Diana Ross and the Supremes: The #1's

A well-deserved showcase for Motown's sweetest and most popular group, but it's not enough of a good thing.

The Beatles and Elvis Presley both received newly-remastered collections of their biggest Top 40 hits, so it was only natural (and fitting) that Motown's biggest group would step up to the plate eventually. And this is indeed a package done right: stunning sound quality, deluxe packaging (including a historical booklet chock full of photos and track data), and an overall solid song selection.

Ironically, what holds this CD back from perfection is the decision to focus on Number Ones: a third of the running time here is taken up with solo Diana Ross hits of the Seventies, from "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" to "I'm Coming Out" and beyond. This means no revelatory new remasters of big hits like "Nothing But Heartaches," "My World Is Empty Without You," and "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart," just for starters. (It's also possible question the collection's definition of "Number One," but the Beatles and Elvis collections committed similar sins.)

That makes this more of a collection for fans of Miss Ross than the essential Motown comp it might have been, but even those who have the single or double-disc Supremes' Anthology will want this collection, simply because the advances in remastering technology have made these classics seem new all over again. Especially since many of these hits are present in their full album versions... several of them come to a halt rather than fade out. And the legacy of The Supremes, as this CD proves, never did either.