Supremes best albums

[daviddh]

what are your thought s on what are the Supremes best albums
had to really think about this and i have concluded that More Hits is the 60s best effort, great songs and vocals by the group, should have sold more but i think the fact thar motown flooded the market with so many other standard albums ,it effected sales initially , soon after More Hits was released we got both Copa and Christmas. plus i think More should have been released earlier than July.
2.Where Did Our Love go.classix i just dont like Kiss Of fire
3.Love child great collection of songs,minus Honey Bee. i would have included Beginning Of The end of Love instead.
4.Sing HdH. minus the watered down Heatwave
5.Sing Rogers and Hart. i would have included Manhatten

70s.1,Right On,.great debute
2.floy Joy
3.75 supremes minus where is it i belong ,would have added Cab We Love Again.side 2 is great. i would have included Bend a LIttle in place of early morning Love

[RanRan79]

Great question David. I'm not sure I can rank them in any kind of order, but I can definitely list the ones I rate among the "best".

WDOLG- A great representation, not just of the Supremes themselves, but of the so called girl group era. All three ladies shine throughout. I don't think there's a single song that I dislike.

Sing C&W- While considered an odd choice of material for the group, I think everything about it is A+. Once again, all three ladies' talent is on full display, and that includes their ability to harmonize with one another. I'm a harmony freak, and this album is chocked full of beautiful harmony among the Supremes. There's only one song that I would have replaced [["Tumbling Tumbleweeds") and even that is still listenable to me.

Love Child- Probably the strongest non duet album released during the DRATS years. Had Motown milked the album of singles, I think it had potential to go to #1.

Right On- Sort of like WDOLG, I think RO is a great representation of where a lot of female groups were at the time. It's a very strong effort for the new Supremes.

Touch- The flow of the entire album is so great that even the dud that is "Time and Love" can't kick this album off my "best of" list. It's really sad that "TAL" was included. The other songs are all really great. I would love to know what songs were considered for possible inclusion and it would surprise me if "Time" was the best choice.

Floy Joy- I think this was a great move in sound. The whole album flows together beautifully and I love these more mellow Supremes.

There are definitely other Supremes albums that I love just as much, or even more, than what I list here. But if I judge them with a critical ear, I'd say these are the best.

[daviddh]

I would agree with your choices as well.
Supremes sing Country has a great bunch of songs as well as ,
Touch.
I totally agree with Time Of Love.
I replaced mine with LoveTrain

[thanxal]

what are your thought s on what are the Supremes best albums
had to really think about this and i have concluded that More Hits is the 60s best effort, great songs and vocals by the group, should have sold more but i think the fact thar motown flooded the market with so many other standard albums ,it effected sales initially , soon after More Hits was released we got both Copa and Christmas. plus i think More should have been released earlier than July.
2.Where Did Our Love go.classix i just dont like Kiss Of fire
3.Love child great collection of songs,minus Honey Bee. i would have included Beginning Of The end of Love instead.
4.Sing HdH. minus the watered down Heatwave
5.Sing Rogers and Hart. i would have included Manhatten

70s.1,Right On,.great debute
2.floy Joy
3.75 supremes minus where is it i belong ,would have added Cab We Love Again.side 2 is great. i would have included Bend a LIttle in place of early morning Love
1. A Go Go
2. WDOLG
3. The Supremes
4. More Hits By
5. Sing HDH
and just because I sometimes like stuff everyone else hates
6. Jimmy Webb

[Spreadinglove21]

Right On
More Hits
I hear a symphony
High energy
Talk of the Town

[RanRan79]

I would agree with your choices as well.
Supremes sing Country has a great bunch of songs as well as ,
Touch.
I totally agree with Time Of Love.
I replaced mine with LoveTrain

Interesting idea with "Love Train", but I don't think it was recorded in time. I've always been under the impression that it was a Lynda era recording.

[Spreadinglove21]

The song Love Train didn't even exist at the time Touch was released.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Train

[BayouMotownMan]

Right On
More Hits
I hear a symphony
High energy
Talk of the Town

Spreading Love and I think very similarly except for TOTT. That lp was too show bizzy for me and I didn't think Diana sounded so good. Also Mary's mike was turned up and she drowns out Cindy on most of the songs

My favs, in order are:

More Hits
Touch
Right On
High Energy
Love Child

The duets I rarely listen to, they all were quick covers and little original material. I'd have to say Return Of the Mag 7 is the strongest because it did have original tracks

[lucky2012]

Best Supremes albums:

More Hits
WDOLG
Love Child
Right On
Touch

Became a Supremes fan with More Hits in 1965. It is still the one album I can play and enjoy all the way through.

