VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volumes 1-12 [2008-2013] (75 x CDs)

Today I hit the big 70! (Steamers and booze optional but encouraged) 

I toyed with the idea of sharing a 70-CD set to mark the occasion, didn’t have one readily on hand, so I figured this would make a pretty great offering instead… Together with lemonflag's Radio Show post.  This is, as they say, The Bees Knees...

MOTOWN

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volumes 1-12 [2008-2013] (75 x CDs)

The Complete Motown Singles Volumes 1-12 box set series was released by Hip-O Select, a specialty imprint of Universal Music Group. This monumental series documents every Motown single released from 1959 through 1972, across 12 volumes issued between 2005 and 2013. To engage with The Complete Motown Singles Volumes 1-12 is to enroll in a sonic university, one where rhythm, resistance, romance, and reinvention are the core subjects. This twelve-volume anthology is more than a series of box sets. It is a living archive of Black American artistry, entrepreneurship, and cultural transformation. Each disc is a lesson, each track a primary source, and each liner note a footnote in the syllabus of soul.

Motown’s founder Berry Gordy envisioned a “hit factory,” modeled after Detroit’s auto assembly lines. But what emerged was far more organic: a community of artists, producers, and songwriters who crafted a sound that was both universally appealing and deeply rooted in African American experience. From the doo-wop echoes of Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” to the psychedelic soul of The Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” these volumes trace the evolution of a label that mirrored, and often led, the changing tides of American music and society.

Volume 1 begins with the birth of Tamla Records, where raw ambition meets minimal resources. The early singles are stripped-down, urgent, and often recorded in Gordy’s home studio. As the volumes progress, we witness the rise of the Funk Brothers, Motown’s house band, whose uncredited genius underpins nearly every hit. Their grooves are the connective tissue of the label’s sound, tight, melodic, and unmistakably Motown.

By Volume 4, the label’s roster has expanded: Mary Wells, The Miracles, Martha & The Vandellas, and a young Stevie Wonder begin to dominate the charts. The songwriting teams, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Ashford & Simpson, Norman Whitfield, become as iconic as the performers. Their compositions blend pop structure with gospel emotion, creating songs that are both danceable and profound.

Volumes 7 through 9 mark Motown’s golden era. The Supremes, Four Tops, and Marvin Gaye deliver polished, chart-topping singles that define mid-60s radio. Yet beneath the polish lies a growing complexity. Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and Gladys Knight’s version of the same song reveal a label willing to explore darker emotional terrain. The music begins to reflect the turbulence of the times, civil rights, Vietnam, urban unrest.

By Volumes 10 to 12, Motown is no longer just a hit machine, it’s a cultural institution. The sound diversifies: psychedelic soul, socially conscious lyrics, and experimental arrangements emerge. The Jackson 5 explode onto the scene, bringing youthful exuberance and crossover appeal. Meanwhile, artists like Edwin Starr and Marvin Gaye push the boundaries of pop with protest anthems like “War” and “What’s Going On.”

Taken as a whole, The Complete Motown Singles Volumes 1-12 offer more than nostalgia, they provide a curriculum in American history, Black excellence, and musical innovation. They teach us how a small Detroit label reshaped global pop, how art can respond to injustice, and how rhythm can carry both joy and resistance. To listen is to learn. To study is to honor. (B)

Included in this set are the following:

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 01 1959-1961 [2004] (6 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 02 1962 [2005] (4 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 03 1963 [2005] (5 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 04 1964 [2006] (6 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 05 1965 [2006] (6 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 06 1966 [2006] (5 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 07 1967 [2007] (5 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 08 1968 [2007] (6 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 09 1969 [2008] (6 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 10 1970 [2008] (6 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 11 A 1971 [2009] (5 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 11 B 1971 [2009] (5 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 12 A1972 [2009] (5 x CDs)

VA - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 12 B 1972 [2013] (5 x CDs)

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Pt.1     Pt.2     Pt.3 

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Pt.1     Pt.2     Pt.3 

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Track lists

THE FULL TRACK LIST FOR ALL BOX SETS - MOTOWN Vol. 01-12 can be found here:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/LBzxYKGq

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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