1 non-single song that best represents each lineup

[sup_fan]

ok - been trying to find new topics. And we all know we've discussed practically every topic 10,000 times lol

so here's one i think is [[relatively) new

What is 1 non-A side single song that you think best represents that lineup? in the past we've talked about which hits best reflect the group but let's try this for fun. it can be an album track, something from the vaults or a B side of a single.

DMFB - Never Again

DMF - going down for third time

DMC - i'll set you free

JMC - together we can make such sweet music [[but also consider Here Comes the Sunrise)

JML - Cheap lovin

MSC - you can't stop a girl in love

MSS - sweet dream machine

[RanRan79]

Barbara years= After All...It's the one song that I think shows each lady in a positive light.


Flo years= Come On Boy...Just one of many songs I could've chosen. This particular one shows off Diana's personable voice, or as Aretha once said, that certain something that makes her so likable. And Flo and Mary's harmony is just breathtaking.


DRATS= I'll Set You Free...Just a great performance from Diana as lead and Mary and Cindy's backing harmonies really sells the song IMO.


MJC= Loving Country...Great Jean lead, great Mary and Cindy backing vocals.


MJL= I Guess I'll Miss the Man...Beautiful Jean lead, great Mary and Lynda harmony work.


MSC= Sha La Bandit [[shared lead version)...While I'm not overly fond of Cindy's turn at lead, I love the laidback style of the song. My favorite part is the background vocals, which I believe are all three ladies, and it shows how great a sound this grouping had together.


MSS= We Should Be Closer Together...Beautiful input by everyone.

[RanRan79]

DMFB - Never Again

DMF - going down for third time



Excellent choices. I love "Never Again". It really is a good sound by the group. And "Third Time" is always a fan favorite.

[sup_fan]

MJL - i'll toss another out there. Tossin & Turning from Live in Japan.

Jean is on fire here [[as opposed to her less-inspiring lead vocals on much of the album). "you must shake it but never break it!" lol

Mary and Lynda are really cooking on the backgrounds and sound great. Plus Lynda does the most amazing "woooooo" at 2:39. love it!!

[sup_fan]

Excellent choices. I love "Never Again". It really is a good sound by the group. And "Third Time" is always a fan favorite.

i was gonna scold you Ran lol the point of this thread is to NOT choose A sides of singles. Bad Weather was an A side lol :p

as for After All, I thought about that one too. especially with Barbara's lead. but i think Never sounds a bit better.

[sup_fan]

thought a Live list might be fun too

DMFB - there are no recordings [[to date) of the quartet

DMF - Let there be love from Roostertail 66. they are SO high energy and excellent vocals. and mostly unison. and since the sound quality is a bit better than Copa 65, i'm picking this one

DMC - Impossible Dream Ed Sullivan

JMC - we've only just begun Flip Wilson

JML - Tossin and Turning Japan 73

MSC - Body Heat live in Manchester

MSS - maybe this time farewell in London

[floyjoy678]

DMFB- He's Seventeen

DMF- He's All I Got

DMC- Sunny Boy

JMC- Bill When Are You Coming Back

JML- 5:30 Plane

These next two line ups are tough as I haven't really listened to the last three albums in completion

SMC- Its All Been Said Before

SMS- Does Dont Let My Teardrops count? Or was Cindy on this one? I know recently its been disputed its Susaye.

[RanRan79]

i was gonna scold you Ran lol the point of this thread is to NOT choose A sides of singles. Bad Weather was an A side lol :p

as for After All, I thought about that one too. especially with Barbara's lead. but i think Never sounds a bit better.

I don't know how that slipped my mind. Duh! I'll go back and change it.

[RanRan79]

thought a Live list might be fun too

DMFB - there are no recordings [[to date) of the quartet

DMF - Let there be love from Roostertail 66. they are SO high energy and excellent vocals. and mostly unison. and since the sound quality is a bit better than Copa 65, i'm picking this one

DMC - Impossible Dream Ed Sullivan

JMC - we've only just begun Flip Wilson

JML - Tossin and Turning Japan 73

MSC - Body Heat live in Manchester

MSS - maybe this time farewell in London

Definitely agree with "Let There Be Love". That's one of my fav of the live cuts.

