Wrong Lead Single - Ross lps

[Bluebrock]

Are you talking about the week before Christmas week when Diana rather surprisingly ended up slipping back from #2 to #4? As far as I was aware the sales Christmas week were something like 280k for Queen and 69k for Diana.

This is not meant to be cheeky and after all what do I know about marketing? but was there any problem about the release date of Your Love. I personally always felt this was bungled.

The UK chart seems to follow patterns and go rather static the week before Christmas. When You Tell Me and If We Hold On had five weeks pre-Christmas sales whereas Your Love in 1993 was only given four. It may not have peaked higher but had it been released a week earlier it would surely have sold at least 20k more.

I have always felt that "morally" Diana was the UK#1 Christmas album that year with One Woman.

Because Christmas Day was a Saturday that year the Christmas week chart was officially called on sales to Saturday 18 December. But Diana went to #1 the next week on sales of 200k+ based up to 23rd December. As shops closed on Christmas day back then I always felt this was the true Christmas chart topper.

Goodness me Florence. You are testing my memory here!! From what i can recall the only reason why "your love"did not follow the pattern of the other singles you mentioned was down to Diana's availability. She had some family function to attend as i recall and couldn't be in the Uk until a week later than originally planned. There was no other reason that i recall unless there is something i cannot currently remember.
I recall we all got drunk when "one woman" reached the summit of the album chart!! It was one wild evening was that, and that is all i can say!

[Bluebrock]

WOW!!! 5 pages of discussion, comments, stories and insight. and no bitching, snarking, or hate. this is what makes SoulfulDetroit Forum great

here are my thoughts on her albums from 81 onwards:

WDFFIN - i've grown to appreciate her RCA stuff more. sort of "iPod" era onward lol. i never played the lps much and rarely included them on mixed tapes and all back in the day. but now i do play them quite a bit. i actually like most of this lp. title track is fun, as is Never Too Late - this one sounds very early 80s to me lol. Mirror is great too although getting a bit carried away with the reverb. Two Can make is is the weakest track IMO. Work That Body is campy fun.

Silk - Fool For Your Love is not great. valiant attempt but not Diana. Turn Me Over i thought was fun. obviously not a serious track but a cute concept. Who is a good track. Love Lies too. I Am Me is ok. i do think the echo and reverb is again getting too heavy here

Ross - i think the problem here is it's a bit too disjointed. with Silk you had Hard Rock, ballad, light disco, raegae, etc. So it comes across as a bit of mix set of styles. Here though it seems out of sync. Pieces of Ice is odd. very odd. That's How You Start Over is a solid track but i think her vocals are a bit lackluster. she never really gets going. I think Girls is another 80s-campy fun song. sure it's not a mega hit or vocally dynamic. but it's fun and could have been great in a video. You Do It and Love and Loneliness are pretty good too. but like That's How, they need stronger more exciting vocals

Swept - overall solid production. i think the mixing and producing of her vocals here is much better. clean, not too much echo. but i think there are too many "throw away" tracks. Rescue Me, We are the children, Forever - i think 1 of those should have been kept and the others cut. needed more original material

Eaten - i'm not a fan of this set. Diana's voice has a nasality to it that IMO does NOT lead itself well to the Gibb falsetto sound. the guys have their own nasality to their tones and so it's too much. and i think the production of her vocals here is terrible too. too much echo, reverb, poor mixing. i do NOT like her breathy squeeky performance on More.

Red Hot - one of her most disjointed albums. the "throwback" to oldies tracks was fine as 1 song on her debut but i think the idea of a full album of this was not the right idea in her career at this time. a tv special is one thing. but she needed strong material and up to date content to keep her relevant in the record buying world.

Workin - i've almost never listened to this until just this past year. actually i've come to appreciate it a bit more. title track is a dud. but Bottom Line is great. Say We Can, Paradise, Going Through the Motions are all pretty good too.

