Finders Keepers: Motown Girls 1961 - 1967 / Various

It was Ace Records' good fortune in 2009 to become the first independent record company in the world to license previously unissued Motown material from the 1960s. Our tenth and latest Motown project is Finders Keepers, a compilation of female and girl group treasures titled for the 1964 Marvelettes recording that first surfaced as a single on the British Tamla Motown logo in 1980.

The CD comprises a half-and-half mixture of previously released and unissued tracks. In the case of the reissued titles, we've taken the road less traveled and selected tracks which haven't had the attention they deserve down the years, amongst them very rare 45s from the Andantes and Saundra Mallett.

Collectors will particularly relish the dozen unissued tunes, which include superb offerings from Motown heroines Brenda Holloway, Martha and the Vandellas, Gladys Knight and Kim Weston and gems by lesser-known artists Carolyn Crawford, Hattie Littles, LaBrenda Ben, Liz Lands and Linda Griner. We've even managed to dig up tracks by a couple of ladies who've never had a track out before: Thelma Brown and Anita Knorl.

Compiled and annotated by Keith Hughes and Mick Patrick.