Various Artists - A Cellarful Of Motown - The Rarest Detroit Grooves (2002) Motown Vol 1 - 2xCD + Booklet - Rare Soul (FLAC)

 Compiled by former Wigan Casino DJ Richard Searling, A Cellarful of Motown is a truly astonishing 40-track collection featuring 39 previously unreleased 60s cuts plucked from Hitsville’s archives. It’s simply mind boggling that only one of these stunning tracks Jnr Walker’s “Riding High on  Love” received an official release at the time. Incredibly, the others flunked Motown’s weekly “quality control” meetings and were consigned to the vaults. Surely no other label in the history of popular music is blessed with such a boundless provision of timeless nuggets.Each gem here has been fastidiously restored from the original master tapes, so although many of these tunes were available as vinyl bootlegs on the northern soul scene they are generally poorly pressed with inferior sound quality. This, then, is the compilation that Motown collectors have feverishly anticipated for years. It’s almost impossible to pick standouts as the quality throughout is eye rotatingly brilliant, however, celestial moments include Barbara McNair’s infectious frugger “Baby A-Go-Go”, Earl Van Dyke’s exhilarating instrumental stampede through “He Was Really Sayin’ Something”, and one of the biggest northern soul discoveries of recent years, Gladys Knight’s phenomenal “If You Ever Get Your Hands on Love”. I truly cant pick a fave as their all fantastic in my book.This is an absolutely essential purchase/must have for anyone even remotely interested in soul music....and 4 more volumes to come!

AMM

 

                                                                      The Tasters!