or has it?

I think there's a strings mix of ATPTB on the Tempts' LOST AND FOUND collection.

[BayouMotownMan]

I think there's a strings mix of ATPTB on the Tempts' LOST AND FOUND collection.

Yea I have that but it doesn't sound like the same mix as the Collection set.

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

One thing of note about the vinyl releases of volumes 5 and 6 of these collections is that you got rare stereo mixes of several songs that you could NOT find elsewhere at the time. The Marvelettes' "I'll Keep Holding On," Brenda Holloway 's "When I'm Gone," Kim Weston's "Take Me In Your Arms" and "Helpless," and The Velvelettes' "Needle In A Haystack" all received proper stereo mixes for the stereo versions of the albums. "I'll Keep Holding On" and "Take Me In You Arms" in particular are startlingly different than their mono mixes and if you didn't purchase these Big 16 LPs, you'd never know about these one-time only stereo mixes. Weirdly, when these were released on CD, the mono mixes were substituted for the stereo mixes, at least with "Keep" and "Take Me" I'm certain . I remember being so disappointed, but thankfully the Millennium Collections rectified this.

[Roger Polhill]

There is an extended strings mix on "The Motown Box" at 2.40.

[kenneth]

I know we've discussed this before but Volume 2, the only volume issued on Tamla as someone pointed out earlier, when it came out in Stereo had completely new rerecordings of a couple songs, and also a couple extended mixes. From my copies, it appears the Stereo version was only issued several years after the album was available in mono only. The Vandellas track "I'll Have to Let Him Go" was a rerecording with an arrangement very similar to the tracks on the "Dance Party" album. The Kim Weston track in stereo was an extended version from the mono track. The CD of this volume definitely included the stereo versions of the songs. It was the only volume I searched for on CD precisely to get the rare versions of several of the tracks.

[nabob]

There were 11 volumes issued on vinyl, but only the first 10 appeared on CD. Volume 5 is my favorite with a number of alternate stereo mixes that weren't included on the album. My Girl Has Gone & I'll Keep Holding On were two of these. Volume 2, as mentioned above, included some unique stereo mixes on the CD that differed from the mono vinyl. Volume 3 has a stereo string mix of What's So Good About Goodbye? that I don't recall hearing on subsequent releases. I will check out Volume 7 for the string version of Ain't Too Proud to Beg.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I think there's a strings mix of ATPTB on the Tempts' LOST AND FOUND collection.

Reese, I love the strings version of "Ain't Too Proud To Beg". They're hot! I'm still surprised that Motown chose to go the string-less route for this release.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

@Gary,

Wow, for once we actually agree on something Motown related!


It was a fantastic series. I absolutely agree with you about volumes five and six. Volume five was the very first Motown album I ever bought and I too was thrilled with it because it contained lots of somewhat obscure singles at the time which I either hadn’t heard before or had heard only briefly. The album was a great bargain because it also contains 16 songs instead of the usual 12, or even less at times.


I didn’t recall that volume two had a slightly different title, but I know the first cover of the original series was called “a package“ and had the picture of a package on the cover instead of the usual marquee looking cover with all the song titles listed on the album cover in the design that became so familiar. The original cover of volume one is harder to find. I do have it in my collection and will gladly post a photo of it if anyone hasn’t seen it before.

Hi Kenny, it's true that Vol. 2 was titled with Package instead of Collection. And, as someone pointed out, it was on Tamla instead of Motown itself.

Yeah, let's see that alternate cover of Vol. 1 you were talking about. I've never heard of it.

[mysterysinger]

Volume 2 was never titled with "Package". It was always "A Collection Of" - only the first volume was "Package" because the original cover included a photo of a parcel. Volume 2 was issued on the Tamla label.

Here you can see photos and scans of all the volumes in the US series along with their CD counterparts - https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...57713299932961

[mysterysinger]

And here is the UK series.... https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...-7UnuwC-7UnvzL

[Stax_of_Motown]

Hoping someone can help me, I have this on cd and the cd has gone defective. It's one of my fav collections, does anyone know where I can purchase another one of these? Ebay and amazon do not have it and it's not listed on iTunes

Have you tried playing on a different CD player to rule that out?

I have had a few problems with CD's "jumping" but was able to copy to recordable disk [[rip to computer - then transfer to disk with standard Windows player software) which then played fine.

[BayouMotownMan]

Have you tried playing on a different CD player to rule that out?

I have had a few problems with CD's "jumping" but was able to copy to recordable disk [[rip to computer - then transfer to disk with standard Windows player software) which then played fine.

I flooded in the Louisiana 2016 flood, lost everything. All my vinyl Motown, cassettes and even 8 tracks. Only a few CDs went underwater and this was one, so no, it's ruined.

[kenneth]

Here's the original cover of Volume 1. I think the back cover is the same in both editions.





A question for the experts. Was Vol. 1 ever reissued in Stereo? It doesn't appear so from the inner sleeve inserts that I have. I have two copies of the reissued cover and both are Mono. It seems odd that they would reissue Vol. 2 in Stereo several years after the original issue, but leave Volume 1 as it was in Mono only. But of course many such inconsistencies exist in the Motown catalog, though I always wonder how these decisions get made [[or not).

It was such a revelation to me at the time to hear a few rerecordings or remixes when I finally found Vol. 2 in Stereo, I'd love to know if there might be some other versions out there of the Vol. 1 track listing. I think that was my first album purchase when I realized there could even be different versions of songs floating around out there. It was like when I discovered several of the volumes in this series issued in the UK had different track listings than did the US volumes. It was fascinating to me to realize that some songs hit in the UK which didn't make it in the US, and another source for little heard or [[to me) unknown recordings up to that time.

