"New" Supremes: February 15/16, 1970

[marybrewster]

49 years ago this week, the "new" Supremes made their debut on Ed Sullivan: February 15, 1970. The next day, February 16, "Up the Ladder to the Roof" was released as their "first record together":

https://youtu.be/ygfSgFcT8I0

[blackguy69]

https://youtu.be/ygfSgFcT8I0

[Ollie9]

Great stuff!!!. This song always lifts me up.

[marv2]

Darn! Has it been that long? Wow.

[gman]

I couldn't find the single for 3 weeks....the first week it didn't come in, and by the time I got to the 3 record stores in my general area....[[walking....I was 10) 2nd week they were sold out! Aside from Jeans new voice, it was a real big deal for me because Mary and Cindy had solo lines...I was able to find every other 45 upon release until Bad Weather....that one was out about 6 months before I got a copy.

[marv2]

I remember in my neighborhood everyone had to be home to see this! It was a very big deal at that time.

[jobeterob]

I couldn't find the single for 3 weeks....the first week it didn't come in, and by the time I got to the 3 record stores in my general area....[[walking....I was 10) 2nd week they were sold out! Aside from Jeans new voice, it was a real big deal for me because Mary and Cindy had solo lines...I was able to find every other 45 upon release until Bad Weather....that one was out about 6 months before I got a copy.

Up to Nathan Jones, we could get them

As the singles started to fail, you would need to special order but if you didn’t follow Billboard or Cashbox you didn’t even know they were out

[marv2]

Up to Nathan Jones, we could get them

As the singles started to fail, you would need to special order but if you didn’t follow Billboard or Cashbox you didn’t even know they were out

I've told you time and time again. Motown had started to not promote the Supremes in the 70s. I happy you finally admitted that.

[gman]

When I was in Jr. High school, I used to scour Right On! magazine...that's where I got my 45 and LP release info....and they did a story or had a nice pic every other month

[franjoy56]

i remember that night the supremes were on ed sullivan without with miss r, I took my phone off the hook to watch the segment, the next day I went to fulton street but the record was sold out, he said he would have more copies the next day I told him to hold a copy for me and he kindly obliged. e

[daviddh]

i think that UP THE LADDER TO THE ROOF, was a great track and would rate it as one of the Supremes all time best singles. I think it still holds up even now. recently heard it on 70s radio .so cool . they even played Automatically Sunshine last week. turned the radio all the way up. I think Jean did a great job in the group and their 4 albums with her were great. also thought NATHAN JONES was hot,kind of ahead of its time. should have been bigger. they only performed once on tv I think, Tonight Show. not sure what happened after 71

[Bluebrock]

i think that UP THE LADDER TO THE ROOF, was a great track and would rate it as one of the Supremes all time best singles. I think it still holds up even now. recently heard it on 70s radio .so cool . they even played Automatically Sunshine last week. turned the radio all the way up. I think Jean did a great job in the group and their 4 albums with her were great. also thought NATHAN JONES was hot,kind of ahead of its time. should have been bigger. they only performed once on tv I think, Tonight Show. not sure what happened after 71

They also performed it on The Cilla Black Show in the UK.

[sup_fan]

I love NJ too but recently a post on here really summed up the problem w the record. It builds beautifully to the bridge. The synth is great and vocals amazing. But after the bridge the song doesn’t take it to the next level. There are hardly any ad libs or extra oomph w the vocals. There’s just a touch more synth. The song just doesn’t quite reach the peak.

IMO that hit the nail on the head. Listen to the magic of Ladder and Stoned. Those songs go all the way and then even further. I think w just a bit more power and excitement at ending then the song would have had the final touch it needed.

[sup_fan]

i think that UP THE LADDER TO THE ROOF, was a great track and would rate it as one of the Supremes all time best singles. I think it still holds up even now. recently heard it on 70s radio .so cool . they even played Automatically Sunshine last week. turned the radio all the way up. I think Jean did a great job in the group and their 4 albums with her were great. also thought NATHAN JONES was hot,kind of ahead of its time. should have been bigger. they only performed once on tv I think, Tonight Show. not sure what happened after 71

I think a major prob at Motown in 70s [[especially early 70s) is that there seems to be almost 0 coordination between touring schedules and releases. Same thing during 60s. They’d sometimes do releases and then head overseas for 6 weeks of touring. Idiotic!!! They should have been in states doing tv and live appearances to push the records. And THEN go overseas to time w the international release which was almost always a month or two after US release

[TheMotownManiac]

Great idea, but it’s tough predict single release schedules which back then predicated on the success of the previous single and tours are planned a minimum of 4-6 months in advance. Reach Out died in 8 weeks, ANMHE was 16 weeks... how do you plan around it? they almost always had new releases coming and, songs like WDOLG and I’m Gonna Make You Love Me sold platinum w/o any TV - and others like NMWSYA and
STYNGUT debuted on Sullivan and weren’t exactly triumphs. You gotta start with a great record and then get it in tv. Nothing was gonna save the weak Jean singles likevTouch and I guess I’ll miss the man…… Which I think is a great song it’s just not a single the way it’s produced and is certainly no reflection on jeans talent on it. I think that’s my analogy of Nathan Jones you were referring to and I think there was a big hit there but it needed a lot more work I think he was relying too much on the special Effects and not enough on the dynamic Of the structure of the record. I bought that 45 I never played it that much.

Getting back on topic, I will never forget the night the new supreme is debuted on TV…… My heart was pounding and I really had no idea what to expect I simply could not imagine them without ross and I couldn’t imagine ross without them so I was a hot mess In that respect…… But they blew me away with the medley and, of course, up the ladder to the roof was the quintessential supreme’s record…… I couldn’t wait to get it and I played the hell out of it and the album.

[sup_fan]

Very true. And I realize I’m applying today’s approach to that time period. Which isn’t totally fair. And completely agree that a weak song is only going to go so far regardless of promotion

However the release schedule was fairly consistent from year to year. And they were touring constantly. Basically it was a machine pushing out songs and the group was constantly making appearances. Trying to maximize money

[sup_fan]

And getting back to the topic 😊

It was a stunning performance. Couldn’t have gone better. But those pantsuits always drove me crazy lolol. Just never really liked them. I’m mean what woman wants a belt with a buckle the size of her entire stomach smashing up under her boobs lololol

[RanRan79]

"Ladder" is a great song. The performance was good. Vocally, Jean was really a perfect shot in the arm for the group. She cut a lot of great vocals while a Supreme, although I've come to think of many of the songs as not so great on their own. Of course I'm biased, as Jean Terrell is one of my all time favorite female vocalists EVER. And that's saying a lot as I tend not to care for female singers with really high pitched voices, but Jean, Diana Ross and Deniece Williams are the exception to that rule.

[daviddh]

Jean did some great work with the group. Up the ladder sparkled.....as did Stoned Love. .....Nathan was still good for me.one day maybe we'll get a kevin Reeves mix of NJ