The Chrome Collection

Emperors of Soul The Temptations prospered by their gifts and their very name, which stood for the best of so much of what the soul-group tradition had to offer--standout lead vocalists, killer harmonies, and steps and suits that mortal men could only envy. By the '90s, though, the words "The Tem...	The Master 1961-1984 The cover shot for this four-disc box is a floating image of hands outstretched, desperate to touch "The Master"--a suggestion that might be blasphemous if this weren't Marvin Gaye, one of the most impassioned, visionary, and masterful singers who ever lived, and one who inspired...	The Music of Johnny Mathis - A Personal Collection (Repackaged) Mathis was among the singers who, in the '60s and '70s, churned out an album every few months--often made up largely of the same recent chart hits his peers (Andy Williams, Jerry Vale) were covering. Despite the presence of "Feelings," however, this four-CD box is low on chaff an...	The Essential Isley Brothers	The Very Best of the Stylistics...and More!
My Girl: The Very Best of the Temptations In Motown hierarchies, the Temptations occupied pretty much the same exalted place at the legendary label as the Lincoln division did at Ford; both had a marquee reputation for class and quality that endured time and trend for decades. The group was also a tribute to the glori...	The Best Of The Moments: Love On A Two-Way Street	At the Close of a Century At the Close of a Century may seem a rather portentous title for a box set, even one showcasing the work of such a formidable writer-performer as Stevie Wonder. Consider, though, that these discs appear a few months before Wonder's 50th birthday and that he's already spent 36 yea...	The Best of the Stylistics This is an early collection that gathers the group's hits up to 1975. While they continued to make the charts (albeit sporadically) for another decade, the Stylistics' golden years had drawn to a close by the time this record hit the stands, so almost all of their key tracks are ...	1973-97-Complete Hits Collection The three volumes of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits albums make up the bulk of this catch-up set; a fourth disc features some live versions and discussion of the artist's composing methods. --Rickey Wright

BOBBIE SMITH... THE SPINNERS' REAL LEAD SINGER !!
I've always been one for giving credit where it's due...and in the case of THE SPINNERS, one person gets way TOO MUCH, and another doesn't get NEARLY ENOUGH.That person is the fantastic BOBBIE SMITH. BOBBIE has been the REAL LEAD SINGER OF THE SPINNERS FROM DAY ONE !!! He sang lead on the SPINNERS VERY FIRST HIT BACK IN 1961... ( That's What Girls Are Made For )...and also their first million seller ( "I'll Be Around" ). In between ,he lead virtually ALL of their PRE MOTOWN HITS ("Too Young, Too Much, Too Soon","What Did She Use " ,etc.)and such MOTOWN CLASSICS AS "TRULY YOURS" (my favorite SPINNERS song },"I'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU "(the group's second biggest Motown hit} ,"SWEET THING",AND TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE SUCH SWEET MUSIC "("IT'S A SHAME WAS LED BY G.C. CAMERON,who couldn't go with the group when they went to ATLANTIC,because he was still under contract to MOTOWN). And SMITH also led THEIR BIGGEST ATLANTIC HITS "COULD IT BE I'M FALLING IN LOVE " ,"GAMES PEOPLE PLAY ","MIGHTY LOVE",(a shared lead} and "THEN CAME YOU"...Yet , Bobbie get's VIRTUALLY NO CREDIT FOR HIS PART IN THE SPINNERS' SUCCESS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS..AND NEVER HAS !! In newspaper & magazine articles, music history books , even in ATLANTIC RECORDS own liner notes... all the credit goes to PHLLIP WALKER {aka PHILLIPPE WYNNE )!! Some music writers have even gone so far as to credit Phillippe for songs BOBBIE ACTUALLY SANG LEAD ON!! While I don't take anything away from Phillippe (he was a fantastic singer & dancer ), the REALITY is that his initial single with the SPINNERS, "HOW COULD I LET YOU GET AWAY"(which he sang lead on), ONLY REACHED #77 ON THE BILLBOARD pop chart! It was only after the nations' disc jockeys TURNED THE RECORD OVER TO IT'S FLIP SIDE,"I'LL BE AROUND" which BOBBIE SMITH sang lead on,, that the group had it's FIRST MILLION SELLER !! BOBBIE ALSO SANG LEAD ON THE GROUP'S SECOND MILLION SELLER, " COULD IT BE I'M FALLING IN LOVE ".By the time their 1st ATLANTIC ALBUM'S 3rd single , the WYNNE- lead "ONE OF A KIND LOVE AFFAIR" came out, (which also sold a million ),the two SMITH -LED SONGS had already established the SPINNERS as SUPERSTARS,and propelled the sales of that album to GOLD RECORD STATUS. The fact is that while PHILLIPE was hopping and skipping across the stage,driving audiences wild ,it was BOBBIE SMITH that was selling all the records,WYNNE having led on only one other million seller,the fun and funny novelty song "RUBBERBAND MAN "(Most of the WYNNE-led tunes were bigger on the R&B charts than on the POP. BOBBIE also sang lead (with DIONNE WARWICK}, on the million-selling # 1 smash,"THEN CAME YOU", and another million seller "GAMES PEOPLE PLAY".(Can you believe MOTOWN rejected his voice ? BIG MISTAKE !!) However , Wynne's powerful performance of "I COULD NEVER REPAY YOUR LOVE " was also a highlight of their INCREDIBLE FIRST ATLANTIC ALBUM,many radio stations having played the song right off the album.Sadly, Wynne's DAVID RUFFIN-LIKE attitude , demanding TOP BILLING, and causing turmoil within the group, and with their producer,THOM BELL,threatened to tear the SPINNERS apart. But the SPINNERS existed long before PHILLIPPE WYNNE,and they still exist today.....And,GUESS WHAT? BOBBIE SMITH is still their lead singer.It's time HE got the credit he deserves. Comment | *** Why no voting buttons? We don't let customers vote on their own reviews, so the voting buttons appear only when you look at reviews submitted by others. ***