Force Behind - not a fan of the title track. I'm not a huge Stevie fan so frankly i'm glad she never did a whole lp with him. but other tracks on here are much stronger. i do think the album is too heavy with ballads. Heart is good and so is When You tell Me. Heavy Weather could have been better - make it a bit more soul exciting. love battlefield

Box Set - Your Love is one i like a lot. It's A Wonderful Life sounds like Battlefield and Chain Reaction had a Love Child lolol. But she needed a more solid and contemporary dance song. Let's Make is ok but a bit too Kenny G

Take Me Higher - title track is a good track but not a fan of the lyrics. If You're Not Gonna - great song. lots of great ballads on here but gets a bit ballad heavy. I Thought We Were Still is gorgeous. as is Gone and the others. but needed more up tempo. I Will Survive was great but a year or two too late. the original had already had a resurgence and there was a popular techno/dance version released of Gloria Gaynor. so by the time Diana's came around, it wasn't very new or exciting

Everyday - He Lives In You don't like these "moral" songs. again overall i like the album and the dance remixes of some of the tracks really were great. but those should have been the album version. like Cher's Believe. that wasn't some slow groove ballad. it was a hot dance track on the album and in remixes. that should have been the approach to Not Over You Yet

I Love You - as if they recorded her are a karaoke bar singing after too many sakes

Blue - stunning. i agree with a writer that said her jazz work in the early 70s was every bit as courageous, exciting and artistically important as anything Marvin or Stevie were doing

Great observations sup fan.
You certainly have an ear for the business and would have been a great co-worker back in the day. I never got involved in the production side of things. I was fortunate enough to be present at a few recording sessions which incidentally often took place at night. Most of the vocals for the Christmas album and Everyday is a new day took place in the wee small hours. On a couple of occasions i went straight from the studio to the office without a wink of sleep, and when i finally got home i had 4 children who all made sure i didn't get any sleep there! Happy days indeed,

[daviddh]

I have done the same, I have condensed her RCA albums down to three albums, not counting Eaten Alive .i think I kept 5 tracks. some of the tracks work better elsewhere, at least to me.
I made my own version of TO LOVE AGAIN by combining the new tracks from both albums to make one full album.
this is turned out to be a great thread. I love reading everyones opinion about the music , and yes not fighting! thank you to all. the music is why we are here anyway.
love reading the behind the scenes info. nice to know there was more Christmas songs. maybe we could geta box set of this period from Diana with out takes from these albums 1990's era and some new tracks!!!!! I know I am dreaming!

[daviddh]

ok what do you thin are some of the best , top ten RCA tracks.
ALL OF YOU
SWEPT AWAY
HARD FOR ME TO SAY
SUMMERTIME
THATS HOW YOU START OVER
LOVE LIES
CHAIN REACTION
CRIMES OF PASSION
SHINE
STRANGER IN PARADISE

[reese]

My RCA Top 10:
CROSS MY HEART
IT'S HARD FOR ME TO SAY
EXPERIENCE
CHAIN REACTION
MISSING YOU
SWEPT AWAY
TELEPHONE
FOREVER YOUNG
MIRROR, MIRROR
THINK I'M IN LOVE

[florence]

Get the lynching party out now but while I loved the Swept Away album the two tracks which I liked the least were Missing You and All Of You. When I get round to deciding my top 10 RCA tracks Forever Young will be there - the highlight of SA. Diana is in superb form on it, the Eric Clapton guitar solo gives it extra depth and for me it is the definitive version of this Bob Dylan classic.

I can't understand why no-one seems to like Silk Electric. I think it's a superb album and highly underrated. TBH, I prefer it to Why Do Fools Fall In Love.

With apologies to Mirror, Mirror afficionados the only two tracks I really liked were the title track and the fun Work That Body [[a big UK Hit). Again contrary to most I wasn't that keen on the album version of Endless Love - I found her voice rather reedy and the song lacked the passion of the original.

If anything one of the weakest tracks on SE was Muscles. Why was it that Michael Jackson always seemed to give Diana one of his weaker efforts?

