‘Hitsville USA’ Celebrates Motown’s Rich Heritage

The Supremes registered almost 20 Top 10 hits during the Diana Ross glory years in the ‘60s, from 1964’s “Where Did Our Love Go” through 1969’s collaboration with the Temptations on “Someday We’ll Be Together.”

Similarly, Stevie Wonder generated almost a dozen Top 40 singles during the same decade, from 1963’s “Fingertips--Part 2” to 1969’s “Yester-Me, Yesterday-You, Yesterday.”

So why are there only four Supremes hits and four Wonder hits on Motown Records’ “Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971,” an ambitious new four-disc box set?

One clue is the listing on the set’s back cover of all 104 songs--there’s no mention of the artists who recorded them.

That’s not meant to be a slap at the artists, each of whom is saluted with a capsule bio and photo in the accompanying booklet.

The omission of the artists’ names was probably a function of design, but it also serves to underscore the sense of teamwork at Motown--the countless singers, musicians, writers and producers who contributed to making a reality of label founder Berry Gordy Jr.’s extraordinary vision.

Unlike the many previous CD compilations saluting the individual artists from the legendary Motown roster, then, “Hitsville USA” celebrates the Detroit record company’s heritage.

Even if we get only a representative sample of artists like the Supremes and Wonder, the collection is still packed with hits.

Among them:

* The Supremes are represented by “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” “You Can’t Hurry Love” and “Love Child” from the ‘60s, as well as “Up the Ladder to the Roof,” “Stoned Love” and “Nathan Jones” from the post-Ross ‘70s.

* Stevie Wonder’s tracks are “Fingertips--Part 2,” “Uptight (Everything’s Alright),” “For Once in My Life” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours.”

* Marvin Gaye’s eight titles include “Stubborn Kind of Fellow,” “Pride and Joy,” “It Takes Two” (a Kim Weston duet), “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (a Tammi Terrell duet), “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “What’s Going On.”

* The Temptations’ are represented by 10 songs, including “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” and “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me).”

In the collection, which kicks off with Barrett Strong’s 1960 hit “Money (That’s What I Want),” such Motown hitmakers as Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, the Four Tops, Mary Wells, Gladys Knight & the Pips and the Jackson 5 are also represented.

But the set also exposes a new generation of pop fans to another tier of Motown artists--including Shorty Long, Carolyn Crawford, Chris Clark and Syreeta Wright--who to varying degrees were also part of the remarkable Motown story.

The real star of Motown, however, was Gordy, whose ambition and determination enabled the label to reshape both pop music and pop culture.