My favorite Supremes albums would be all the above, but also:

IHAS
Sing HDH
Sing Rodgers & Hart
Floy Joy
High Energy

Most valuable & cherished are now the Expanded Editions from George & Harry, all of them, but especially WDOLG, More Hits, Sing HDH, A Go Go, Meet the Supremes.

[RanRan79]

More Hits is a fan favorite, but for me it's got too much pop fluff on it. And by too much, I mean like four songs, and that's a lot on a 12 cut album.

[thanxal]

More Hits is a fan favorite, but for me it's got too much pop fluff on it. And by too much, I mean like four songs, and that's a lot on a 12 cut album.
Pop fluff? Sounds like a fabric softener! Lol!

[Ollie9]

For me it has to be Sing Rodgers & Hart where Diana vocally came of age. All three women sound at their superb best on this one.
Second is probably MS&S which still sounds great when played loudly on my car stereo.
Love Child runs a close third.

[jim aka jtigre99]

The thing for me is that it definitely has changed over the years. At one time New Ways was my ultimate favorite but now I like others ahead of it, so it has been very fluid. Currently now:
Original Supremes-
More Hits
Sing Rogers & Hart
A Go Go
Diana Ross & The Supremes
Love Child
Reflections
Supremes
Mary, Scherrie & Susaye
High Energy
Right On
New Ways

[lucky2012]

The thing for me is that it definitely has changed over the years. At one time New Ways was my ultimate favorite but now I like others ahead of it, so it has been very fluid. Currently now:
Original Supremes-
More Hits
Sing Rogers & Hart
A Go Go
Diana Ross & The Supremes
Love Child
Reflections
Supremes
Mary, Scherrie & Susaye
High Energy
Right On
New Ways

I agree. My favorite albums list has been fluid over the years [decades!]. But More Hits, Rodgers & Hart, Love Child, Touch and Floy Joy have always been favorites.

The past couple of years [through the wisdom of time] I have come to appreciate WDOLG, Right On and High Energy, a lot. Lately, I’ve been liking Supremes75 more. I was never impressed and thought it to be the 70’s Supremes weakest album. I leave out Where Is It I Belong and This Is Why I Believe In You [awful!] and replace them with Bend A Little [great performance and song] and the group lead vocals version of The Sha La Bandit]. I was only impressed by Scherrie Payne’s powerful voice when I first heard the album. It’s All Been Said Before, Color My World Blue and Bend A Little should have been the lead singles.

[lucky2012]

what are your thought s on what are the Supremes best albums
had to really think about this and i have concluded that More Hits is the 60s best effort, great songs and vocals by the group, should have sold more but i think the fact thar motown flooded the market with so many other standard albums ,it effected sales initially , soon after More Hits was released we got both Copa and Christmas. plus i think More should have been released earlier than July.

In 1965 I was a young fan and was very happy there were so many Supremes albums released. It didn’t occur to me they were impacting More Hits, which seemed to be very popular and a big seller. Now it occurs to me that More Hits could have been as big or even more so than WDOLG. By the summer of 1965, the Supremes were bonafide pop/rock stars. I think the other albums helped the public’s awareness of this. At The Copa and Merry Christmas made them Pop stars with older adults. [I don’t know if More Hits could or should have been released before Nothing But Heartaches in July]

[RanRan79]

Pop fluff? Sounds like a fabric softener! Lol!

Lol I guess it does. Guess it's time I start my fabric softener line.:cool:

[RanRan79]

For me it has to be Sing Rodgers & Hart where Diana vocally came of age. All three women sound at their superb best on this one.
Second is probably MS&S which still sounds great when played loudly on my car stereo.
Love Child runs a close third.

I thought about including R&H, but my issue is and will always be that the best tracks were left off the album. Of all the albums that we've gotten session material for, I believe R&H album is by far the one where more "inferior" cuts were included and the superior cuts were left in the can. The original album certainly has its highlights, but when I listen to the original and then listen to the canned tracks, IMO, there's a world of difference in quality. The speculation is that the released tracks were more Diana highlights than the canned tracks. Perhaps. Whatever the reason, I play the vaulted material a thousand times more than most of what made the original album.