So Close is a brave attempt at something different and retrospective and comes over well although it was perhaps a dubious choice as a single.

Who and Love Lies are wonderful easy listening songs and Fool For Your Love which I believe was considered as a single is a revelation which Diana performs brilliantly.

The Michael Masser In Your Arms was surely a hit single as Whitney Houston later proved but if there was just one song through Diana's career which was screaming out HIT SINGLE, certainly for the UK at least - [[apart from Never Say I Don't Love You on Ross 78) - it was Still In Love. A glorious, emotional and powerful ballad as only Diana can do them.

Just don't understand why this album is not generally highly though of. It's probably my 3rd favourite after Force and Swept Away.

[daviddh]

Florence, I agree , I do like Silk Electric better than Why Do Fools Fall . I will have to give Forever Young another listen.
I have a question if anyone can answer it. two songs I thought should have been huge were Today I Thought I Fell In Love and My Old Piano.
here in USA, Upside Down and I'm Coming Out were huge hits. I thought sure Piano would go all the way to the top of the charts. it seems in UK I think My Old Piano was a hit. but here it bombed! still don't get it.my favorite song from Diana album.still love it.
any thoughts on why , what happened with this song......Tenderness was released in early 81 and charted higher at ...I think 61. but did everyone give up on this album?
with I Fell In Love Today...the only thing I can think of is Love Hangover just expoded all over the place and went to #1 on all the charts, but it seems ,TIFIL got no PR at all.
any thoughts??

[daviddh]

ps I read there is another version of Fool For Your Love, I think Gen Simmons of KISS was envolved , but I think Diana mixed the song differently for the album but the original version is more of a rocker

[Bluebrock]

ps I read there is another version of Fool For Your Love, I think Gen Simmons of KISS was envolved , but I think Diana mixed the song differently for the album but the original version is more of a rocker

Not heard this rumour before so I cannot comment on it's authenticity but Diana did record a lot of songs for "wdffil" some of which were used for "silk electric" when plans for Michael Jackson to produce more songs fell through. This other version of "fool for your love" could be one of those songs. As I stated in a previous post Diana blocked any plans for these songs to be used on the expanded versions from a couple of years back, and unless she has a change of heart they are likely to remain in the vault.

[Bluebrock]

Florence, I agree , I do like Silk Electric better than Why Do Fools Fall . I will have to give Forever Young another listen.
I have a question if anyone can answer it. two songs I thought should have been huge were Today I Thought I Fell In Love and My Old Piano.
here in USA, Upside Down and I'm Coming Out were huge hits. I thought sure Piano would go all the way to the top of the charts. it seems in UK I think My Old Piano was a hit. but here it bombed! still don't get it.my favorite song from Diana album.still love it.
any thoughts on why , what happened with this song......Tenderness was released in early 81 and charted higher at ...I think 61. but did everyone give up on this album?
with I Fell In Love Today...the only thing I can think of is Love Hangover just expoded all over the place and went to #1 on all the charts, but it seems ,TIFIL got no PR at all.
any thoughts??

I love her version of "forever young". She loved that song too and was rightly proud of her version, but each to their own I say.

My old piano was indeed a sizeable hit here in the UK reaching no.4 I believe.
Motown USA gave up on "ititalt[[btifil)" when "love hangover" was rush released to counter the cover version by 5th dimension. I agree it could have been another monster had it not been withdrawn. It did reach the mid 30's in the UK and is still played occasionally over here on the oldies stations.

[reese]

... I have a question if anyone can answer it. two songs I thought should have been huge were Today I Thought I Fell In Love and My Old Piano.
here in USA, Upside Down and I'm Coming Out were huge hits. I thought sure Piano would go all the way to the top of the charts. it seems in UK I think My Old Piano was a hit. but here it bombed! still don't get it...

From what I remember, MY OLD PIANO wasn't released as a single in the US until 1981, after Diana left the company. My copy even has it in a picture sleeve promoting it as being a #1 hit in England and a track from ALL THE GREAT HITS. So it is no surprise that it didn't do well here, as I'm sure most DJs were playing the RCA material.

