A couple of decades before the 'Now' series started, even years before all those 'K-Tel' and 'Ronco' albums, Tamla Motown in Britain were trotting out their finest on compilations.

This one released in autumn 1967, catalogues the patchy but growing popularity of the Motown sound in Britain in 1966/7. It may have seemed folly to put so many hits on one album, but they were looking to raise their profile and to consolidate on their recent successes.

Let me take it back a little further. Tamla Motown's first album in Britain, released in spring 1965 was '16 Big Hits'. That series continued for the rest of the 60s, reaching Volume 8. They continued in conjunction with the Chartbusters, featuring betwixt and between hits, and songs that did not make the British charts. I have a couple on vinyl, and would love to see the lot out on CD, just for nostalgia.

Speaking of nostalgia, I have every track of this one on other albums, but I had to buy it, for old times sake. It reminds me of when I just had a few albums, and knew every note and word of them.

My favorite track is Martha Reeves & The Vandellas' 'Ready For Love'. It's like a toughened up adult version of The Supremes 'You Can't Hurry Love'. That one was released first, but I believe 'Ready For Love' was recorded first. That riff has been borrowed by Hall & Oates and The Jam, to name but two.

My least favorite track here is 'The Happening' from The Supremes. To me it marks the low point of their twee novelty excesses. I heard it on the radio the other day, and found myself singing along, so what can I tell you? When I hear any of these songs on the radio, I hear the next one begin in my head when it ends.

Many of us moved on to different, deeper styles of soul music, while others switched to various styles of music, but so many of us started out with this music. We saved our pocket money to by the latest volume of Chartbusters. This was the first, and one of the best.

This series of Motown recordings is in approximate chronological order but only begins in 1966. This means that some notable early UK hits are missing from the series including hits by the Supremes (Where did our love go, Stop in the name of love, You can't hurry love) and the Four tops (It's the same old song, Loving you is sweeter than ever, Reach out I'll be there) as well as tracks by the Temptations, Stevie Wonder and others - and that's not counting all the great Motown songs from the early sixties that were big hits in America but didn't chart in Britain. Some early classics such as Baby love, Dancing in the street and My guy, all of which first made the UK charts in 1964, re-entered the UK charts later and are included in the volumes covering their time of re-entry. A few other big hits are also missing, notably a couple of other Four Tops tracks that made the UK top ten (Bernadette, Walk away Renee). So you cannot build a definitive collection of Motown's UK hits by collecting this series, but it is still a fine series (especially at the price) and the omitted tracks are easy to find elsewhere.

On this volume, you get plenty of famous songs including three Supremes tracks (You keep me hanging on, The happening, Love is here and now you're gone) and other classics by the Four Tops (Standing in the shadows of love, Seven room of gloom), Stevie Wonder (Blowing in the wind, I was made to love her), Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (I'm ready for love, Jimmy Mack), Jimmy Ruffin (What becomes of the broken hearted, Gonna give her all the love I've got), the Temptations (I know I'm losing you), the Marvelettes (When you're young and in love) and others. A look at the charts shows that many of these classics weren't such big hits in the UK charts as you might expect, but Brits were slow to appreciate Motown.

This is a great compilation of some of Motown's classic songs from 1966 and 1967.