[TYK1986]

DMFB: Got to be "After All"

DMF: "Ask any girl" just the first song that popped into my head. I think it definitely represents the girls during the first half of the 60's.

DMC: "Sunny Boy" or "I'm gonna make it"

JMC: "Thank him for today" Perfect song to finish New Ways.

JML: Bit struggling here but want to say Bad weather which is not a non-single lol.

MSC: "Give out, but don't give up" Both Scherrie lead and the group lead. And unlike Ran I love the Cindy solo bit on Sha la Bandit. It's not the best but it's nice they even bothered to give her some lines.

MSS: "I don't want to be tied down" I think the choice has to be one of the disco songs.

[blackguy69]

If I’m correct, Cindy recorded the full album. In disputes is how many tracks was Susaye dubbed in.

DMFB- He's Seventeen

DMF- He's All I Got

DMC- Sunny Boy

JMC- Bill When Are You Coming Back

JML- 5:30 Plane

These next two line ups are tough as I haven't really listened to the last three albums in completion

SMC- Its All Been Said Before

SMS- Does Dont Let My Teardrops count? Or was Cindy on this one? I know recently its been disputed its Susaye.

[nomis]

DMFB - You Can Depend On Me
Love the opening haunting bars and then Diana comes in with a vocal better than most of "Meet The Supremes" tracks

DMF - Shake Me,Wake Me [[When Its Over) by this point the ladies were on fire

DMC - Heaven Must Have Sent You - sometimes its hard to hear Cindy in the mix shes clear on this

im not very familar with Jean years beyond the singles [[I cant keep up with the changing line up) so....

Wisdom Of Time

Its All Been Said Before - loved this track for years since it was included on the 1986 anthology CD great track

[sup_fan]

If I’m correct, Cindy recorded the full album. In disputes is how many tracks was Susaye dubbed in.

the issue is we don't really know the date of Cindy's exit nor the date of Susaye's entrance. The Let Yourself Go set does list out the known recording dates for the HE tracks. According to that data, the backgrounds were all recorded over a 10 day or so period in Feb. the question then becomes who was in the group on what dates? Susaye is clearly audible in the bg vocals for the Russ Terana mix of I Dont Want To Lose You. and the date for IDWTLY bg vocals is 2/11 and 2/12. So assuming one of those dates is when Susaye was recording, then everything POST IDWTLY would be Susaye.

let's just say 2/12 is Susaye's first date recording:

that would mean she's on IDWTLY, You Keep me moving, Teardrops

there's no data on bg vocals for Till the boat, you're what's missing or Walking

bg vocals for HE, Only You were recorded prior to 2/12

[RanRan79]

Is it possible that Susaye's overdubs aren't dated? If the backing vocals were completed and dated, if after the fact Susaye was brought in to do additional vocals, isn't it possible that this information just isn't documented? It seems post 1969 Motown's recording logs aren't as thorough as they are for much of the 60s.

I bought the download of the Scherrie years set when it came out, along with the booklet. I think shortly thereafter something happened and my booklet disappeared. So I have to rely on you all for recording information during this period.

[benross]

If Marv were still with us, he might be persuaded that I'll Set You Free was Diana's salute to him, and that could have turned his whole attitude around. Why? Because at 1:34 Diana sings "I'll set you free, hee hee..." like she was quoting or channeling him. Remember how often that "hee hee" showed up in his posts?

Also, her enunciation as she claims "Can't coo all my emotions..." twice leaves a lot to be desired. It was not cool.

Basically, this song, despite some good moments and strong background support, is pitched slightly too high for Diana, and that, plus the breakneck speed, robs her of the sincerity she generally injected in even the simplest of lyrics, making the songs more endearing than they might have been when delivered by another singer.