Re I THOUGHT IT TOOK A LITTLE TIME, once Motown rushed out LOVE HANGOVER, all promo effort went to that.

[reese]

Before SILK ELECTRIC was released, I recall reading that Diana was working on songs with Michael McDonald for it. I was eagerly anticipating the results, but it didn't happen.

I know there was eventually a McDonald composition on ROSS, THAT'S HOW YOU START OVER. But did they work on anything else?

[Bluebrock]

Before SILK ELECTRIC was released, I recall reading that Diana was working on songs with Michael McDonald for it. I was eagerly anticipating the results, but it didn't happen.

I know there was eventually a McDonald composition on ROSS, THAT'S HOW YOU START OVER. But did they work on anything else?

It was after "silk electric" for songs intended for "Ross83". I am not sure if other tracks were laid down but Diana certainly spent time with Michael McDonald and indeed Daryl Hall around this period. As with my previous post if any songs are in the vault they are likely to remain there.

[reese]

It was after "silk electric" for songs intended for "Ross83". I am not sure if other tracks were laid down but Diana certainly spent time with Michael McDonald and indeed Daryl Hall around this period. As with my previous post if any songs are in the vault they are likely to remain there.

Thanks for responding, and as others have said, much appreciation for the information that you have been providing.

[Bluebrock]

Thanks for responding, and as others have said, much appreciation for the information that you have been providing.

My pleasure Reese.

[daviddh]

yes indeed, thank you Bluebrook and Ollie for your feedback. really enjoyed your thoughts and memories of the DR music

[Jaap]

In the Netherlands, we got Tenderness as fourth single of the diana album [[though actually to promote All The Great Hits – which included half of the diana album), released late 1981 right after Why Do Fools Fall In Love [[which was Diana’s first and only solo number one in the Netherlands, the other being A Brand New Day with The Wiz Stars). A year later, we had Who as second single from Silk Electric, after Muscles. Both Tenderness and Who did not chart high, but are personal favorites of mine.

[soulster]

This thread is still going on? What more could there be to talk about regarding lead singles?

[Bluebrock]

This thread is still going on? What more could there be to talk about regarding lead singles?

It's turned into an "all things Diana" thread, but is that such a problem? It will continue until people lose interest which i assume you are now one of.

[daviddh]

I thought the music of Motown or of Diana ross is the reason why we are here anyway. I suppose I sidetracked the thread by talking about the RCA era , which wasn't my attention ,but I thought it better here than to start another thread on Diana.
personally ,I enjoy talking about Motown, the supremes and Diana and reading the other posts . this is one of the longest threads with no arguments, and non sense. I real joy to come and read and visit . thanks to all.

[Jaap]

I . this is one of the longest threads with no arguments, and non sense. I real joy to come and read and visit . thanks to all.

Funny to read this comment, as I guess I have a different definition of what is an argument and what makes sense. This thread has made much sense to me and for me has been very much about Motown and Diana Ross. Particularly the insights provide by Bluerock about how the industry works has been very informative to me... so if it is up to me, keep the thread going.

[daviddh]

Jaap, think you said it better than me.

[qwerty1]

Awsome cheers! Servicing Stop is another really good blogging site with updates all about different things to do with cars if you guys want to have a look P.S their main site also do Services/MOT's as well!

[florence]

It seems you can't win.

Diana was very much a Motown artist but did desert to RCA for a number of years but as daviddh says why clutter the Forun up with a lot of different threads?

It's wonderful to read a thread which hasn't been hi-jacked and contains much information, views and especially the wonderful "inside" information from Bluerock.

Not just from the RCA days but my Diana top 10 tracks:

01 Remember Me
02 Chain Reaction
03 When You Tell Me That You Love Me
04 Promise Me You'll Try
05 Touch Me In The Morning
06 Never Say I Don't Love You
07 Forever Young
08 Battlefield
09 I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You
10 Why Do Fools Fall In Love

From the group days:

01 You Can't Hurry Love [[The best recrd ever in the history of Planet Earth!)
02 My World Is Empty Without You
03 Stop! In The Name of Love
04 In And Out Of Love
05 The Happening

And just for the record my favourite post-Diana Supremes' song is Nathan Jones.

