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.

Been a fan pf gladys knight forever. This is a great collection.

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.

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.

Gladys Knight was treated a bit torridly by Motown in the 1960's, but it worked to her advantage in the end as being a cutting edge soul queen in the 1970's. In 1969, a struggling news broadcaster named Don Cornelius was starting a show in the Chicago market called "Soul Train" and it was 'Gladys Knight and the Pips' who agreed to perform on the show. It wasn't Aretha, it wasn't Dianna Ross, nor Martha Reeves, or Marvin Gaye (they all wanted a comfortable fee). Gladys embodied what soul music meant, giving it up for the people, and lending a helping hand when you could. An embodiment of the true 1960's spirit. Soul Train toook off, but it was Gladys Knight who performed first.

This comp is excellent. I was at a Mod/Soul DJ night in San Francisco in December 2002 and the DJ spun "Walk In My Shoes" off a 45Rpm and I was gassed instantly. I knew about her work in the 1970's, but this......this was good, danceable raw soul. I looked into Gladys's career and music before the 1970's and stumbled upon this comp. The music is danceable, and Gladys put every effort into what was provided for her, swooning harder, better, than any modern 'diva' could today. The backing by the Pips is stellar, always hitting the beat, and backing up "what she's talking about" and that was in itself something she should be proud of.