Diana Ross & The Supremes - Motown Early Classics (1996)

Sure is an interesting hodgepodge of early Supremes material...
The very oldest items here are "Time Changes Things" and "You Bring Back Memories," which not only appeared on 1963's "Meet The Supremes" ( before anyone really knew who they were) but were single b-sides to, respectively "Let Me Go The Right Way" and "My Heart Can't Take It No More". "Come On Boy" is from this era too, though it didn't see the light of day in the U.S. market until it appeared in 1986 on the 3-LP "25th Anniversary" collection when the recording was over 20 years old. You cannot listen to these tracks ( and loving fans of the group don't) like a critic with scalpel in hand. These three Detroit young ladies hadn't found their niche yet, and despite noble tries by Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson and Clarence Paul, the "right" production approach wasn't discovered for them until paired with Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier & Eddie Holland.

Though "Run, Run, Run" faltered as a single, gold was struck only months later ( in 1964) with "Where Did Our Love Go". From the same-titled LP, this disc also plucks the successive hits "Baby Love" and "Come See About Me" as well as "Baby Love's" flipside, "Ask Any Girl".

Next in the Supremes album discography was "A Bit Of Liverpool," and we come to "You've Really Got A Hold On Me." This was actually first recorded by the Supremes' labelmates The Miracles, but then the Beatles did it, then the Supremes covered it, which is how it got "A Bit" Liverpool. Get it?

Spring of 1965 brought the tough-to-get-through "Supremes Sing Country Western & Pop" and this disc only samples "Baby Doll" from that misfire before wisely mining their next H-D-H album, "More Hits By The Supremes" for its greatest number of selections.

"Stop! In the Name of Love," "I'm In Love Again," "I'm So Glad Heartaches Don't Last Always," "Mother Dear," "Honey Boy," "Whisper You Love Me Boy" and "Who Could Ever Doubt My Love" all saw their long-player debut on that July 1965 album, which even carried "Ask Any Girl" for the second time on an LP.

"Any Girl In Love Knows What I'm Going Through" first appeared on the "I Hear A Symphony" album in February 1966, the least oldest of the 18 tracks here. As "Early Classics" did with its Mary Wells entry, this Supremes set wisely includes a handful of their hit singles, but then goes for some of the better near-forgotten B-sides and album tracks. Nicely done, and certainly recommended for those who lost or never had the original albums mentioned here.