What percent of LOVE HANGOVER's success do you credit to Ross herself??

[sup_fan]

I disagree. I love the album, but don’t hear any obvious hit singles. “Gettin’ Ready For Love” was played to death on the radio, and danced to on a prime time pop show here in the UK. Still it only scraped into the 20’s.
”I think “Summertime Lovin” pretty dreadful and not worthy of one of the world’s premiere female singers of that time.
I agree with sup that the material the Hollands were producing on Diana was schlock when compared to what they had done with the 70’s Supremes.

haha - whoa we agree on something Ollie jk

i've said it before. the BIM project is lovely but just not what was happening at that time. it has a more traditional, innocent pop sound. and things were getting too hot in 77 and into 78. hell DR had just been moaning and groaning about her love hangover and then comes out with these innocuous little pop ditties about getting ready for lover and being at the top of the world.

i think BIM being released in 75 would have been magical. same with the Sups doing the Ivey Woodford tunes like Can't Stop a Girl and Color My World. all of those are just excellent 70s pop. but right time, right place.

[Ollie9]

haha - whoa we agree on something Ollie jk

i've said it before. the BIM project is lovely but just not what was happening at that time. it has a more traditional, innocent pop sound. and things were getting too hot in 77 and into 78. hell DR had just been moaning and groaning about her love hangover and then comes out with these innocuous little pop ditties about getting ready for lover and being at the top of the world.

i think BIM being released in 75 would have been magical. same with the Sups doing the Ivey Woodford tunes like Can't Stop a Girl and Color My World. all of those are just excellent 70s pop. but right time, right place.

As long as it doesn’t get to be a habit lol.
Although for various reasons not commercially successful, MS&S remains a slick and sophisticated album that still sounds contemporary today.
I’ve always found it odd that in comparison Diana was recording such dated material as “Fire Don’t Burn”, and “Never Light That Old Flame”, being far removed from the contemporary groove of the Supremes.

[sup_fan]

As long as it doesn’t get to be a habit lol.
Although for various reasons not commercially successful, MS&S remains a slick and sophisticated album that still sounds contemporary today.
I’ve always found it odd that in comparison Diana was recording such dated material as “Fire Don’t Burn”, and “Never Light That Old Flame”, being far removed from the contemporary groove of the Supremes.

maybe since diana had such a strong public image they didn't want to stray too far. her Masser produced songs are almost torchsong-like. sure they did a hard left with LH but overall things were pretty standard.

the sups on the other hand had nowhere to go but up. they were so far from the public vision in 76 that they could have sung something X rated and few would have even noticed. So once they hit with Walking, it seems the Hollands used that as an opportunity to really dive in with some amazing material. and of course they were well familiar with Scherrie's voice from the Invictus years.

[Boogiedown]

maybe since diana had such a strong public image they didn't want to stray too far. her Masser produced songs are almost torchsong-like. sure they did a hard left with LH but overall things were pretty standard.

the sups on the other hand had nowhere to go but up. they were so far from the public vision in 76 that they could have sung something X rated and few would have even noticed. So once they hit with Walking, it seems the Hollands used that as an opportunity to really dive in with some amazing material. and of course they were well familiar with Scherrie's voice from the Invictus years.

Yes the Supremes could easily shift their style to something more contemporary because they themselves were reinvented as well. Diana had crafted herself to a high level of respectability over a long period of time and had built a prestigious legacy she didn't want to throw away.
I think had anyone said to her, "How about this bouncy song called UPSIDE DOWN?", in 1976, she'd have shown them the door!
LOVE HANGOVER was a stretch enough!

[Ollie9]

Yes the Supremes could easily shift their style to something more contemporary because they themselves were reinvented as well. Diana had crafted herself to a high level of respectability over a long period of time and had built a prestigious legacy she didn't want to throw away.
I think had anyone said to her, "How about this bouncy song called UPSIDE DOWN?", in 1976, she'd have shown them the door!
LOVE HANGOVER was a stretch enough!

So are you saying more than one dance hit [[LH) would have been perceived as a threat to her level of respectability and legacy around that time. If so, they might have been plunged into troubled waters had “Your Love Is So Good For Me really taken off. Perish the thought.

[sup_fan]

So are you saying more than one dance hit [[LH) would have been perceived as a threat to her level of respectability and legacy around that time. If so, they might have been plunged into troubled waters had “Your Love Is So Good For Me really taken off. Perish the thought.

donna summer sort of had the work from the opposite side of things - she was an excellent vocalist but was sort of pigeon holed into being a sexpot disco diva. maybe people look down their noses at "just dance music" as if it's some sort of lesser type of artistic expression. and sure some disco music sucks. but then again, you can find atrocious and mediocre material in any musical genre.

for instance, mozart [[heralded as one of the most gifted composers ever) wrote scores and scores of operas. not because he was so moved or compelled but because he was the resident composer and was expected to turn in something new regularly. that was one of the main forms of entertainment at the time. most of the operas are frankly garbage and haven't hardly every been performed outside of their original show. it wasn't about creating something for the ages - it was about completing something quickly to make a buck. even back in the 1700s

they probably didn't want Diana too associated with something that was considered a "lesser" form of popular music, mostly happening in gay nightclubs. didn't want her to be "only" a dance artist. in hindsight, it's clear you can make superb and timeless disco music and so maybe there should have been more effort

[Boogiedown]

So are you saying more than one dance hit [[LH) would have been perceived as a threat to her level of respectability and legacy around that time. If so, they might have been plunged into troubled waters had “Your Love Is So Good For Me really taken off. Perish the thought.

That's a good point. Trying to pass YOUR LOVE IS SO... as disco was really a stretch, and counterintuitive to recording a Richard Perry project. Were they getting desperate at that time and seeing nothing much there to push, decided a hit from any angle, even disco, was better than nothing.

[Ollie9]

That's a good point. Trying to pass YOUR LOVE IS SO... as disco was really a stretch, and counterintuitive to recording a Richard Perry project. Were they getting desperate at that time and seeing nothing much there to push, decided a hit from any angle, even disco, was better than nothing.

I think another dance hit at that point would have done her career the power of good, with no reason to relinquish her trademark ballads because of it.
The thinking behind releasing “Your Love Is So Good” was that it was being singled out for additional praise in the trade reviews and picked up on national radio. A bit like what happened with “Up Front” six years later. Not the most reliable litmus test it would seem.
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