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The Complete Motown Singles, an acclaimed, multi-disc series covering the company’s wide-ranging and massively successful output from 1959-1972, comes to its conclusion with the release of Volume 12B, a 5-disc set of the company’s output from the last half of 1972.

This final volume is another stunning release, with 100 remastered tracks, several of them rare and unreleased, along with a 130-page booklet that tells the story of Motown finding a path from its original Hitsville headquarters to the sun and surf of Los Angeles.

There’s the MoWest label, and its fits and starts; the Temptations, remaining in Detroit and hitting No. 1 again, with “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone;” the maturation of Stevie Wonder, who begins an unstoppable run with “Superstition;” and with “Good Morning Heartache,” “Trouble Man” and “Ben,” respectively, Motown emerges with Diana Ross, movie star, Marvin Gaye, movie score composer, and Michael Jackson, solo act with a No. 1 movie theme.

There are brief hellos to such diverse artists as Puzzle, Wolfe, Martin & Finley, Odyssey and 1960s pop icon Lesley Gore. Jermaine Jackson debuts as another solo act from the Jackson 5. There are also rare tracks from: Valerie Simpson, whose unreleased single version of “Genius” features an alternate vocal from the LP release; G.C. Cameron & Willie Hutch, whose scheduled duet version of “Come Get This Thang” went unissued until Cameron’s album release two years later, but without Hutch’s voice; Marvin Gaye, whose poignant Christmas single sat on a shelf for 20 years; and Funk Brothers bassist Bob Bobbitt, whose funky Soul label single “Gospel Truth” was cancelled.

With Volume 12B there are also bittersweet goodbyes to the Four Tops, who end their Motown reign with the top 10 R&B hit “(It's The Way) Nature Planned It;” Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, who release “I Can't Stand To See You Cry” before continuing as two separate acts; and Gladys Knight & the Pips, who end this series appropriately: “Neither One of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye).”

As always, there’s more in this final volume: our standard “album” style packaging features a reproduction of the original Gordy single “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone,” a Grammy® winner for the Temptations and the song’s arranger Paul Riser. The book includes two essays—an nostalgic and emotional reminiscence by original Four Top Abdul “Duke” Fakir, and part two of the Detroit-to-L.A. overview by Susan Whitall, a longtime writer for The Detroit News. There are dozens of rare photos, and the detailed track-by-track annotations by Grammy®-nominated Bill Dahl and co-producers Keith Hughes and Harry Weinger. The latter gentlemen also contribute series postscripts that offer back stories of the Motown tape vault, session logs and tape cards, bringing to light the historical touchstones that have contributed to a new understanding of the Motown experience.

It’s a fitting farewell to The Complete Motown Singles series.

Price: $75.98

Pre-Sale Item!