At this point, however, she seemed somewhat desperate, or Motown seemed somewhat desperate, as they rushed to push out anything, lost and bereft of ideas and lacking the fabled H-D-H sensitivity and understanding of where and how her voice delivered best. Several of the Love Child songs, including The Evening Of Our Love, and other recordings around this time, like Western Union Man, just didn't come across because her voice evidenced a frayed, over-worked, pressured, strained quality and was terribly unattractive. In my opinion Motown never should have released these cuts, as Diana sounded average or ill; she was presented as a rhinestone, not a diamond. Motown should have taken care to protect its most saleable asset instead of revealing less than perfect, flawed product. By Cream Of The Crop, for the most part Diana's vocals were smooth and polished again and her voice seemed to have recovered. But too many of the Love Child and Let The Sunshine In recordings showed that Motown was too intent on overwhelming us with quantity, not quality, issuing second-rate productions and trusting that the fans would overlook the harsh, grating tones and buy whatever came along. Motown rushed the end of its golden age.

[nomis]

If Marv were still with us, he might be persuaded that I'll Set You Free was Diana's salute to him, and that could have turned his whole attitude around. Why? Because at 1:34 Diana sings "I'll set you free, hee hee..." like she was quoting or channeling him. Remember how often that "hee hee" showed up in his posts?

Also, her enunciation as she claims "Can't coo all my emotions..." twice leaves a lot to be desired. It was not cool.

Basically, this song, despite some good moments and strong background support, is pitched slightly too high for Diana, and that, plus the breakneck speed, robs her of the sincerity she generally injected in even the simplest of lyrics, making the songs more endearing than they might have been when delivered by another singer.

At this point, however, she seemed somewhat desperate, or Motown seemed somewhat desperate, as they rushed to push out anything, lost and bereft of ideas and lacking the fabled H-D-H sensitivity and understanding of where and how her voice delivered best. Several of the Love Child songs, including The Evening Of Our Love, and other recordings around this time, like Western Union Man, just didn't come across because her voice evidenced a frayed, over-worked, pressured, strained quality and was terribly unattractive. In my opinion Motown never should have released these cuts, as Diana sounded average or ill; she was presented as a rhinestone, not a diamond. Motown should have taken care to protect its most saleable asset instead of revealing less than perfect, flawed product. By Cream Of The Crop, for the most part Diana's vocals were smooth and polished again and her voice seemed to have recovered. But too many of the Love Child and Let The Sunshine In recordings showed that Motown was too intent on overwhelming us with quantity, not quality, issuing second-rate productions and trusting that the fans would overlook the harsh, grating tones and buy whatever came along. Motown rushed the end of its golden age.

great post Benross..even in Flo's final months of turmoil in the group Mary writes in "Dream Girl" that Flo was commenting on how ill Diana was becoming..by 1968 she was emaciated and explains in "sparrow" she couldnt even chew on food..

I think "Evening Of Our Love" was a "scratch' cut - Diana just feeling her way thru and never intended to be released. i like the track even thou the key she sings it is too high

[sup_fan]

Is it possible that Susaye's overdubs aren't dated? If the backing vocals were completed and dated, if after the fact Susaye was brought in to do additional vocals, isn't it possible that this information just isn't documented? It seems post 1969 Motown's recording logs aren't as thorough as they are for much of the 60s.

I bought the download of the Scherrie years set when it came out, along with the booklet. I think shortly thereafter something happened and my booklet disappeared. So I have to rely on you all for recording information during this period.

oh yes - totally possible. although we do have the date for Susaye's lead on Walking, which was 2/20. but yes. this period is quick uncertain as to who was where, doing what.

[blackguy69]

It was said that the album was completed before susaye joined so it’s possible that she just added her vocals

[rod_rick]

I think Susaye was dubbed in on I Don't Wanna Lose You, High Energy and Walking

[Spreadinglove21]

DMFB: After All

DMF: Going Down the Third Time

DMC: I'm Gonna Make It [[I will wait for you)

JMC: Bridge over Troubled Water

JML: All I Want

SMC: Color My World Blue

MSS: Sweet Dream Machine