65 CDs of Motown

That'll be the final tally of CDs included in Hip-O Records' project to issue every Motown single in box set form, according to this Billboard story.

So far, the Web-only label has issued to box sets, bringing things all the way up to 1962. The boxes are limited to 5,000 copies each, but tunes also are available for download via iTunes.

The project continues in the fall with a five-CD set devoted to the 45s of '63."So little of what is in these first three packages had made it to the CD era, or even to the LP era," Hip-O Select senior director Thane Tierney says. "It offers an unparalleled insight into probably the only label in history where, if you say the name of the label, it sets off a sound in your head."

When the project is completed in 2008 with a package covering the label's output for 1972 (the year the label moved from Detroit to Los Angeles), it will comprise 12 volumes totaling 64 or 65 CDs. To mark Motown's 50th, a complete set will be issued in 2009 -- hopefully in a scale replica of the old Hitsville USA building. "We're going to pull out all the stops," Tierney says.

Check out Hip-O Select.