The 50 or so Motown songs that are drilled into your head are only about a seventh of this studio's output. Vol. 3 completes the Cellarful trilogy: songs that were either too aggressive to be promoted then, or else too beautiful. While songs on Vols. 1 and 2 might seem more immediate hits, Vol. 3 has stellar embryonics.

When the Cellarful Of Motown series began, it seemed like there would be no end to the hidden treasures of the Motown vaults. Incredible songs that CouldaShoudaWoulda been classics if we had been able to hear them. And then Volume Two came out, and it was also an amazing collection of beautiful music that charged out of a tunnel like a speeding freight train.

But with Volume Three, the train seems to have run out of coal, and is coasting to a stop.

Unless you are a super-serious Motownophile collector, these songs are kinda dreary and predictable coming from Motown.

The two biggest treasures on this album for me so far come right after one another: The Marvelous Marvelettes "Little Girls Grow Up" is such a smart song, and seems like one of those songs that would have been destined to be sang at weddings in the Bride's honour. Wanda's always spectacular voice singing about the reality of how girls grow into women doesn't waste time with cliches but builds into a strong, almost feminist anthem supported by the Motown orchestra.

The second treasure, right after the Marvelettes, is The Spinner's "Too Late I Learned" which grabs you with a deep, funky bassline right from the beginning (yeah... I know... this is Motown they do that all the time... but with all the other lame songs on this album, this one literally jumps out as great) and grooves along with the Spinner's lead sailing right over the melody with strong back up. WOW... wotta song!

Other songs worthy of some note: Chris Clark's version of the Motown chestnut "Come On And See Me" is kinda fun, Little Lisa's version of "Honey Boy" is very sweet (though I'd stick with Nella Dodd's groovin' cover), and The Four Tops doing "Soldier of Love" is vaguely interesting.

Volume 3 also has two hidden tracks, one being Brenda Holloway singing "Going To A Go-Go" with The Supremes (!!!) which is just a cool team-up, if not an interesting song. If The Supremes had actually sang anything other than "Going To A Go-Go..." over and over, it might have been a bit more interesting. And just imagine if they'd teamed up and both REALLY sang a song. The mind boggles. If you're a Motown completist, this is reason enough to buy this album.

But otherwise... I was kinda expecting more from Volume 3. The rest of the songs are forgettable as music, but great historical documents of some of the unsung singers of Motown. I hope the compiler has better stuff for a Volume 4 though.

If you have to choose between any of the earlier Volumes and this one, get the others, it is better value for your money.

I recently heard Mark Lamarr (on his mind-blowing Alternative Sixties show) play four tracks in a row from this newest edition of A Cellarful Of Motown! and then comment that he thought there had been a massive drop in quality since the first two volumes. Just in case the compiler Paul Nixon was listening and felt disheartened enough to want to throw in the towel on the fourth volume he was preparing, I must hasten to disagree.

When A Cellarful Of Motown! first appeared in 2002 the general consensus was that it was astonishing that so many tracks of such amazing quality could have remained in the vaults for so many years. In the intervening years a great deal of archive Motown material has been unearthed and released for the first time, and the huge scale of what gems still await to be discovered has become apparent. Therefore, having raised the bar with the newly rescued releases so far, there is now a higher expectation that each fresh discovery will be of unsurpassable genius.

Amazingly, quite a few get fairly close to that. I spent another couple of hours replaying the set today, afraid that I had been listening through rose-tinted headphones, and only found I enjoyed all the tracks more than before, as they became more familiar.

A real effort has been made to cater for all kinds of Motown fans, be it particular producers and writers, Northern Soul, re-interpretations of Motown standards or girl group sounds, and although a preference for the period 1965-1966 is conceded, there are recordings from as early 1963 and as late as 1970, plus a one-off from 1984, the latter being a return to the label by the Four Tops, enjoying a pastiche of their sixties style as recreated by Deke Richards. The earliest track is by Marvin Gaye, recorded shortly before he cracked the charts with Pride And Joy and clear evidence of his vocal dexterity. Other big names get a look-in (The Temptations, The Miracles, Stevie Wonder), but it is those who were on lower rungs of the ladder and didn't get the promotional push that are most celebrated here: the fabulous Marvelettes (three wonderful tracks), Brenda Holloway, the Contours, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Spinners, Chris Clark, Carolyn Crawford, Shorty Long and many others. How frustrating it must have been to have put their all into a performance on a song they believed in, only to have the results stashed away unheard on a tape shelf.

I should mention the very helpful booklet annotations which give all available details about recording dates and assignments to other artists of the same song or band track as well as personal comments from the compiler.

Everyone will find their own personal favourites on here. For Mark Lamarr it was the Contours, the Originals, Dennis Edwards and Yvonne Fair. For me it is Brenda Holloway, Junior Walker, Stevie Wonder and the Marvelettes. At least it is today; but next time I play the set, qualities hidden deep in the grooves of perhaps the Carolyn Crawford or Ivy Jo Hunter tunes may hold sway. They are all new to my ears, and that is their joy. More power to Cellarfuls of Motown!

worth its weight in gold...the series is superb...liner notes superb...artists and trax are superb..and having a vol 3 is just betond fabulous...

I am quite impressed by this collection. I especcially love the "Little Girls Grow Up" selection by the Marvelettes.