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List Price: $13.98 | | Label: Motown
Salesrank: 78882
Released: October 7, 1997 |
| Our Price: $5.00 |
| Used Price: $3.35 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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The Ultimate Collection Track Listing:
1. I Heard It Through the Grapevine
2. End of Our Road
3. Everybody Needs Love
4. Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me
5. It Should Have Been Me
6. I Wish It Would Rain
7. Every Little Bit Hurts
8. Didn't You Know (You'd Have to Cry Sometime)
9. Just Walk in My Shoes
10. Nitty Gritty
11. Friendship Train
12. You Need Love Like I Do (Don't You?)
13. If I Were Your Woman
14. I Don't Want to Do Wrong
15. Here I Am Again
16. Make Me the Woman That You Go Home To
17. Help Me Make It Through the Night
18. Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)
19. Daddy Could Swear, I Declare
20. All I Need Is Time
21. Between Her Goodbye and My Hello
22. It's Time to Go Now
Editorial Review:
This Motown release covers only this seminal R&B act's recordings for the company's Soul subsidiary well; don't look here for, say, the Buddah-label "Midnight Train to Georgia." But all is not lost on this supposed "ultimate collection." Especially when you get Gladys--easily one of the most underrated soul singers--and her Pips tearing through their church-drenched 1967 version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" or ripping into the peace and love anthem "Friendship Train" or the rousing, finger-wagging "It Should Have Been Me" (one of the greatest you're-gonna-miss-somebody songs of the soul era). With the Pips' seamless harmonies and Gladys's wide-open, no-nonsense vocals, these 22 songs are a great introduction to one of the most beloved R&B/pop groups of the '60s and '70s and well worth owning--even if it only tells half of the story. --Amy Linden
The Ultimate Collection Reviews:
soul dynasty 
2008-09-25 - while they didnt fit the motown mold. gladys was too wild and wonderful. like aretha who lived in detroit. just not ready to be assembled into the motown machine. but they tried. they had some nifty tunes which wailed more like ike and tina turner than the diana ross and supremes or smokey and the miracles kind of great polished sound. gladys has one of the most powerful voices ever but motown just never really knew what to do with her and seemed to not give her cast offs but certainly did not concentrate on their success like they did some of their bigger hit makers. no wonder aretha would never even consider going there.''i heard it thru the grape vine'' would be redone later by their more polished act marvin gaye to maybe a better effect but there are still classics here. the last song for the label was NEITHER ONE OF US which ironically gave them their first number one for motown and lead to their more introspective beautiful moods that would come later thru other label changes. this is not as extensive as the original motown two album anthology. but its nicely remastered(as far as motown goes) and will do until a box set comes out. gladys wailed and the brothers could harmonize, woo hoo!!
Motown's "The Ultimate Collection" Series Deliver The Goods 
2007-09-01 - A search in Music under the heading Ultimate Collection will garner you thousands of hits, and even searching in Album Title will result in quite a few, ranging from Benny Hill and George Formby to 10cc and The Who, and just about everyone in between. Even Motown uses Ultimate Collection on a number of their CDs, but the best of the lot where they are concerned is this series, each with 25 tracks and similar cover art by David Irvin, and involving Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Martha (Reeves) & The Vandellas, Jr. Walker & The All Stars, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and Mary Wells.
This one covers one of the classiest ladies to emerge in the 1960s and her back-up group which, when first formed in the late 1950's, coonsisted of brother Merald "Bubba" Knight, sister Brenda, and cousins Eleanor and William Guest, named after manager and yet another cousin, James "Pip" Woods. In 1959, Brenda and Eleanor were replaced by cousins Edward Patten and Langston George. They began their long string of R&B hits in 1961 when their initial version of Every Beat Of My Heart was recorded for the tiny Huntom label. After they moved to the Fury label they re-recorded that tune which, billed to Gladys Knight & The Pips, was soon in competition with their original cut which had, in the meantime, been sold to Vee-Jay. Their simultaneous release, billed to The Pips, won out, rising to # 1 R&B and # 5 Billboard Pop Hot 100, whereas the Fury cut stalled at # 15 R&B/# 45 Hot 100. Both had the same B-side, Room In Your Heart.
From that point to 1988 they would add 57 more R&B hits, over 40 of which crossed over to the Pop Hot 100 and 16 to the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts. for seven different labels (Huntom/Vee-Jay, Fury, Maxx, Soul, Buddah, Columbia, and Arista). In 1962, after their third hit, Letter Full Of Tears (# 3 R&B/# 19 Hot 100 on Fury 1054 in December 1961/January 1962), Langston left and from that point on they became a quartet.
Here, of course, the selections concentrate on their output for Motown's subsidiary label Soul and includes, along with the hit singles covered, the hard-to-find It's Time To Go Now, the B-side to their biggest Hot 100 hit [# 2 and # 1 R&B for 6 weeks] I Heard It Through The Grapevine, in late 1967. Also included are the album cuts Every Little Bit Hurts, Just Walk In My Shoes, and Here I Am Again.
The sound quality is excellent and you get several pages of informative liner notes, including a complete discography of the contents and some nice shots of the group. Most definitely a compilation worth having.
best of the best
2007-01-10 - Been a fan pf gladys knight forever. This is a great collection.
Rarely Heard Clasics
2006-08-03 - If your only exposure to the music of Gladys Knight and the Pips is the slick, adult-contemporary stuff from the '70s and beyond, then you're in for a real surprise. This collection of the group's Motown material is generally more upbeat and more soulful than the smooth lite stuff they're more famous for. Gladys is one of the most underrated soul singers ever, and could really belt it out, as demonstrated on this disc. Her deep alto voice is tailor made for conveying the pain and heartache of the deepest of blues. And her backing singers, The Pips, harmonize beautifully. The highlight of this set (besides the definitive version of "I Heard It Thru The Grapevine") is probably "Didn't You Know You'd Have to Cry Sometime", an aching, soulful blast of pure sadness. But really, there are lots of highlights here. Towards the second half of the disc, the more familiar, slow-burn sound of GK and the Pips comes to the fore, demonstrating the group's transition from Motown ravers to soul-lite groovers. There's plenty of stuff to explore here, and marvel over Gladys Knight's incredible voice.
COLLECTOR ITEM
2005-09-12 - IT HAS MANY SONGS NOT ON MOST COLLECTIONS, BUT DOES NOT HAVE A NUMBER OF # 1 HITS. THIS COLLECTION CONTAINS MANY OF THE 45'S THAT DID NOT MAKE IT TO THE ALBUM COLLECTIONS. BUT, IF YOU ARE A FAN OF GLADYS KNIGHT YOU'LL ENJOY THIS COLLECTION. IT COVERS SOME OF THE RARE RECORDINGS THAT WERE PASSED OVER BY THE INDUSTRY.
