Released October 7, 1997 Length 74:01 Artist Gladys Knight & the Pips Label Motown/Universal Records | Recorded 1966-1974 Producer Harry Weinger Release date 7 October 1997 Genre Soul music | |
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Anthology (version 3)
(1995) Gladys Knight + The Pips
The Ultimate Collection
(1997) Gladys Knight + The Pips
The Ultimate Collection
(1997) Essential Collection
(1999) Similar Gladys Knight & the Pips albums, Soul music albums | ||
The Ultimate Collection is a compact disc by Gladys Knight and The Pips, released on Motown Records, catalogue MOTD 0826, in October 1997. It is a collection of singles comprising many of the group's greatest hits, with liner notes written by Ruth Adkins Robinson.
Contents
Content
The disc contains every Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and twelve top ten Rhythm and Blues singles chart hits enjoyed by Gladys Knight and the Pips that were released on the Motown associate label Soul Records imprint. One track was never released as a single, her cover of "Every Little Bit Hurts" previously done by fellow Motown artist Brenda Holloway, this version appearing on a full album of cover songs from 1968, Soul SS711 Silk 'n' Soul. One track is a b-side, "It's Time to Go Now" the flip of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," released a year before the version by Marvin Gaye. The song "Here I Am Again" was initially slated to be Soul 35111 and withdrawn from release; that single designation went to "Between Her Goodbye and My Hello." The disc was part of an "Ultimate Collection" series issued that year by Motown for many of their top-selling classic artists.
Starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s, standard industry practice shifted to a focus on album sales, where a single became less a separate entity and more simply an advertisement for an LP, and a lead single would be pulled off an album as a promotional tool. Prior to this, singles were concentrated upon as a profitable commodity, especially for smaller record labels, and albums were often built around already successful singles. Since Motown fixated on the hit single until the very end of its stay in Detroit, single versions of songs often featured different mixes than versions that would be later placed on albums. Singles were usually mixed "punchier" and "hotter" to sound better on car radios receiving AM broadcast. The single versions are the ones appearing here.
Personnel
Track listing
Singles chart peak positions from Billboard charts; for catalogue item Soul SS711 from Billboard 200.
Songs
1I Heard It Through the Grapevine2:54
2The End of Our Road2:24
3EveryBody Needs Love3:05