In 1964, the year the Beatles led the British Invasion Mary Wells was Motown's biggest star and had a #1 hit with the classic "My Guy." That would end up changing, not because of the Beatles, but because of Diana Ross and the Supremes, who would have three #1 hits at the end of the year and become the second biggest hit makers on the planet. Then there was Wells' decision to leave Motown for 20th Century Fox, after which her career was nowhere near the same. Given she was only 21 when "My Guy" hit the top of the charts, this "20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection" for Mary Wells cannot help but engender thoughts of what might have been.

Mary Wells became a star when Barry Gordy signed her as a teenager and she had her first Motown hit, "Bye Bye Baby" (#45 on the Billboard Pop charts, although most of her songs always charted better on the R&B charts). This collection includes three other Top 10 hits, all of which were written and produced by Smokey Robinson: "The One Who Really Loves You" (#8), "You Beat Me to the Punch" (#9), and "Two Lovers" (#7). In fact, Robinson wrote the first seven tracks on this album, which includes "Laughing Boy" (#15). "I Don't Want to Take a Chance" (#33), "Once Upon a Time" (#19) and "You Lost the Sweetest Boy" (#22) are also pretty good.

With her soft voice, Mary Wells was a soul singer who could sound both shy and sexy at the same time. However, with only eleven tracks this is a less than satisfying collection, because it is missing some hits, such as "What's the Matter With You Baby" (#17). The 2-disc set "Looking Back 1961-1964," put out by Motown, would be the much better choice for her fans. However, for the casual fan who would like to have more than "My Guy," this "Millennium Collection" certainly fulfills the minimum Mary Wells requirement.

This soulful legendary lady was Motown's 1st Superstar who had hit after hit and this wonderful collection shows clearly why Mary Wells should be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame!! Mary wrote her first hit the raw and gritty "Bye Bye Baby" which launched a career that built Motown in the early days and was quickly followed by classics such as "Two Lovers" and "The One Who Really Loves You". Mary continued turning out lots of hits and the variety of these were really amazing!!! From her sultry numbers to soulful rhythm cookers such as "You Lost The Sweetest Boy" and "What's Easy For Two Is So Hard For One", Mary Wells was a major hit maker who continued with this quality all the way through the eighties with her last major label release on Epic Records "In And Out OF Love" still timeless in its beauty and deserving to be released on CD!! Though for some strange reason radio seemed to refuse to play Mary's records after leaving Motown Records, "Gigolo" was a major dance hit from her last release and still sounds great today!!! The mega-hit "My Guy" sounds timeless today in all its glory here and could be a hit all over again today. Marvin Gaye & Mary Wells duet hit "Once Upon A Time" is another song of great beauty and this solid sampler shows that Mary Wells was a once in a lifetime classic whose talent still shines bright today. The music industry needs to give this lady her just due...it's overdue!!!!

Though the disc clocks in at just over 30 minutes,it contains her biggest hits. The sound quality on this is the best I've heard yet from any motown compilation and all tracks,except for one are (finally!) in stereo!The "Ultimate" collection is good but all tracks are in mono and the remastering on this collection is probably as good as were gonna get.I highly recommend this cd.

This compact compilation comes so very close to being a 5-star collection in spite of its meager 11 tracks. The inclusion of just one more tune, Wells' duet with Marvin Gaye "What's The Matter With You Baby" would have put it over the top and made this a top-notch, no-filler CD. The omission of this top-20 song is all the more frustrating considering that it's B-side, "Once Upon A Time" rightfully appears here. That point aside, this is an all-hits collection of Mary Wells' Motown sides. Once Wells was teamed up with Smokey Robinson, their combined output catapulted Motown into the spotlight. Robinson's incredible talent with lyrics and production and Well's maturing style culminated in the all-time classic chart-topper "My Guy". While the Robinson-Wells combo produced some outstanding tunes, Wells was also able to handle the up-and-coming powerhouse writing talents of Holland-Dozier-Holland as evident in the pounding "You Lost The Sweetest Boy". While it is doubtful Wells could have ever surpassed the supreme accomplishment of "My Guy", with Robinson and the Holland-Dozier-Holland team behind her, there is no telling the heights she could have reached had she not bolted Motown at the apex of her output. But that was not to be and this collection does provide the cream of the Wells Motown crop. Sound quality is reasonably good exhibiting the sometimes typically muddy sound of Motown recordings with some tracks noticeably hissy. All cuts here except 9 are the stereo versions. Includes 8-page flopover liner notes booklet with a brief musical biography. For the hits-only purchaser, the best of the lot.