[Ollie9]

"No One's Gonna Be A Fool Forever" ought to have been released as a single in the UK. Motown UK chose instead to release "Love Me" which although a pretty ballad, was not likely to set the charts alight. The UK have always loved Diana's more dramatic ballads, and if they also tell a story, as in "Fools" all the better. With a bit of tweaking, and if released a little later, say Oct 74 the "Last Time I Saw Him" album could have been a huge success for her. Songs to scrap were -

1 You
2.When Will I Come Home To You
3. Turn Around
4. Stone Liberty
Songs to add -
1 Part Of You
2.Kewpie Doll
3. To The Baby
4. I Wanna Go Back There Again

[Bluebrock]

"No One's Gonna Be A Fool Forever" ought to have been released as a single in the UK. Motown UK chose instead to release "Love Me" which although a pretty ballad, was not likely to set the charts alight. The UK have always loved Diana's more dramatic ballads, and if they also tell a story, as in "Fools" all the better. With a bit of tweaking, and if released a little later, say Oct 74 the "Last Time I Saw Him" album could have been a huge success for her. Songs to scrap were -

1 You
2.When Will I Come Home To You
3. Turn Around
4. Stone Liberty
Songs to add -
1 Part Of You
2.Kewpie Doll
3. To The Baby
4. I Wanna Go Back There Again

Ollie - I agree "nogbaff" could have a hit single in the UK. instead it ended up as a B side.
Speaking to some of my former colleagues the reason why "love me" was chosen was because Noel Edmonds who at the time hosted the radio 1 breakfast show with 15 million listeners liked the song and promised to give it plenty of airplay which to be fair is exactly what he did. Radio 1 was very powerful back then and could easily make or break a record. I had my own issues with them later on so I do know what I am talking about.

[jobeterob]

Did we ever say that And If You See Him should have been a single?

[thommg]

Did we ever say that And If You See Him should have been a single?

I don't believe it's been mentioned in this thread, but it has come up in other threads on DR's recordings.

[florence]

This is a very difficult one.

I was too young at the time to know what was happening and I have never heard of the Noel Edmonds story. Obviously he didn't have the same sway as our beloved Tony Blackburn!

But if any record company was offered guaranteed airplay on the flagship Radio One Breakfast Show with its massive listening audience they'd obviously grab it with both hands.

Maybe if Love Me been the lead single in these circumstances it might have done better but it was bound to suffer as the follow-up to Last Time which had been Diana's weakest chart performance by a long shot since 1970 - allowing that Good Morning Heartache was an unusual and special case and was never going to do well in the UK.

I know quite a few fans think highly of Love Me - I'm not really that keen on it, it's quite anaemic but were there really any tracks on the album which would have been successful singles?

I don't agree with Ollie, I doubt No One's Gonna Be A Fool Forever would have been a big hit -of course, who knows? - although between the two I certainly would have chosen it in preference to Love Me.

I really liked I Heard A Love Song which might have been an interesting choice of single in the late 70s and the track on the album I played the most [[and still do) is perhaps surprisingly Behind Closed Doors!

I suppose they really wanted to see if they could get the album off the ground but I'm still banging my big drum. As Ollie has rightly pointed out the UK has always loved Diana's dramatic ballads and I would have gone back to one of these from a previous album with little else available.

There was more life in the Touch Me In The Morning album and they had a great candidate in We Need You written by none other than Deke Richards -who else but Diana and him could have gotten Doobedood'ndoobe to #12?!!

I had understood this was to be the follow-up single to Touch Me in the US but for some reason got cancelled and only the title track from the album was issued as a single.

Despite the fact that was one of Diana's most successful albums it was only four months old when they released the Diana/Marvin collaboration. It seemed they channelled everything into promoting it and abandoned Touch Me.

