Favourite track from Dianas Red Hot Rhythm and Blues LP

[nomis]

a mixed bag this one..I would say Summertime and There Goes My Baby are the standout tracks from this set things like Shine and Dirty Looks havent aged too well..

[reese]

It's Hard For Me To Say is my absolute favorite. I still can't believe it wasn't released as a single. Other faves include Dirty Looks, Summertime, and Cross My Heart.

[soulster]

Dirty Looks and Shine are my favorites.

[captainjames]

I don't have the album in front of me but I seem to remember "Stranger In Paradise" being on here. Beautiful song....love it even today. I have it on my Ipod but can't remember if its this album.

[miss_lish]

Handsdown: Summertime.

[jobeterob]

Summertime and then Dirty Looks.

[skooldem1]

Summertime
Its hard for me- speaking of, what a shock and wonderful surprise that she sang this one on her tour last year.

[theboyfromxtown]

A vote from "him indoors" for Summertime.

I love the whole album and I am going to play it today to remind myself how great it is. I have to find it first though!

Good topic Simon......

[Koach]

Cross My Heart and Dirty Looks

[rovereab]

I'm with xtown - I love the whole album. However if pushed, It's Hard For Me, is a stand out track.

Eamonn

[topdiva1]

Cute album - cuter cover.

Dirty Looks.

[tomato tom]

Summertime..and it cant come too soon! ..Paulo xxx

[smark21]

Summertime. If she were ever to record another album, she ought to try to sing another Leonard Cohen song as he's a great songwriter.

[theboyfromxtown]

Wasn't this the time when the TV special was put out..that one with Bernadette Peters.

I found it amusing that Bernadette was in that special. There was some film that starred Bernadette and there's a scene where these drag queens in full regalia were miming to Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart. It was what we Brits call...high camp! Fabulous.

[theboyfromxtown]

The film was called "Slaves of New York"

[ExGuyParis]

Summertime by a mile. Fantastic song; I love Leonard Cohen, and I think Diana's is the best version of any.

[motownlover1964]

Does anyone know if her TV Special, "Red Hot Rhythm and Blues" is available for purchase? I had it on VHS but can't find it. It was an excellent show though. Loved her scene with Bernadette Peters and Dick Shawn;

[Constantin]

Maybe her best album.

"Summertime" is beautiful and poignant; anyone knows who sang it first?

"Stranger in Paradise" is nice too [[same writers as "Pieces of Ice").

Why there is only one song produced by Luther Vandross? Didn't he want to produce an entire album?

Why he album was released in 1987 and nothing came in 1986? Wasn't the RCA contract a one album per year contract?

[smark21]

Didn't she marry Arne Naess in 86? She may have had more important things to do than release an album.

BTW, whatever happened to Norris, the one who started this thread? He hasn't posted here in a long time. I know he had his troubles. I hope he's OK.

[BayouMotownMan]

I would say this is probably her best RCA lp and the theme worked. I'd vote for Summertime and Dirty Lookz as the best cuts. By this time however, RCA was finished with Ross so the album, tv special, everything was lost. Ross knew her career was in serious trouble and fled back to Gordy. This is when she found out Motown was dying and Gordy was negotiating a sale. This must have been a very tough time for Diana Ross. She was happily married however and that helped her through it.

[jobeterob]

I think I like the Eaten Alive album overall more than this one. Why Do Fools Fall in Love was good too.

[jack020]

Track listing European Version Side A

"Dirty Looks" [[Richard Scher, Lotti Golden [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotti_Golden)) – 3:21 [[different mix to US release, which runs at 4:10)
"Stranger in Paradise" [[John Capek [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Capek), Amy Sky) – 3:59
"Summertime" [[Leonard Cohen [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cohen), Sharon Robinson [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Robinson_%28songwriter%29)) – 4:04
"Shine" [[Mick Hucknall [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Hucknall)) – 3:32
"Tell Me Again" [[Wintley Phipps [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wintley_Phipps)) – 3:13
"Mr. Lee" [[Emma Pought, Jannie Pought, Helen Gather, Laura Webb, Reather Dixon) – 3:07 [[song not included on US release)

Side B


"Tell Mama [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Mama)" [[Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel, Wilbur Terrell) – 3:38 [[song not included on US release)
"Selfish One" [[Carl Smith, Wilfred McKinley) – 3:31
"Cross My Heart" [[Sharon Robinson [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Robinson_%28songwriter%29)) – 4:09
"There Goes My Baby [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Goes_My_Baby_%28The_Drifters_song%29)" [[Jerry Leiber [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Leiber), Mike Stoller [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Stoller), George Treadwell [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Treadwell), Lover Patterson) – 3:03
"It's Hard for Me to Say" [[Luther Vandross [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Vandross)) – 4:43
"Shockwaves" [[Diana Ross, Mark Cawley, Bill Wray) – 3:46

I always wondered why the USA version had only 10 track!

[Sugarchilehoneybaby]

Does no one else adore "Shockwaves" as I do? I love this song! And I love the Shep Pettibone remix [[7" and 12") even more. I think Diana did a good job as a songwriter on this one. I would have chosen it as the lead single over "Dirty Looks". I do love the 12" of Dirty Looks much more than the LP version[[s). I made my own 7" remix by editing the 12" and I dare say my edit should have been the single version [[had I not been 11 years old at the time of its release.) :)

Fave tracks for me are:

1. Shockwaves
2. Summertime
3. It's Hard For Me To Say
4. Selfish One
5. Tell Me Again

But seriously, I love EVERY song on this album, and it's my fave RCA album by a mile! I wish we could get a deluxe reissue of this album. There are at least three recordings which were in the special that didn't make it onto the album: "Sweet Soul Music", "Tweedlee Dee", and "Baby, You've Got What It Takes". Between these, plus the skits and vignettes, and all the 12" mixes of "Dirty Looks", "Shockwaves", and "Mr. Lee", this could easily be a 2-CD deluxe reissue.

