Diana Ross & The Supremes: 20 Golden Greats
Interestingly, I was reading an article on another music blog recently and the author had written about Where Did Our Love Go by Diana Ross & The Supremes (or The Supremes as it was credited to at the time). He said he only knew that song and Stop! In The Name Of Love by them and he wondered if indeed they had clocked up any other big hits. Totally gobsmacked that somebody who proclaims himself to be a music expert should be so staggeringly ignorant of one of the world's greatest-ever girl groups (if not the greatest) I told him that, yes, they certainly did have several more hits. Lots of them, in fact!
Anyway, back to me. This was the first compilation from the group I bought, back in the autumn of 1977. Of course, I already knew many of the hits, but it helped me get into several more and I have fond memories of playing the album to death.
It is, pleasingly, chronological in its track order. I always prefer my compilations to be sequenced so.
So, without more ado, let's scratch that itching in my heart....
Side One
Where Did Our Love Go - get those feet stomping. Yes, that sound is done by a guy stomping on the floor of the studio. The song was originally offered to The Marvelettes but they didn't want it, so the (then) lesser in the pecking order Supremes got the song and the rest is history. The song needed the subtle, nuanced lead that Diana Ross gave it. Diana didn't like the key she had to sing in, the others didn't want the song but it worked all round for The Supremes - it was number one in the pop and r 'n' b charts and number three in the UK charts. What did they know, huh? Interestingly, the song was never covered by another other artist at Motown, something extremely rare in those days of regular song-sharing.
Following on from the successful Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love was number one everywhere, and possibly remains to this day as the archetypal Supremes song. The one everyone knows. The song was re-cut several times and the "early version" appears on the double CD release of the Where Did Our Love Go album. I have to say that this is my favourite version of the song - it is slower, gutsier, more bluesy, longer and has a great, deeper saxophone solo. It wasn't chosen, though, and the eventual, more handclappy, poppier and more shimmery release that appears here has gone down as one of the most influential pop singles of all time. There is also a "jukebox single version" that also sounds slightly different. Confusing, huh?
On Come See About Me, The Supremes got bluesy on this gutsier number than the previous two had been. It notably "faded in". Within a few months The Beatles' Eight Days A Week did the same and they were said to have "invented" the technique. Yeah, right. Anyway, Come See About Me is one of my favourite Supremes stompers. It was unsurprisingly, a big Northern Soul hit. Listen to it, you can hear why.Another top notch song now. Based on a phrase uttered by Lamont Dozier during a row with his girlfriend, Stop! In the Name Of Love is classic Supremes, Diana's lead vocal countered superbly by Mary and Flo. It is notable for its phased-in, rumbling intro and then its archetypal thumping Motown beat. If you had to use it as a record to typify the Motown sound, particularly circa 1965, then you wouldn't be far off hitting the target.
Mid-sixties Motown Heaven for you here on Back In My Arms Again. Another thumping Holland-Dozier-Holland beat and some clever lyrics name-checking Mary and Flo, whose advice Diana doesn't want to take. The girls' back-up "oohs" are totally uplifting and have me singing along, pitch-perfect (not!). It has been a long-time favourite of mine and of Paul Weller too, who covered it live with The Jam on the 'b' side of their 1977 The Modern World single, introducing it as "an old fave rave, a bit of Motown". It was a number one follow-up to Stop! In The Name Of Love.
After stomping hits in Stop! In The Name Of Love, Back In My Arms Again and (not included here) Nothing But Heartaches, Diana and the girls are back with a number in I Hear A Symphony that, while still having an uptempo drum backing (and a great saxophone solo) has a sweet, soft vocal from Diana. The song is beautifully - dare I say - symphonic. It builds and builds and the girls' harmonies at the end are a treasure. On hearing it, Berry Gordy said he wanted it released NOW!!. He was right this time. The song was also covered by the Isley Brothers and Barbara McNair. It also has several different vocal mixes, which can get a bit confusing at times. Personally, I like the 2012 bassy remix of it a lot.As if the year 1965 couldn't get any better for Diana Ross & The Supremes, we end it with this atmospheric number in My World Is Empty Without You that begins with a great, infectious bassline and gets driven along by some continually parping saxophone. Diana's vocal is suitably strong to match this gritty backing. It is one of the girls' most intrinsically soulful numbers. Amazingly, it wasn't quite as big a hit as the previous releases from the year.