But then Diana's record career seems to have been a litany of strange decisions!!

[Bluebrock]

Did we ever say that And If You See Him should have been a single?

Motown UK did consider it by all accounts. They included it on a greatest hits album in 1972 but didn't actually release the track on 7"".

[rovereab]

A "proper take" of I've Come To Love You So Much would have been a great lead single off Diana & Marvin.

[jobeterob]

Motown UK did consider it by all accounts. They included it on a greatest hits album in 1972 but didn't actually release the track on 7"".

Had never heard that. Thanks

[daviddh]

i agree AND IF YOU SEE HIM could/ should of been a single.
LAST TIME I SAW HIM album was ,imo. not the best. but I like the deluxe edition with the bonus tracks. I like the out takes better. Kewpie Doll. I Want To Go Back There. I think the album would hav been better with the out takes than was was used
I like Love Me...have to have a listen again to NO Ones Gonna Be Fool Forever. I remember thinking it was syrupy .

[Bluebrock]

i agree AND IF YOU SEE HIM could/ should of been a single.
LAST TIME I SAW HIM album was ,imo. not the best. but I like the deluxe edition with the bonus tracks. I like the out takes better. Kewpie Doll. I Want To Go Back There. I think the album would hav been better with the out takes than was was used
I like Love Me...have to have a listen again to NO Ones Gonna Be Fool Forever. I remember thinking it was syrupy .

It could have been a good single in my opinion. It was dramatic , catchy and a potential hit in the making. Had I been in charge at the time I would certainly have chosen it, but it was hardly an album stacked full of possible hit singles and Diana herself was disappointed with it.

[Ollie9]

i agree AND IF YOU SEE HIM could/ should of been a single.
LAST TIME I SAW HIM album was ,imo. not the best. but I like the deluxe edition with the bonus tracks. I like the out takes better. Kewpie Doll. I Want To Go Back There. I think the album would hav been better with the out takes than was was used
I like Love Me...have to have a listen again to NO Ones Gonna Be Fool Forever. I remember thinking it was syrupy .

It was Dave, but the public enjoys a bit of the sweet stuff.
As regards "And If You See Him", it would have been a hit of that there is no doubt. Millions of teenage girls all over the world would have cried their socks off, ensconced in their bedrooms playing it over and over..
Returning to LTISH, i have always found that having the songs "Sleepin" and " Stone Liberty" put on one album a little depressing. The gently swaying "Behind Closed Doors almost comes as a relief.

[jobeterob]

On LTISH, I thought Stone Liberty and I Heard A Love Song and the other Bob Gaudio [[I believe) tracks were good. But Love Me sucked. And Sleepin was pretty overwrought.

[daviddh]

one thing with Motown , you got everything all at once or nothing at all. I think the album EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING could have been held back to 1972. it could have given Deke and Diana time to work on the album and have some better tracks rather then a rush job. I feel that was also about LAST TIME I SAW HIM, it could have been held back to 74 and retooled with far better tracks than what was used.
a no albums in 1975 but BLUE sat in the vaults for some 30 years.
and with each deluxe edition I am surprised by some of her solo tracks that were left vaulted. I think they needed us fans to listen in on some of these albums,lol

[Ollie9]

In the Netherlands, we got Tenderness as fourth single of the diana album [[though actually to promote All The Great Hits – which included half of the diana album), released late 1981 right after Why Do Fools Fall In Love [[which was Diana’s first and only solo number one in the Netherlands, the other being A Brand New Day with The Wiz Stars). A year later, we had Who as second single from Silk Electric, after Muscles. Both Tenderness and Who did not chart high, but are personal favorites of mine.

It's interesting to note the songs that did well in other parts of the globe. I doubt very much that had "Brand New Day" been issued as a single in the UK or USA it would have gone very far.
I am no fan of Silk Electric, but always thought "Who" was the obvious choice as the follow up to "Muscles". I wonder perhaps that had it charted higher in the Netherlands it might have been the third single in other parts. Who knows?.
The success "Rhythem Of Life" enjoyed in Australia in 70 is an interesting one. I have always wondered what prompted it's release.

