Search - Marvelettes :: The Best of the Marvelettes: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

This Hunter Has Been Captured...

shindigger | WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS USA | 10/15/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of the latest entries in the Millennium Collection series and as such, should be considered as a very basic introduction to the artist/group featured. With this release, however, even the most ardent fans (such as myself) will want to own this one! Yes, it is little more than a "greatest hits" collection, but there are some great surprises: a rare stereo mix of the fantastic pot-boiling "I'll Keep Holding On," an alternate mix of "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game," (with an added verse available previously only on the Anthology vinyl LP) and a slighty different mix of "When You're Young And In Love." The capper is a fantastic (and I do mean FANTASTIC) photo of the group featured on the back of the CD case. It's worth it to own this new release if only for this photo of these beautiful women. GRRRRRR! Thanks to these collections, many new fans will be added to the legions of already-present admirers."

The marvelettes sound excellent on this CD

Laurence Upton | 03/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Marvelettes helped put Motown on the map. They were there
at the beginning with the Miracles and Mary Wells. They had the
first single to make #1 on the pop charts with "Please Mr.Postman" I am a big Motown fan and the Marvelettes are my
favorite. In my opinion they were the girl group of all girl
groups. The Supremes were great but they were so polished
and commercial. A very good CD to buy is the Marvelettes
"Compact Command Performances" it is no longer available
but you can get it through Amazon used. Anyway this "Compact
Command Performances" has all their hits on it. This CD
20th century masters sounds excellent. It has 11 songs on
it and they are the best and the sound quality is like hearingthem in a whole new way. Motown overlooked the Marvelettes and put all input into the Supremes. The Marvelettes
fans love them and believe me I know one day they will be in
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame---we just have to be patient.
Songs like "Too Many Fish In the Sea", and "I'll Keep On
Holding On" are what the Motown sound was all about. "Don't
Mess With Bill" is a classic the vocals and production are
great--this is when Smokey Robinson took over the group.
I want to thank the Marvelettes for their wonderful music
and God bless all of them"

Good News And Bad News

Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 02/27/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Although the Marvelettes were among Motown's more successful acts, and seem to have had an album for virtually every year of their career, few if any of these are in print or have been issued on CD. Instead, there are any number of compilations, either purely cherry-picking or also exhuming a taster of unreleased material from the vast Motown vaults. This collection from the 20th Century Masters series falls squarely into the former category, selecting eleven prime Tamla-label A-sides for its tracklist.



Included, of course, is the big hit that marked their 1961 debut, Please Mr Postman, as covered by the Beatles, and with Marvin Gaye on drums. It marked Motown's first US number one in the pop charts. Also found here are perhaps their best-known later hits, Don't Mess With Bill, written by Smokey Robinson, and When You're Young In Love, already a hit for Ruby and the Romantics.



The first three or four tracks feature the fabulous throaty vocals of Gladys Horton. Thereafter, their secret weapon, the sexily voiced Wanda Young gained frequent prominence. She became their regular lead vocalist when Smokey Robinson took an interest in the group. He was looking for a singer to replace Mary Wells, who had defected from the label, and concocted masterpieces for her colourful and playful inflections such as The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game and My Baby Must Be A Magician, remembered also for the bass vocal part contributed by Melvyn Franklin of the Temptations.



The good news is that all eleven tracks have been meticulously remastered in stereo. This marks the stereo debut of the single version of Please Mr Postman, brings back into catalogue two or three other stereo mixes and may be the first time I'll Keep Holding On has appeared in true stereo on CD. The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game is not the single, but a longer version completed a couple of months later with an extra verse, unreleased until Anthology in 1975, and previously unavailable on CD as far as I know. Many have covered this song, including Blondie and Smokey himself with the Miracles, but none have equalled the Marvelettes snappily joyous original. When You're Young In Love also appears in a rare alternative mix. Every track on here is a finely-honed gem and the CD is over far too soon.



The bad news is that one reason why the CD is over so quickly is that it has a scandalously short running time of 28:42. On any CD of new recordings this would be notably poor value; on a collection of re-issued material that has recouped its production costs many times over in the intervening forty years or more, it is simply unacceptable. The year before this compilation there was a Marvelettes CD released entitled The Ultimate Collection, which had 25 classic tracks on it, including all 11 found here. Therefore, I would have to recommend that in preference to this unless, like me, you need to have them all in stereo. Whichever you choose, though, choose one."