Motown-#1's or Hitsville?

I've been a Motown fan forever and have the must have albums (Stevie, Marvin, Smokey etc) but I knew if I wanted the singles I would have to go the greatest hits or (preferably for me) the box set route. But I haven't been able to make up my mind as to which is a better purchase- The Hitsville U.S.A. box sets or the Motown Complete no1's box. The No.1s box has 202 tracks, and comes in really cool packaging that resembles the old Motown studio, but is OOP and goes for 150-200 bucks, whereas the 2 Hitsville sets combined have about 180 tracks and can be had for about 40 bucks each on amazon. Does anyone have either of these sets and which one do you feel has a better more essential track listing and which would you recommend?
Thanks for any advice

 

Hitsville, volume 1 is all mono, mastered superbly from singles masters. Sounds great. Volume 2 of Hitsville is mainly Stereo after Motown switched to providing Stereo 45 singles and has the same superb mastering and sound quality.

 

Agreed!

Both are excellent sets well worth having, but especially Volume 1.

 

Hitsville all the way, especially if you want to hear the correct single mixes. Complete #1 is mostly stereo.

 

Another vote for Hitsville. Gotta have the mono single mixes for this Motown stuff, and they did a great job with the SQ.

 

Hitsville for the reasons already said... but the main reason is, I don't want to be stuck with just the Motown songs that went to #1... there's lots of great stuff that didn't reach #1

 

Get Hitsville, no contest in my view.

 

Hitsville is in mono and it does have a number of obscure acts, doesn't it?

That's not to say that Complete #1's is a bad set; in fact, it goes deeper down the years. But the former's coverage is the way to go.

 

thanks for all the replies. I will probably wind up getting Hitsville since I'm mostly interested in the 60's-early 70's stuff and the track listing for that era on both seems comparable and it dosen't look like I'll be missing too much.

 

Hitsville all the way ....Mono

 

Hitsville is one of the great box sets, no doubt. I love my set.

BUT in terms of Motown singles it barely scratches the surface. So if you are a real fan you need to collect either the complete singles sets or get individual artists singles compilations (for the lesser known bands there are some great compilations on Motown UK).

 

Yeah, those complete singles sets look great, but if I started on that I would inevitably want to collect all of them and theres what, 12 volumes at about 80-100 dollars each? For now I'll have to be satisfied with having the essentials.

 

'Hitsville', by several country miles. 'Reach Out, I'll Be There' is worth the price alone. If you've only ever heard these tracks in stereo before, make sure you don't hurt your jaw when it hits the floor.

 

"Hitsville"

 

I own both hitsville and complete nr ones . Complete nr ones might nir have the deprh and focused on the sixties as Hitsville bur still -comple nr one is astounding one of My best boxers.I suggest both

 

Hitsville Vol. 1 for the sound quality, though it does skimp on the hits of two or three of their biggest artists (Diana Ross & the Supremes, Marvin Gaye).

 

Hitsville is the place to begin. The Complete Motown Singles, Vols. 1-12 may be too much for the casual fan. I have vols. 2-6 (1962 through 1966) which is about right for me. However, I wouldn't be without the great individual artist box sets, including The Temptations- Emperors of Soul, Smokey and the Miracles - 30th Anniversary Collection, and Marvin Gaye - The Master. These sets have essential Motown music. As Jim B. posted above, there are some great 1 or 2 CD comps for single artists, most of them out of Motwon UK. My favorites include The Originals, Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers, Brenda Holloway and Barbara McNair. And Don't forget the Marvelettes, Elgins and Supremes. There have recently been several releases chronicling Mary Wells' tragic career, and, speaking of tragedy there is also Tammi Terrell, one of the most beautiful and talented singers of the 60's. I know this may seem overwhelming, but the Motown catalogue is really that deep. Just go slow and in 20 years or so you'll have what you need.

 

Exactly.

 

Were any changes made to the original ~1992 HITSVILLE VOL. 1 box when it was reissued in 2009? Oddly enough I see both sets (apparently) available at some retail sites, e.g. Importcds.

 

I have Hitsville volume 1 and it's a great collection and sounds nice but a little too polite for me compared with the original 45 's which are definitely raucous and more fun.

 

Good question. Can anyone answer?

 

+1

1960's and early 70's Motown in Mono is THE way to go. Those 1960's stereo mixes just sound so....wimpy.

 

Hitsville Vol. 1 is the mother lode. As significant a collection in the development of Western popular music as Harry Smith's American Folk Music set. Essential because it's presented in compressed, hot mono - all handclaps, tambourines and snare drum.

I have always had a particular dislike for that Complete No. 1's set. 10 discs with a bunch of Boys II Men tracks but no "Money" or "Dancing in the Streets"? Crazy.

 

My advice for a Motown neophyte would be HITSVILLE V1 augmented by this nice sounding Supremes set (actually the only good sounding Supremes CD comp I've heard):

//www.amazon.com/Diana-Ross-Supremes-Anthology/dp/B000TDH2DG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412113150&sr=8-2&keywords=supremes+anthology

The Supremes were bigger than many realize, second only to the Beatles in the era. The compilers chose to somewhat de-emphasize them for the HITSVILLE box, so there won't be too much overlap between the two comps.