[daviddh]

i agree, Who from Silk Electric was good. think it could have been a single
I heard Diana sing [[part of) Brand New Day,....in concert. think it was Russo /Rosso show, not sure but it is on You Tube and they rocked it.
I think if Diana sang the lead and the proper mix ,it could have done well.
Touch By Touch could have been a single from Swept Away.
I would have released Hard For Me To Say instead of Tell Me Again.
Crimes Of Passion from EA
I also liked the 1976 DR album and I thought Youre Good My Child was good. I also loved After You. it turned up as a B side a few times
and my favorite unreleased song thus far...What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life. what a beautiful vocal. and Diana recorded this in 1970 b4 Streisand. another gem left in the vault ????WTH.
Baby Its Me wasn't promoted properly.

[daviddh]

anyone know why Diana blocked plans for the out takes to be released. it's not like she is releasing new product now anyway??

[Jaap]

I heard Diana sing [[part of) Brand New Day,....in concert. think it was Russo /Rosso show, not sure but it is on You Tube and they rocked it.

Yes, "A Brand New Day" was the grand finale of the Symphonica In Rosso concert in 2009 in the Netherlands, which makes sense as the song fits the whole symphonic orchestra set-up and the song was #1 here. Ross clearly didn't remember the words, but it was a fitting finale anyway. Originally, the concert was intended to be more elaborate, but the organizing company "The Entertainment Group" went bankrupt just a couple of months before Ross would perform in their Symphonica in Rosso series. The Dutch pop singer Marco Borsato -- the originator of the concert series and one of the owners of the organization that went bankrupt -- gave two "free" concerts [[he didn't get paid) to make the two Ross concerts possible. Ross understandably stuck much more to her usual set-list than initially intended, as it remained unclear for quite some time whether or not the concerts would actually happen.

[florence]

Bluerock,

Any thoughts as to why the Diana album underperformed in the UK?

In relative terms it was one of Diana's better performing studio albums here reaching #12, going Gold and being in the year's top 100 album chart.

In almost all if not every other territory in the world it was by far Diana's biggest seller and given that Upside Down was only pipped to #1 at the very last minute, My Old Piano went top 5 and I'm Coming Out made #13 selling well into 6 figures you would really have expected the album to have been massive.

Personally, apart from Upside Down it is not one of my favourite albums. While Diana gives good vocal performances I'm Coming Out is disjointed and lacking melody to my ear and My Old Piano sounds quite bland although the British public loved it.

Any stories behind the issue of Piano as a single in the UK? Who spotted the potential?

I was really taken by surprised when it was announced as the follow up to Upside Down here.

At least one thing we can say is that the right single was undoubtedly chosen as the lead. I find it hard to believe that other tracks were actually originally considered in the US. It's frightening to believe what could have happened to the album with a different lead single although I rather suspect that as had happened previously with Mountain and Love Hangover radio pressure would probably have forced them to hurriedly issue Upside.

[daviddh]

at first I wasn't a fan of Diana album , as I feel it sounded like a Chic album but as Upside Down became a hit, it grew on me. I like Give Up ,My Old Piano and Friend To Friend

[Bluebrock]

anyone know why Diana blocked plans for the out takes to be released. it's not like she is releasing new product now anyway??

It is not as cut and dried as it may seem. Even though Diana owns the masters she would still have to pay out royalties to the songwriters, producers etc perhaps making it a loss making venture. Also there is the distinct possibility that she doesn't rate the canned material. I know she doesn't look back with fondness on her RCA years so i fear we may have to wait until she passes away before we get to hear these songs.

[Jimi LaLumia]

then maybe she should sell the masters, make some $$$$$ and let the buyer worry about royalty payments..

