VA - Endless Love: Motown's Greatest Love Songs (1986)

One can't blame the folks at Motown for their constant repackaging of the company's classic catalog--after all, songs that are 30+ years old have sold better than much of what passes for R&B these days--but even with its mighty legacy, this collection comes perilously close to fast profit at little thought. Can the searing social commentary of the Supremes' "Love Child" really be considered a love song? And I thought Diana Ross's "It's My Turn" was more about leaving and growing than loving, and in "Touch Me in the Morning," aren't they breaking up? Oh well, clearly love is in the ears of the beholder. Some of the songs contained are more, well love-ly, notably the sumptuous "All This Love" by DeBarge and Smokey Robinson's ever-elegant "Being with You." One might have semantic quarrels with the selections, but sonically, it's all good and it's nothing but something close to love. --Amy Linden