Barrett Strong - "Money and Other Big Hits"

The Tamla discography on the Both Sides Now website shows an unissued album, catalog number TM-226, titled Money and Other Big Hits by Barrett Strong. Strong's song "Money (That's What I Want)" was the first big hit on any of Motown's labels.

But Strong's subsequent singles on Tamla didn't come close to the success of "Money." In 1962, Strong left Motown/Tamla. In an apparent attempt to make one last cash-in on Strong's songs, Tamla scheduled the release of an album in either late 1961 or in 1962 that would compile all of his singles (a dozen songs in all) for the label. But for whatever reason, Tamla apparently had second thoughts and the album was never released.

SIDE A
1. Money (That's What I Want)
2. Let's Rock

3. You Got What It Takes

4. Do the Very Best You Can

5. Oh I Apologize

6. You Knows What To Do

SIDE B
1. Misery

2. Whirlwind

3. I'm Gonna Cry (If You Quit Me
4. Money and Me

5. Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

6. Yes, No, Maybe So

Since this is a compilation of all the A and B sides of his singles, there isn't much work involved. I tried to mix up the newer and older singles, and led off with "Money (That's What I Want)."

All these songs can be found on the compilation album Barrett Strong - The Complete Motown Collection.

After I arranged this track list, I discovered that there's a CD available as an import that recreates the Money and Other Big Hits album as well. I'm not sure if it's a bootleg or if it's licensed. It has the same songs, just in a different order.

For a cover, I took a photo of Strong I found on the web and fooled around in Photoshop until I came up with something I liked that I thought looked appropriate for an album in 1962. That's the original Tamla logo in the bottom right corner (in case you were wondering).

Strong would later return to Motown in the mid-1960s and co-wrote several big hits with Norman Whitfield.