[daviddh]

bluebrock, I agree .I was thinking the same thing. with the RCA stuff.i was thinking we would have to wait until she passes away to get to hear any of it.
the bad thing is ,for me, with Diana not recording new material , I was depending on universal music releasing the deluxe editions to fill in the gap, but now it seems even that has dried up. I am disappointed that Ross 78 still has not seen the light of day as far as cd release and getting a proper deluxe edition. it figures , universal music would get to the last Ross album of the 70s and just stop. maybe they are holding out to drum up the price.

[Bluebrock]

Bluerock,

Any thoughts as to why the Diana album underperformed in the UK?

In relative terms it was one of Diana's better performing studio albums here reaching #12, going Gold and being in the year's top 100 album chart.

In almost all if not every other territory in the world it was by far Diana's biggest seller and given that Upside Down was only pipped to #1 at the very last minute, My Old Piano went top 5 and I'm Coming Out made #13 selling well into 6 figures you would really have expected the album to have been massive.

Personally, apart from Upside Down it is not one of my favourite albums. While Diana gives good vocal performances I'm Coming Out is disjointed and lacking melody to my ear and My Old Piano sounds quite bland although the British public loved it.

Any stories behind the issue of Piano as a single in the UK? Who spotted the potential?

I was really taken by surprised when it was announced as the follow up to Upside Down here.

At least one thing we can say is that the right single was undoubtedly chosen as the lead. I find it hard to believe that other tracks were actually originally considered in the US. It's frightening to believe what could have happened to the album with a different lead single although I rather suspect that as had happened previously with Mountain and Love Hangover radio pressure would probably have forced them to hurriedly issue Upside.

From what i can gather Motown UK were well satisfied with the performance of the "diana" album. Perhaps it could have charted higher but i am not sure it really underperformed. As regards who chose "my old piano" as the 2nd single i really don't know. I shall try to find out but whoever it was did a good job in my opinion helping it to a very respectable no.4. Diana herself liked the tune and was happy to record the promo or video for it. I rate this album more now than i did at the time. Chic had already peaked by this time and i have to agree with Diana who remixed the album much to Edwards and Rodgers dismay. She was unrepentant many years later when i asked her. Her vocals on this album are outstanding. The tension in the studio made Diana up her game and she sounds committed and strong to my ears. I always felt that "give up"could have been a hit single but was instead as a B side. Had i been in charge i would have done the same thing as my future colleagues . Motown USA considered going with "i'm coming out" as the 1st single but bowed to radio pressure who quite rightly loved "upside down" one of her most iconic single with superb musicianship and production and of course great vocals by the lady.

[Bluebrock]

bluebrock, I agree .I was thinking the same thing. with the RCA stuff.i was thinking we would have to wait until she passes away to get to hear any of it.
the bad thing is ,for me, with Diana not recording new material , I was depending on universal music releasing the deluxe editions to fill in the gap, but now it seems even that has dried up. I am disappointed that Ross 78 still has not seen the light of day as far as cd release and getting a proper deluxe edition. it figures , universal music would get to the last Ross album of the 70s and just stop. maybe they are holding out to drum up the price.

It is in the works but i do not have a release date. Initially it wasn't thought to be viable but the discovery of a few unreleased tunes will ensure that it does get a digital only release. There are also outakes available of the two live albums from the 70's but i am less sure that they will ever see the light of day.

[daviddh]

thanks Bluebrock, I do recall that the 1974 live set was originally going to be a 2 lp set.
never been fond of the 1977 lps as the lps seem all rushed medleys.

[daviddh]

I was never fond of Have Fun Again. I know here in USA they were going to release it as the first single . glad they didn't.
i always thought Give Up and Now That Your Gone could /should be singles.
looking forward to the Ross 78 deluxe set. I originally wasn't a fan of this as it seemed like Motown just released this album to get a lp out. I liked the new songs on side 1 but side 2 seemed disappointing as it used older songs including the remix of Reach Out Ill Be There, ...even though I do like the remix. I just think it should have been used on the hits album.
if this is the last reissue, so be it. I think we are all getting older, but I was hoping the would continue the legacy as they do with Elvis and the Beatles