Diana Ross & The Supremes: Cream Of The Crop - 1969

So this was it, then, for one of the most successful female vocal groups of all time. November 1969 saw this cobbled-together and initially unplanned release that largely contained material garnered from the vaults. 

Once more it is a Diana Ross solo album in all but name. It leads off with a classic in Someday We'll Be Together, which lyrically seems to go hand in hand with the fact that the group were breaking up. The song was intended to be Ross's first solo single but it ended up being credited to the group, although I'm not sure if Mary Wilson or Cindy Birdsong actually appeared on it. Research tells me that the backing vocals were supplied by Maxine and Julia Walters, so it is not a Supremes song at all, despite history telling us that it is. Berry Gordy wanted it accredited to the group to fit in with the "farewell" theme.

Can't You See It's Me is a solid Sawyer/Hunter number that again would have perfectly suited Ross's forthcoming solo debut, as also would the very Ross-ish You Gave Me Love, written by Johnny Bristol, Harvey Fuqua and Marv Johnson. One constant on these final "Supremes" albums is the glorious presence of The Funk Brothers on instrumentation. They were peerless, weren't they? An album like this surely had to have a Beatles cover, and here is the ubiquitous Hey Jude, stripped down to three minutes. It's a good song and Ross was a good singer and she brings out the song's soulful aspects.

The Young Folks was a politically-aware number that was also covered by The Jackson 5 on their ABC album the following year. The song's message tells us to "make way for the young folks". Shadows Of Society was even more of a hangover from the awareness of the Love Child album in its plea for more understanding, love and consideration for those such as single mothers and the poor in general. 

Ross often covered Smokey Robinson songs during this period and we duly get one here in the lively groove of Loving You Is Better Than Ever. We need another bracketed long title don't we? When It's To The Top (Still I Won't Stop Giving You Love) is a fine example of the habit soul/Motown song titles had. Musically, it is upbeat and enjoyable. 

Till Johnny Comes is a bit of a throwaway, to be fair and a cover of Bob Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind is pretty vacuous, nowhere near as good as Stevie Wonder's earlier one. The jaunty backing doesn't suit the seriousness of the song either. The final number, the appropriately-titled The Beginning of The End, provides a moving postscript, however. Goodbye it was, then, with an ok but average album. There had been many previous glories though, which stay longer in the memory.

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