The "Gold" series........Will it ever be back?

[daviddesper]

I am sure all of you remember this series of releases that came out about 5-10 years ago. A number of our Motown stars [[Supremes, Temps, Tops, Smokey, Marvin, Gladys, Martha, etc.) all received two-CD treatment, usually with anywhere from 35-40 tracks per package. But it was not limited to Motown or even soul for that matter. This series seemed to cover all genres of music, from country to hard rock and even some classical. I would not be surprised to find that there were 200 or more artists honored.

I thought they were great, since in some cases it was the first time a truly definitive anthology for some of the artists had been made available. But I have not seen any new releases in this series for at least 3-5 years now, so I was just wondering if I was missing something or if there was a chance the concept might be revived.

As for our Motown artists, as far as I know Stevie Wonder was never featured in one of them. If so, then that would seem to be a huge oversight. The Marvelettes never got one, even though they certainly released enough material for one. Not sure about Junior Walker, but I "think" he had one. Marvin did as a solo, but you could argue that he and Tammi deserved one also as a duo.

So anyway, does anyone have any inside information about this series?

[Roger Polhill]

Hopefully not as so many of these were rehashed and many had errors with tracks like "Til You Were Gone" on the Miracles Gold which was in fact Frank Wilson.They looked cheap and in fact were.

[soulstevie]

I also liked this series. But they did what record labels always do: Stop at one point and then start a new line a couple of years later. And since you´re asking: Jr. Walker didn´t have a Gold release. I bought Vandellas, Miracles, Bob Marley [[his pre-Tuff Gong releases), Stephanie Mills, Patti Labelle and New Jack Swing. They are good collections for fans who are more into the acts and who want more than the absolute hits.

[mysterysinger]

I assume the Stephanie Mills release had none of her Motown product on it?

[reese]

I assume the Stephanie Mills release had none of her Motown product on it?

No. It covered her 20th Century Fox, Casablanca, and MCA material.

[soulster]

A lot of the reason these things end is because a new CEO, president, or whatever, comes in with different ideas. Another reason is that the CD format really is declining. Companies are more careful in choosing what to release because of that. Also, the suits believe that everything people want to buy has already been released in the series.

[carlo]

This was an awesome series. I have The Supremes, The Temptations, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Stephanie Mills, Etta James, Tears For Fears, Patti LaBelle, Donna Summer and Gladys Knight & the Pips.

Marvin did as a solo, but you could argue that he and Tammi deserved one also as a duo.

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell already had the 2 CD "Complete Duets" release, so I'm guessing that's probably why they didn't receive a "Gold" release. The Complete Duets is still easy to find [[Amazon UK has it for extremely cheap) and it basically just would have been a rehash of what we already have.

[Glenpwood]

The Gold series seemed to dry up when the retail chains disappeared. Walmart and Target arent big fans of carrying deep and or expensive catalog product. The only chain left is FYE and theyve closed most of their locations in the last 2 years. Andy and George said the big box stores dont want to stock albums over 2 years old which is why we see so many new best ofs on the market. The whole series seems to have been replaced by the single disc Icon series which are more affordable and easier impulse buys. Theres not really many acts I can think of in the Universal family who didnt get the Gold treatment anyway. A lot of the ones I bought had great essays and photos.

[daviddesper]

Thanks guys for all your input. Another thing I didn't mention is that in some cases there were separate releases in the US and the UK with different track lists. The two that come to mind are Gladys Knight and the Pips and Dusty Springfield. There may have been others.

[jalowe1957]

The Gold series seemed to dry up when the retail chains disappeared. Walmart and Target arent big fans of carrying deep and or expensive catalog product. The only chain left is FYE and theyve closed most of their locations in the last 2 years. Andy and George said the big box stores dont want to stock albums over 2 years old which is why we see so many new best ofs on the market. The whole series seems to have been replaced by the single disc Icon series which are more affordable and easier impulse buys. Theres not really many acts I can think of in the Universal family who didnt get the Gold treatment anyway. A lot of the ones I bought had great essays and photos.

These days, you have to find a place like Amoeba Music in California in order to seek it out.

[Sugarchilehoneybaby]

Some of them were indeed redundant, such as The Supremes [[although technically "At Their Best" hadn't appeared on CD), but some were badly needed, such as the marvelous one on Stephanie Mills, as she'd never had a multi-label compilation before and Gold also focused on the single versions, plus a couple of rarities. I actually bought two copies of that one!

[soulster]

The Gold series seemed to dry up when the retail chains disappeared. Walmart and Target arent big fans of carrying deep and or expensive catalog product. The only chain left is FYE and theyve closed most of their locations in the last 2 years. Andy and George said the big box stores dont want to stock albums over 2 years old which is why we see so many new best ofs on the market. The whole series seems to have been replaced by the single disc Icon series which are more affordable and easier impulse buys. Theres not really many acts I can think of in the Universal family who didnt get the Gold treatment anyway. A lot of the ones I bought had great essays and photos.

On the contrary, it seems that these big-box retailers love carrying CDs like the gold series. They are relatively cheap, overall sound great, and are comprehensive. Usually, they are just repackagings of previous collections. The producers usually chose the best sounding ones for the series. So, if you buy a gold CD, you may be just buying a previously released collection in a new package.

One of the biggest reasons we aren't seeing these types of collections is that in the last decade, the industry has laid off so many employees that there is no one there to continue them. Now, though, we have the "Icon" single-disc series. I have not heard any of them, but they are not comprehensive. I have not heard any of them, so I cannot verify the sound quality of them.

Thanks guys for all your input. Another thing I didn't mention is that in some cases there were separate releases in the US and the UK with different track lists. The two that come to mind are Gladys Knight and the Pips and Dusty Springfield. There may have been others.

I did not know that, and have no knowledge of the U.K. versions.

[thommg]

The Gold series was similar to the Definitive series & The Essential series both of which are disappearing as well. They seemed to be a big push to get sales on a wide variety of performers. I think there will probably be something else to replace them - same tracks but with a new name on different/fresher packaging. Wasn't it Andy who said that the reason there are new greatest hits packages every few years is because the big box stores only carry newer titles and won't order any legacy title that is a couple of years old? If you take that into consideration, it makes sense that we keep getting new cd's with the same old stuff.

[soulster]

The big-box stores have certainly hurt the marketability of music, but who's fault it that? The record companies distribution and pricing policies helped kill stores like Tower and mom & pop stores. Now they must be slaves to the whims of Target and Walmart.