The Ultimate Collection (Gladys Knight and The Pips album)

The Ultimate Collection
Compilation album by Gladys Knight and The Pips
Released October 7, 1997
Recorded 1966-1974
Genre Soul music
Length 74:01
Label Motown Records
Producer Harry Weinger
Gladys Knight and The Pips chronology
Anthology (version 3)
(1995)		 Gladys Knight + The Pips
The Ultimate Collection
(1997)		 Essential Collection
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

The Ultimate Collection is a compact disc by Gladys Knight and The Pips, released on Motown Records, catalogue MOTD 0826, in October 1997. It is a collection of singles comprising many of the group's greatest hits, with liner notes written by Ruth Adkins Robinson.

Content

The disc contains every Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and twelve top ten Rhythm and Blues singles chart hits enjoyed by Gladys Knight and the Pips that were released on the Motown associate label Soul Records imprint. One track was never released as a single, her cover of "Every Little Bit Hurts" previously done by fellow Motown artist Brenda Holloway, this version appearing on a full album of cover songs from 1968, Soul SS711 Silk 'n' Soul. One track is a b-side, "It's Time to Go Now" the flip of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," released a year before the version by Marvin Gaye. The song "Here I Am Again" was initially slated to be Soul 35111 and withdrawn from release; that single designation went to "Between Her Goodbye and My Hello." The disc was part of an "Ultimate Collection" series issued that year by Motown for many of their top-selling classic artists.

Starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s, standard industry practice shifted to a focus on album sales, where a single became less a separate entity and more simply an advertisement for an LP, and a lead single would be pulled off an album as a promotional tool. Prior to this, singles were concentrated upon as a profitable commodity, especially for smaller record labels, and albums were often built around already successful singles. Since Motown fixated on the hit single until the very end of its stay in Detroit, single versions of songs often featured different mixes than versions that would be later placed on albums. Singles were usually mixed "punchier" and "hotter" to sound better on car radios receiving AM broadcast.[2] The single versions are the ones appearing here.

Personnel

Track listing

Singles chart peak positions from Billboard charts; for catalogue item Soul SS711 from Billboard 200.

Track Catalogue Release Date Pop Chart R&B Chart Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. Soul 35039 7/14/67 #2 #1 I Heard It Through the Grapevine Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong 2:53
2. Soul 35042 1/25/68 #15 #5 The End of Our Road Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, Roger Penzabene 2:21
3. Soul 35034 6/12/67 #39 #3 Everybody Needs Love Edward Holland, Jr. and Norman Whitfield 2:56
4. Soul 35033 3/16/67 #98 Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me Barrett Strong, Roger Penzabene, Cornelius Grant 2:55
5. Soul 35045 5/16/68 #40 #9 It Should Have Been Me Norman Whitfield and Mickey Stevenson 2:58
6. Soul 35047 8/8/68 #41 #15 I Wish It Would Rain Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, Roger Penzabene 2:54
7. Soul SS711 12/68 #136 Every Little Bit Hurts Ed Cobb 3:03
8. Soul 35057 2/13/69 #63 #11 Didn't You Know (You Have to Cry Sometime) Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson 3:33
9. Soul 35023 6/7/66 Just Walk In My Shoes Helen Lewis and Kay Lewis 2:47
10. Soul 35063 5/25/69 #19 #2 The Nitty Gritty Lincoln Chase 3:01
11. Soul 35068 10/6/69 #17 #2 Friendship Train Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong 3:45
12. Soul 35071 3/3/70 #25 #3 You Need Love Like I Do (Don't You?) Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong 3:35
13. Soul 35078 10/29/70 #9 #1 If I Were Your Woman Gloria Jones, Pamela Sawyer, Clay McMurray 3:12
14. Soul 35083 5/6/71 #17 #2 I Don't Want to Do Wrong Johnny Bristol, Gladys Knight, William Guest
Merald "Bubba" Knight, Katherine Schaffner 		3:22
15. Soul 35111 Here I Am Again Clay McMurray and Patricia Foster 3:39
16. Soul 35091 11/18/71 #27 #3 Make Me the Woman That You Go Home To Clay McMurray 3:45
17. Soul 35094 3/6/72 #33 #13 Help Me Make It Through the Night Kris Kristofferson 4:19
18. Soul 35098 12/26/72 #2 #1 Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye) Jim Weatherly 4:21
19. Soul 35105 3/9/73 #19 #2 Daddy Could Swear I Declare Johnny Bristol, Gladys Knight, Merald "Bubba" Knight 3:43
20. Soul 35107 7/10/73 #61 #28 All I Need Is Time Bud Runeau 3:22
21. Soul 35111 5/24/74 #57 #45 Between Her Goodbye and My Hello Jim Weatherly 3:50
22. Soul 35039b 7/14/67 It's Time to Go Now Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong 2:42

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ George, Nelson. Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985. ISBN 0-312-86698-4, pp. 113-114.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, September 15, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.