Motown Records in the 1960s and 1970s was very much like a Detroit auto assembly line when it came to producing songs, and the countless Motown hits attest to just how well it worked. But a lot of great songs and performances never even saw the light of day, and as
A Cellarful of Motown! Vol. 4 shows, the label’s vaults are still full of scores of delightful gems. There’s so much to marvel at here, including the stomping opener by
the Blackberries, “Kidnapped,”
the Monitors' “Doctor of Love,”
Marvin Gaye's “Three Time Loser,”
the Lollipops' “In the Summer,”
the Utopians' “Whole Lot of Shakin’ in My Heart (Since I Met You),” and a lost
Stevie Wonder nugget, “Why Don’t You Come Home.” The quality is astounding and it’s a wonder why some of these tracks were never released as singles.