10 Motown Albums You Should Own

In a world where everything is random shuffle, it's great to get back to basics, to listen to albums from top to bottom in the way they were originally conceived. Just check out the opening tracks on these 10 albums, every one designed to stop you hitting that shuffle button.
Click on the album titles below to learn more or stream.

1. Marvin Gaye - What's Goin' On (1971)
2. Diana Ross - Diana Ross (1970)
3. Stevie Wonder - Music of My Mind (1972)
4. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - You're All I Need (1968)
5. Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key of Life (1976)
6. Smokey Robinson - A Quiet Storm (1975)
7. Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down (1983)
8. Rick James - Street Songs (1981)
9. Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man (1972)
10. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - United (1967)

Info Morsels

• 1min 38sec into Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's, Ain't No Mountain High Enough there's the most sublime moments on any pop record... ever.
• During the 1960's, Motown released 535 singles in the USA. Of these, 357 either made the R&B charts and/or the pop charts. 21 singles topped the U.S. Hot 100.
• Stevie Wonder plays everything on his album, Music of My Mind except trombone on one track and guitar on another.
• Berry Gordy, Motown's founder hated Gaye's What's Goin' On and thought it the worst record he'd ever heard.
• Tammi Terrell collapsed into Marvin Gaye's arms, mid-performance at Hampden-Sydney College in October 1967. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died aged 24 in 1970.