This is an absolute stomper of a track that unsurprisingly became a Northern Soul hit. It was not actually one of The Supremes' bigger hits, though. That is to overlook its grinding, playful vibe, which I have always found irresistible. I love the brass, the drums and Diana's urgent, flirty "love bug done bit me....love is like a nagging irritation" line. Great stuff. It has always been one of my favourites.
The wonderful You Can't Hurry Love, which spawned so many imitation basslines - and a virtual note-for-note Phil Collins cover in the eighties - is yet another top notch Motown classic from this collection. The hits just keep on coming, don't they? It's glorious. No further comment needed, is there? Needless to say, it's a deceptively simple song that became a huge number one. Amazingly, Motown Quality Control initially rejected the song. A secretary put them right. And how. That sort of thing happened quite a lot - often for what turned out to be the biggest of hits. Bizarre.
You Keep Me Hangin' On is Diana Ross & The Supremes at their best - harmonious, vibrant, effervescent and backed by that instantly recognisable morse code-sounding backing. It was covered in unconvincing slowed-down style by Rod Stewart on his 1977 album Foot Loose And Fancy Free. It was their second huge hit in three months. Vanilla Fudge did a prog rock workout on the song in 1968, scoring a big hit with it.
Side Two
With Love Is Here And Now You're Gone we have a typical serving of Supremes soul. It is backed by some catchy keyboards, strings and that archetypal Motown percussion sound. Michael Jackson also covered the song on his 1972 debut solo album. Diana's voice takes centre stage on a song I distinctly remember really getting into in 1977.
More Motown Heaven here. The Happening is simply sheer joy from beginning to end. The girls are on top form on this oh-so mid-sixties piece of perfect pop. It was the theme song to a film of the same name that has sunk without trace. I have loved the song since the time of release in the sixties when my mother loved it. Not only is it Motown Heaven, it's sixties Heaven too, isn't it? So carefree and breezy.
A classic hit next in Reflections, with its psychedelic-style spacey keyboard introductory interjections (which the producers came across by accident while fiddling around with machines). While it had a typical Motown sound in its percussion, there was something contemporary about it that fitted with 1967-68. It was possibly inspired by The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album and its use of sound effects. It stands out on this collection as (possibly) the pick of the crop. Cindy Birdsong had replaced Florence Ballard in the group by this one, by the way. Changes were afoot in many ways.In And Out Of Love was Florence Ballard's last recording with The Supremes. The song has always had a slight lo-fi feeling about it, for me, raised by Diana's emotive vocal. The group's stuff was so good, though, that any mild criticism really is splitting hairs. I still love the song!
Another big hit single is up next* in one of my all-time favourites, Forever Came Today, a track also covered by The Jackson 5. It is a brooding, yearning love song with a strong build up and a great chorus. It features one of Diana Ross's finest vocals for the group. She did it alone, however, none of Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard or Cindy Birdsong appeared on the track, something that would unfortunately become more common in the last few years of the group's existence.
* or so I thought. Actually, it was the first Diana Ross & Supremes single since Run Run Run in 1964 not to make the US Top Twenty! That statistic is quite an amazing run of success, isn't it? Anyway, this definitely should have been a top twenty hit, for sure.
I adore the Northern Soul beat of Some Things You Never Get Used To, a song I have loved since the seventies. It also gave its title to Elvis Costello & The Attractions' single High Fidelity, where it introduced the song as its first line, just as it did on Diana Ross & The Supremes' version here. The song was a comparative failure as a single, but I think it is one of the group's great underrated singles.
Love Child was the single which saw it all change for Diana Ross & The Supremes, they no longer used the songwriting team of Holland/Dozier/Holland and released a song written by Deke Richards and Pam Swayer that covered a comparatively mature, hard-hitting, maybe controversial theme as opposed to simply pop singles about boy/girl love. It was about a young girl's reticence about possibly getting pregnant and facing the many hardships of being a single mother. For 1968 this was certainly not the norm, particularly on the often somewhat prudish Motown label.
