The newest installment in this award-winning, continuing series swings into 1968: A year of tragic assassinations that greatly affect the country, of musical controversies with “Love Child” and “Cloud Nine,” another “Grapevine,” and an improbable Motor City triumph—the Detroit Tigers win the World Series. This 6-disc set chronicles that year by way of 144 tracks representing every A- and B-side of every Motown single, plus the stories behind every track, along with critical and personal essays providing overviews of the era.
The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 8: 1968, releasing 10/1/07, documents the introduction of several new artists, including Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers, whose hit, “Does Your Mama Know About Me,” aroused more controversy. It was also the year the company paired Diana Ross and the Supremes with the “new” Temptations, who sport a new lead singer, Dennis Edwards. They hit big with the duet “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me.” They were then seen on TCB, a groundbreaking, prime-time program that was Motown’s first-ever television co-production and the highest-rated prime-time special of that year.
Marvin Gaye became Motown’s hottest-selling act when “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” stayed a No. 1 smash for months. Its success was vindication for producer Norman Whitfield, who recorded Gaye’s version before the previous year’s hit version by Gladys Knight & the Pips. Its release was denied for more than a year.
The year ended on an extraordinary note. During Christmas week 1968, Motown had five singles in the Top 10: “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” Stevie Wonders’s “For Once In My Life,” the Supremes’ “Love Child,” “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” and the Temptations’ “Cloud Nine.”
The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 8: 1968 is packaged in a mini-78-RPM album format with, as usual, an actual 45-RPM vinyl single in the front sleeve. For this year it’s Marvin’s “Grapevine” on Tamla, to bookend with Volume 7’s “Grapevine” by Gladys Knight on Soul. Accompanying the six CDs is a 132-page booklet stuffed with rare photos, memorabilia, detailed track annotation and two evocative essays.
Otis Williams of the Temptations recalls in the introduction how he came to Motown, and how and why the group brought in Edwards to replace Ruffin. Herb Boyd, the award-winning author who eloquently wrote about Motown and the world in Volume 5, returns with another incisive essay about this volatile year.