At Their Best
What do the songs It's a shame,Just you and me baby,Love has gone away and Ghetto child have in common? They are songs made famous buy one of the best r&b groups to come out of Detroit 'The Spinners'. After looking for a few months trying to find a greatest hits collection. I finally found this one and even though it may not be perfect it's still a very good one. The Spinners Chrome Collection is a three disk compilation that covers the years 1961 thur 1989. Disk 1 what they call 'Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music' contains some of the spinners early work. And covers the years 1961 thur 1974. I ready didn't become a spinners fan until the Thom Bell 1973 thur 1979 -Philippe Soul Wynne 1971 thur 1977 years. And those years don't kick in until the middle of disk 1 and continues into the beginning of disk 3. With the help of producer and arranger Thom Bell and the songwriteing talents of Jefferson,Hawes and Simmons the spinners with Philippe Wynn,Henry Fambrough,Billy Henderson,Pervis Jackson and Bobby Smith. And with hits like Since I been gone,There's no one like you,Could it be I'm falling in love and I'm coming home. The spinners were 'Sitting on top of the world'. Disk 2 is called 'Sitting On Top Of The World' and picks up where disk 1 leaves off and covers the years 1974 thur 1977. To me this is the best disk the songs on disk 2 are r&b classic songs that were the life of the party in the early seventies. Now I've already mention Thom Bell. But there was one other person that made the spinners such a great group. And that person was Mr Philippe Soul Wynne with his extraordinary tenor voice he was the heart and soul of the spinners. Disk 1&2 demonstrate his enormous influence in the group. Songs like Sade,The Rubberband Man and Love Don't Love Nobody are some of the greatest perfromances in r&b history. Unfortunately Mr Wynne left the spinners in 1977 and left this world in 1984. The music world truly misses his talent. Also on disk 2 is a song the spinners did with Dionne Warwicke 'Then Came You' that became a big hit. As we enter the last disk #3 called 'If You Wanna Do A Dance'covers the years 1977 thur 1989. On this disk there's very little of Mr Bell and no Mr Wynne and it shows in the music. Disk 3 does have a few good songs on it but for the most part a certain spark is missing. A spark that was evident on the first two disk. But this is still a great set and a must have for any spinner fan. Also 'The Spinners Chrome Collection' comes with a good booket. Filled with information about the group

Slightly begrudgingly given 5 stars
With twenty-nine top 100 pop chart entries spanning over twenty years, the Spinners have finally received a truly worthwhile box set treatment. Here is an outstanding CD collection of the group assembling three discs with 62 tracks in excellent sound quality overall, an extraordinary set of liner notes and discography, lots of pics and illustrations and populated with singles and album cuts with including all their hits... almost. Therein lies the rub however, in that in Rhino's all-too-common extradinarily annoying practice of leaving off one, just one, charting single, the Spinners' second pop charting entry, "Love (I'm So Glad I Found You)" is absent. With three discs here, there is plenty of room for this one additional track and without it, unlike the claim within the set, this does not include ALL the hits. A very minor fault in the scheme of things here but nevertheless, especially for collectors, a seemingly unnecessary compilation misstep. To further split hairs but in the interest of absolute truth here, the version of "Sadie" here is a "new edit" and why it was felt necessary to stray from the original here is unclear. Nitpicking aside, this remains the ultimate Spinners collection available and for the fan wanting a bit more than the usual greatest-hits skimming, this is a superbly constructed set and at this time, the best available, bar none.

What a set!
I just received my Chrome in the mail and feel like I've died and gone to heaven. Oh yeah, all the goods are here, "It's a Shame," "Could it be I'm falling in Love," "One of a Kind (Love Affair)," "Mighty Love," "I'll Be Around," "Then Came You," and on and on and on. Plus there are plenty of fantastic non-hit album cuts such as "Toni My Love," and "He'll Never Love You Like I Do."It's all here! The early Motown stuff, the late dance stuff including "Cupid" and "Working My Way Back to You," and thankfully the ENTIRE "Spinners" album from Atlantic, all 10 blockbusters including the aforementioned "One of a Kind," "I'll Be Around," "Could It Be ..." plus "Ghetto Child," and other gems.Wow, Rhino did it right -- the whole nine yards and then some. The packaging is top notch, great photos and the box is very nice.One of the highlights is the 60-page booklet, with some truly excellent writing featuring some interesting anecdotes even I, a Spinners fanatic, hadn't heard before. The notes about how Thom Bell produced the group are priceless.Despite all the hits, The Spinners remain one of the most underrated groups of all time. They truly are one of the top groups ever and this collection proves this. If you like smooth grooves, tremendous singing, impeccable production (no drum machines here, it's the REAL stuff!), and just feel good music, the Chrome Collection is for you.This is by far the best CD collection I've bought in years -- perhaps ever -- and I can't recommend it enough.

Fantastic Collection
once&for all this should put the Spinners amongest the elite Groups Ever with all that is offered here.Vocally you can put the Word Soul right next to there name.from Motown to the Philly SOund they truly thrived.there association to me with Thom Bell is like Michael Jackson with Quincy Jones in that never mind what they did before but once you get with the New you almost forget what happen before.the Spinners are finally showcased at there Best&reach a full zentih here.if you don't get but One Box Set all year then this is the one especially if you are a Huge R&B Fan or enjoy Rich Vocal Groups that truly brought the Pain.