La La Means I Love You - BUDDHA
Artist: The Delfonics
Community Score: 10.00

Philly soul has rarely sounded as regal as it does on Buddah Records "Original Masters" reissue series. Their initial batch of releases includes the first three long-players from the Thom Bell-produced and arranged Delfonics. While La La Means I Love You is the trio's debut LP, they had actually been working with Bell as far back as their 1966... Read More

Good Guys Only Win in the Movies
Artist: Mel & Tim
Community Score: 10.00

Mel & Tim's debut album featured both of their smashes, "Backfield in Motion" and "Good Guys Only Win in the Movies." As full-length soul records of the era go, it's a bit above average, if only because the duo wrote a high percentage of their own material. It's sweet Chicago pop/soul circa 1969-70 at its most centrist: not too slick, not... Read More

You're All I Need
Artist: Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

You're All I Need equals the debut of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell in every way except chart position and newness. It reached #60 Pop. a good showing but 31 rungs lower than United, their debut. It includes arguably their finest recording, "You're All I Need to Get By," a testament to their singing skills and the writing/producing talents of... Read More

United
Artist: Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
Community Score: 6.50

United was the first of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's three LPs, and quite possibly the best of the lot. Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol handled the productions and gave the photogenic duo a slightly harder edge than subsequent productions by Valerie Simpson and Nicholas Ashford. Three blockbusters -- "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "If I... Read More

This Old Heart of Mine
Artist: The Isley Brothers
I Heard It Through the Grapevine/I Want You
Artist: Marvin Gaye

In something of an odd pairing, Motown combined Marvin Gaye's 1968 album I Heard It Through the Grapevine with 1976's I Want You onto a single compact disc or cassette in 1991. Both are now out of print. ~ Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide Read More

Marvin Gaye's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Artist: Marvin Gaye

Other than the Anthology line, this was for quite a while the best single album set featuring Gaye's early and mid-'60s hits. There isn't a dud in the bunch, but both the Super Hits and Anthology line give you more cuts, while the boxed set has more variety. But this isn't by any stretch a bad release. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide Read More

Moods of Marvin Gaye
Artist: Marvin Gaye
Community Score: 8.67

After Marvin Gaye recorded tributes to Broadway and Nat King Cole in the previous two years, Motown fans may have had their suspicions raised by an LP titled Moods of Marvin Gaye. Yes, there are a few supper-club standards to be found here, but Gaye moves smoothly between good-time soul and adult pop. Most important are his first two R&B number... Read More

The Delfonics Super Hits
Artist: The Delfonics

Another Delfonics anthology, and this was for a long time the best one available. It contained the chart-topping ballads and love songs that made them perhaps "sweet" soul's best unit, even though The Stylistics' Russell Tompkins, Jr. was probably the genre's most popular vocalist. There isn't a dud in this bunch. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide Read More

The Estelle, Myrna and Sylvia
Artist: The Sweet Inspirations

Though Cissy Houston was long gone from the group by the time they made this album, it's a fine set of gospel-pop-soul, with arrangements that manage to be sophisticated without getting slick. Co-produced by David Porter and Ronnie Williams, who as a pair also wrote most of the material; the songs are good and varied, the vocals and harmonies... Read More