Anyone know if there's a Stereo version of Volume 1? I suppose one of our archivists, like DFTMC, likely have this documented in their discographies.

[mysterysinger]

Anyone know if there's a Stereo version of Volume 1? I suppose one of our archivists, like DFTMC, likely have this documented in their discographies.

Yes Volume 1 was issued in stereo too - see here..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...phy/4552265396

[kenneth]

Yes Volume 1 was issued in stereo too - see here..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...phy/4552265396

Thanks MysterySinger! Of course now I'll have to hunt for it, so maybe thanks are not called for! All I need is another record in my already enormous collection!

[mysterysinger]

Happy to be of service.

[paul_nixon]

I know we've discussed this before but Volume 2, the only volume issued on Tamla as someone pointed out earlier, when it came out in Stereo had completely new rerecordings of a couple songs, and also a couple extended mixes. From my copies, it appears the Stereo version was only issued several years after the album was available in mono only. The Vandellas track "I'll Have to Let Him Go" was a rerecording with an arrangement very similar to the tracks on the "Dance Party" album. The Kim Weston track in stereo was an extended version from the mono track. The CD of this volume definitely included the stereo versions of the songs. It was the only volume I searched for on CD precisely to get the rare versions of several of the tracks.

The Vandellas track "I'll Have to Let Him Go" was a rerecording

Version one has Martha opening with the words I Got To Let Him Go the latter version she sings I'll Have To Let Him Go

[paul_nixon]

I know we've discussed this before but Volume 2, the only volume issued on Tamla as someone pointed out earlier, when it came out in Stereo had completely new rerecordings of a couple songs, and also a couple extended mixes. From my copies, it appears the Stereo version was only issued several years after the album was available in mono only. The Vandellas track "I'll Have to Let Him Go" was a rerecording with an arrangement very similar to the tracks on the "Dance Party" album. The Kim Weston track in stereo was an extended version from the mono track. The CD of this volume definitely included the stereo versions of the songs. It was the only volume I searched for on CD precisely to get the rare versions of several of the tracks.

The Kim Weston track in stereo was an extended version from the mono track

Just Loving You in stereo on volume 2 was the unedited version - most recently was released on Kim's Anthology

[kenneth]

@paul_nixon,

Did the stereo version of volume one include any rerecordings or extended versions? I think you’re referring to volume 2 only above correct? I love the extended version of the Kim Weston track on that volume. I read that she always loved performing jazz and show tune type material. Her amazing talent and her beautiful voice seems more suited to crossover success than some of the already established artists that Motown recorded to try and break into the supper club set, such as with Barbara McNair and Diahann Carroll.

[Stax_of_Motown]

I flooded in the Louisiana 2016 flood, lost everything. All my vinyl Motown, cassettes and even 8 tracks. Only a few CDs went underwater and this was one, so no, it's ruined.

Sorry to hear about that. Whilst I rarely play vinyl these days, using CD for convenience, I would still be devastated to lose my vinyl collection for any reason.

[BayouMotownMan]

Yes Volume 1 was issued in stereo too - see here..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...phy/4552265396

In early 1965 Motown finally starting issuing stereo packages. I think Where Did Our Love Go was the first one if I recall correctly. Then they reached back into their catalog and re-issued many titles in stereo. The first two Package of hits was among them as well as the Mary Wells lps and Greatest Hits [[she was still hot then), the three Martha lps, a couple of Marvelettes and Miracles lps and the two Temptations and the Four Tops lps. As time went on I do remember the mono lps were issued weeks if not months ahead of the stereo mixes. Until we get to 1968 when everything lp was stereo and mono was phased out

[paul_nixon]

@paul_nixon,

Did the stereo version of volume one include any rerecordings or extended versions? I think you’re referring to volume 2 only above correct? I love the extended version of the Kim Weston track on that volume. I read that she always loved performing jazz and show tune type material. Her amazing talent and her beautiful voice seems more suited to crossover success than some of the already established artists that Motown recorded to try and break into the supper club set, such as with Barbara McNair and Diahann Carroll.

I'll have a little look and see what I can find out yes I was talking about Vol2 as far as Kim Was concerned when I played her the anthology and all the jazz tunes it moved her to tears - she said she thought she would never see those released and she just loved them

[kenneth]

Thanks Paul! Even when I was in my late teens and first heard her singing “Just Loving You” and “Love Me All the Way” after buying those comps, I knew Weston was something very special and I loved the drama she brought to those recordings.

[bradburger]

Someone posted the whole of the US version of volume 7 on You Tube a while back, and I made copies of the tracks on it that were different stereo mixes. [I should have made a note, as I can't seem to find it now!]

'Ain't Too Proud to Beg' was indeed one of them, and the strings were well up in the mix compared to the original single and stereo L.P mixes.

The other mix that was different was the Miracles 'My Girl Has Gone'. This was a better mix than the original stereo L.P mix and had the extra reverb that was briefly on Smokey's vocal right at the end of the tune, as per the single mix.

I wonder then if this mix was actually used for the single but folded down to mono?

I say this because there were two versions of Tamla 54123A issued, with the second one clearly a stereo mix but the left channel [drums, piano & strings] have been muted!

I note that the DM numbers are the same [DM-WIL 152218] although it seems some pressings mistakenly have DM-WFL 152218 instead. Therefore, it would appear the stereo mix issued on 16 Big Hits Vol 7 was used for both pressings of T54123A.

Cheers

Paul

[mysterysinger]

I don't know if this will help you [[and perhaps you should ignore the red UK cover as the tracks listed are from the USA release) but there may be a source of tracks here unless, of course, they're not the actual one from "A Collection Of 16 Original Big Hits Volume 7". I'dbe interested to know if this works for anyone......


https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?a=32197