Motown went for a wide variety of artists (36) instead of just choosing the obvious hits by the major artists as previous collections had done. Of the major artists, the nine selections each by the Miracles and the Temptations are a good representation of their best work during this period. The Diana Ross-led Supremes, however, are strongly neglected, with only four singles included here. Especially key omissions in a historical set such as this is their first and last number ones: "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Someday We'll Be Together." Meanwhile, all three 1970-1971 hits by the Jean Terrell-led Supremes are found here. The selection of Martha and the Vandellas' "Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things)" over "I'm Ready For Love" and "Honey Chile" doesn't work for me, while Shorty Long's only bonafide hit, the novelty "Here Comes The Judge" is left off at the expense of the non-hit "Function At The Junction" and "Devil With The Blue Dress On."

These digitally remastered singles are all in crisp mono, as they were originally mixed for radio. Many of them (such as the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" and the Temptations' "Cloud Nine" are dramatically different from the versions heard on "oldies" radio today. The singles are sequenced for the most part in release date order. Most of the major hits from the 1959 - 1963 period are included on the set: Barrett Strong's "Money," the Miracles' "Shop Around", the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman, and the Contours' "Do You Love Me", for instance. In 1964, Motown became a true hit factory (the Supremes, Temptations, and Four Tops all had their first major hits that year) and it is here that the omissions on the set start to become more pronounced. There is just too much great music from 1964 through 1971 from Motown to fit onto only four discs (actually three, since the first disc is dedicated to the 1959 - 1963 period).

The 68-page booklet is a nice accompaniment to the discs. While the biographies aren't that extensive, it is hard to find even what is listed here on the more obscure artists like Carolyn Crawford and the Monitors. A thorough track listing provides the artist's name, songwriters, publishers, producers, release date, label number, and peak chart position in Billboard (pop and r&b) for each single. Best of all is the listing - by instrument and year - of the names of the incredible musicians who played on the Motown recordings. Motown never put musician credits on any of the albums it released during this period and it is great to see them finally given their due on a major collection.

Motown subsequently released a four-disc box set companion collection (in stereo) covering 1972 - 1992. It is a shame that they never released an additional box set (or two) on the 1959 - 1971 period. This retrospective is a great introduction to the magic of Motown, but it is far from the complete story.


The music is CLASSIC, the CD mastering is AWFUL   January 10, 2002
 21 out of 27 found this review helpful

It's an unforgivable shame that this monumental 4 CD set has not been fixed or redone since its release 10 years ago. The mixes are cold, gritty, lifeless and, in somes cases, the singles included are fundamentally different from the original versions.

The 2 CD set called 'Motown - the Classic Years' released in 2000 by Polygram rectifies the mixing problems and restores the original versions of these classic songs. Comparing the sets head to head, that one wins hands down in terms of audio quality and faithfulness to the original sound and ambience. The drawback is you get less than half of the songs contained in the 'Hitsville USA' box set.

Also recommended for Marvin fans is the 2001 2 CD release of 'What's Going On' from Tamla/Motown. It includes both original 1971 LP mixes of the album on disk 1 as well as live and singles versions on disk 2. The audio quality is top notch--it doesn't have the gritty overtly-"digital" sound of this 'Hitsville USA' collection.

I hope that a more comprehensive reissue of Motown hits is forthcoming that will offer the audio quality of more recent CD releases. This music deserves it.


Every track on this box set is in mono sound!   March 26, 2004
 17 out of 28 found this review helpful

Boy, what a disappointment!

Every single one of these 104 songs are presented in their original mono sound, just as they were all those years ago. However, nowhere on the package does it mention this important fact.

This would normally be a 5 STAR box, but because of the unadvertised mono sound, I give it only 3 stars!

A little dishonesty there, Motown.


Timeless, But Toneless....   February 8, 2005
 15 out of 24 found this review helpful

You can not fault the music. The songs included here all deserve a special place in music history. However, the sound quality leaves much to be desired. Every track is presented in the original mono version (this is not mentioned anywhere on the packaging);and, if any of the songs were "remastered" I would be very suprised. If you want to hear this music like you did the first time, in AM radio mono-quality sound, this is a great purchase. It might be best to search out "remastered" greatest hits releases from some of the individual artists included here if you can afford it.


5 stars x 2 = 10 stars   December 21, 1999
 13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I was born in Los Angeles in 1957,so I was pretty young when these songs came out. On Los Angeles AM radio in the early 60's. The top songs were easygoing safe stuff. Any time a Motown song came on you just had to dance,you couldn't help yourself. This HITSVILLE U.S.A. is the best collection of Motown hits by far. From the early days of Smokie Robinson & the Miracles,Supremes,Martha and the Vandellas,Four Tops and The Temptations to The Jackson five,Rare Earth. The standerd was always higher then anything else out there! Take it from the little white boy from LA who has kids of my own now. They hear these songs,and just have to dance.Todays music it's hard to find any music that will grab you this way,and not turn you lose. MAKES A GREAT GIFT,TOO! Thank you,JaminJim