Love Child/ Diana Ross & The Supremes

[Jimi LaLumia]

https://dianarossproject.wordpress.com/2016/03/12/love-child-1968/

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Interesting article, Jimi. I love The Supremes' "Love Child" album. And I've always loved "Some Things You Never Get Used To" as a single, too. It deserved to go much higher up the charts than it did.

[Jimi LaLumia]

the singular named Paul who writes all these things does an amazing job.. as to "Some Things.." I didn't even know it was out until my family went into a department store and I saw it on the store's in house singles chart.. the girls did not appear on tv to push this one, which was incredibly stupid, same as happened with "The Composer"..some one was asleep at the wheel during this period, but nonetheless all the singles managed national Top 30 placements which isn't the easiest thing to do..just demonstrates a solid core fan base

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I first learned about "Some Things....." by hearing it on CKLW [[Detroit/Windsor AM Radio). Although I lived in western New York state, on certain nights [[depending on the weather conditions) I could get CKLW on my trusty little 1960's transistor radio. I loved that record from the first time I heard it. The DJ, Scott Regan, loved it, too!

Jimi, what you said about the girls not introducing "Some Things....." and "The Composer" on Ed Sullivan nor any other TV show is so true. Advertising and promotion are the name of the game. Without it, sales will be minimal. [[Universal, are you listening?!!!)

[sup_fan]

i think there were a variety of things the prevented Some Things from charting well

1. this was released right after the MLK assassination. it's just a bit too sugary/pop of a song and the nation was in grieving
2. also along those lines, there was SOOOOO much more hard-hitting songs in the pop world at this time. Just prior to this release you had songs like Sittin on the Dock of the Bay, Mrs Robinson, MacArthur Park, Stoned Soul Picnic, Hello I Love You.
3. there's 0 introduction - just a few castanets and then the girls start. that makes it hard for a dj to segue in a song or do an intro. might sound trivial but remember top DJ's were almost as important as the music they spun. they were HUGE personalities. now if the song was REALLY hot, they would have still played it. but this one isn't
4. no tv promotion
5. not sure what the girls' schedule was at this time. were they back over in Europe again? they were doing a lot of the Temps duet recordings at this time the studio.

also i'm very intrigued by the original plans for the LC album. i do like the released version but so many other groups were making cohesive and important lps at this time. just imagine if the girls had really come out with a solid thematic lp

i've made a playlist of tunes they'd recorded around this time to make my own LC album:

Side 1
Love Child - but it would be the long version with the 3rd verse. but not with the full intro like the released version, not the short intro like on L&F
Keep an Eye
How Long has the Evening Train been Gone
Does Your mama know about me
Blowing In the Wind

Side 2
The Beginning of the End of Love
In the Evening of our Love
If You Should Walk Away
Wish I Knew
Ain't No Sun Since You've Been Gone
MacArthur Park

[luke]

I missed the distinctive voices of Flo, Mary and Cindy.

[mysterysinger]

No child of mine will be bearing, the name and shame of Eddie Waring....

[thommg]

I think Paul has tackled a very ambitious project. I appreciate all the love and care that he puts into every entry. That said, I often don't agree with his assessments. In this one he mentions that Reflections was a major disappointment but I find it one of their most cohesive, adult sounding albums. I find Love Child, which I enjoy greatly, to be so much more of a "let's throw stuff to the wall and see what sticks" album. I wish more care had been taken in putting tracks onto that LP so that it was more of an album and not just a collection of tracks.