Alas, Harry-Andy-George can't do anything with it through Hip-O. :[[

[lakedistrictlad1]

I remember Mr Lee being played on the radio when it was her latest single. The DJ whipped it off after 30 seconds with a scratch of the needle sound effect, saying 'That's enough of that'. I do think that single was about the lowest point of her RCA days.
Having said that - this is the one RCA album I still play. There's so many great tracks. 'Shine' was very contemporary at the time. I think that should have been a single in the U.K. My faves on the album these days are
TELL MAMA / SUMMERTIME / SELFISH ONE /
The ballads on this album are all really strong - and so right for her. Yes, this was a solid album. despite Mr Lee.

[redlabs]

her best rca album. never listen to TELL ME AGAIN, too syrupy for me. but, SUMMERTIME is my favorite.

[Constantin]

There are at least three recordings which were in the special that didn't make it onto the album: "Sweet Soul Music", "Tweedlee Dee", and "Baby, You've Got What It Takes".

How do you know that?

[Constantin]

'Shine' was very contemporary at the time. I think that should have been a single in the U.K.

"Shine" being a cover of a Simply Red song [[from their current album) it was kind of hard to release it as a single.

[Constantin]

I always wondered why the USA version had only 10 track!

Me too. And why a different mix of "Dirty Looks"?

And it was just the beginning of different tracklistings, the worst being "Take me higher": different songs, different timings, many tracks here and there but not on the album. Why? What is the purpose of it?

[thommg]

I liked this album but it always seemed so middle ground to me. Nothing really stood out as exceptional except Summertime. Shine was indeed on Simply Red's album and theirs had much more punch to it that Diana's. Hers seemed a mild version. I still play RHR&B's but I play Eaten Alive, Swept Away and Ross more often. I absolutely love the Gary Katz produced tracks on Ross.

[uptight]

Opening track "Dirty Looks" gets my vote. It is as funky as she gets. I love the instrumentation. And I can play the album all the way through [[until "Shockwaves" comes on. I'd rip the needle off that one. LOL). Albums with so much real instrumentation are rare nowadays.

[lakedistrictlad1]

"Shine" being a cover of a Simply Red song [[from their current album) it was kind of hard to release it as a single.

Constantin - This was actually written by Mick especially for Diana. I can remember him being interviewed on t.v and being proud of writing this especially for Diana. So she could have laid claim to this as all her own. It was after her recording, but in the same year, that Simply red did their cover.

[Constantin]

Opening track "Dirty Looks" gets my vote. It is as funky as she gets. I love the instrumentation.

I love it, but it always seemed to me that it was a cross between Sharon Brown's "I specialize in love" [[same writers) and Alisha's "Baby talk" [[the two words have the same prosody). I've read somewhere that Tom Dowd didn't like it and its inclusion on the lp was solely Diana Ross decision.

[Constantin]

Constantin - This was actually written by Mick especially for Diana. I can remember him being interviewed on t.v and being proud of writing this especially for Diana. So she could have laid claim to this as all her own. It was after her recording, but in the same year, that Simply red did their cover.

I didn't know that [*"This track is on the Men And Women album [[1987) and was written for Diana Ross who also recorded it for her Red Hot Rhythm & Blues album [[1987)";*http://www.simplyred.com/music-and-lyrics/men-and-women/shine/
*thanks for the info]. I assumed it was a cover because Ross's version was released a little after Simply Red's.

[dba]

Here is the Wikipedia link about the album:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hot_Rhythm_%26_Blues

I found the complete album in a Rome CD store and was happy to have the deleted cuts.

Agree with a lot of the other posters that this is her strongest RCA album. Enjoyed the tv special but would have preferred a "live" broadcast instead of DR lip synching. It however has it's moments and the early studio scenes with Dick Shawn and Bernadette Peters are great. The special won two Emmy's for costumes and lighting.

She did a brief tour of the US to promote the album but because of pregnancy she had to cut it short. Drove out to an outdoor venue in NJ to see the show and remember that it had several of the songs from the album in the set. Was delighted for a change to hear new material and not the same old stuff she had been doing. Often times she would do her "regular show [[some of which still exists in her act today) and one song from a new release.

[Constantin]

I found the complete album in a Rome CD store and was happy to have the deleted cuts.

Which ones?

[dba]

Tell Mama, Mr Lee &12" of Dirty Looks

[Sugarchilehoneybaby]

How do you know that?

Umm, cuz I've watched the special.

"Baby, You've Got" was a duet with Billy Dee Williams :)

Apparently, Tom Dowd also wanted her to cut "Try a Little Tenderness", but Miss Girl didn't like the backing track.

[lakedistrictlad1]

I remember watching the t.v special and loved the duet with Billie Dee Williams. It was obviously a studio recorded track - and I remember thinking 'oh that has to be released on a compilation album at some point'. I was amazed when it DIDN"T appear on her box set.

[Sugarchilehoneybaby]

I remember watching the t.v special and loved the duet with Billie Dee Williams. It was obviously a studio recorded track - and I remember thinking 'oh that has to be released on a compilation album at some point'. I was amazed when it DIDN"T appear on her box set.

Let's not even get started on THAT infamous box set! [[LOL) :)