[RanRan79]

In 1965 I was a young fan and was very happy there were so many Supremes albums released. It didn’t occur to me they were impacting More Hits, which seemed to be very popular and a big seller. Now it occurs to me that More Hits could have been as big or even more so than WDOLG. By the summer of 1965, the Supremes were bonafide pop/rock stars. I think the other albums helped the public’s awareness of this. At The Copa and Merry Christmas made them Pop stars with older adults. [I don’t know if More Hits could or should have been released before Nothing But Heartaches in July]

I wonder when More Hits peaked on the charts. Certainly releasing both the album and "Heartaches" around the same time had to result in some cannibalism, but I don't think it was so much that the album couldn't chart higher. Neither the earlier released Sam Cooke and C&W sets sold particularly well, so it's really not like all these folks bought those and then when More Hits was released they were like, "Damn Motown, I already bought two Supremes albums earlier this year, and now you wanna make it three?" And then Copa and Christmas weren't released until November. By that point Motown had moved on from More Hits to the next single, "Symphony". So it really is weird to me that this album with two major number one hits, and a third hit, wasn't just as big as WDOLG. The only thing I can come up with is the album title might have thrown people off. It really is a stupid title, although I understand it. But it seems more like something a greatest hits would be titled. Maybe if it was the Stop In the Name Of Love album, it may have done better. But it's still worth pointing out that #6 pop and #2 r&b is nothing to sneeze at. [[I wonder what album kept the girls out of the top spot on the r&b chart?)

[reese]

I wonder when More Hits peaked on the charts. Certainly releasing both the album and "Heartaches" around the same time had to result in some cannibalism, but I don't think it was so much that the album couldn't chart higher. Neither the earlier released Sam Cooke and C&W sets sold particularly well, so it's really not like all these folks bought those and then when More Hits was released they were like, "Damn Motown, I already bought two Supremes albums earlier this year, and now you wanna make it three?" And then Copa and Christmas weren't released until November. By that point Motown had moved on from More Hits to the next single, "Symphony". So it really is weird to me that this album with two major number one hits, and a third hit, wasn't just as big as WDOLG. The only thing I can come up with is the album title might have thrown people off. It really is a stupid title, although I understand it. But it seems more like something a greatest hits would be titled. Maybe if it was the Stop In the Name Of Love album, it may have done better. But it's still worth pointing out that #6 pop and #2 r&b is nothing to sneeze at. [[I wonder what album kept the girls out of the top spot on the r&b chart?)

Looking at Joel Whitburn's Top R&B ALBUMS book, it looks like one [or all] of the following albums could have been at #1 while MORE HITS was at #2:

THE IN CROWD by the Ramsey Lewis Trio.
OTIS BLUE/OTIS REDDING SINGS SOUL by Otis Redding
TEMPTIN' TEMPTATIONS by the Temptations
GOING TO A GO GO by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Re MORE HITS' title, I used to think it was strange and almost rather plain. But as the years have passed, I wonder if the title was Motown's way of informing their distributors that a regular studio album was coming as opposed to a potentially lesser-selling themed album, as the previous three had been.

[johnjeb]

I wonder when More Hits peaked on the charts. Certainly releasing both the album and "Heartaches" around the same time had to result in some cannibalism, but I don't think it was so much that the album couldn't chart higher. Neither the earlier released Sam Cooke and C&W sets sold particularly well, so it's really not like all these folks bought those and then when More Hits was released they were like, "Damn Motown, I already bought two Supremes albums earlier this year, and now you wanna make it three?" And then Copa and Christmas weren't released until November. By that point Motown had moved on from More Hits to the next single, "Symphony". So it really is weird to me that this album with two major number one hits, and a third hit, wasn't just as big as WDOLG. The only thing I can come up with is the album title might have thrown people off. It really is a stupid title, although I understand it. But it seems more like something a greatest hits would be titled. Maybe if it was the Stop In the Name Of Love album, it may have done better. But it's still worth pointing out that #6 pop and #2 r&b is nothing to sneeze at. [[I wonder what album kept the girls out of the top spot on the r&b chart?)

More Hits peaked on October 16, 1965 at #6 in its 9th week. What kept it from charting higher were albums by The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sonny & Cher, Bob Dylan and The Sound Of Music. HELP was released the week after More Hits and shot to #1 in 3 weeks and stayed in the top spot for 9 weeks! Sonny & Cher's first album, Look At Us, debuted the same week as MH but shot to #3 in its 3rd week and stayed in the Top 5 for a while. The Sound of Music Soundtrack was in the Top 5 for about 30 weeks while MH was lingering in the Top 10. That Soundtrack was kept from #1 by the Mary Poppins Soundtrack, ironically. Bob Dylan's new album shot to the Top 5 as did a Rolling Stones album. So lots of strong competition. MH hits dropped from the Top 10 in its 12th week and by the next week At The Copa debuted. By contrast WDOLG was in the Top 10 for 15 of its 89 weeks on the chart.

MH was a more Pop album than WDOLG. NBH was too similar in sound to BIMAA. Back then we often had follow-ups that sounded similar to the previous hit. For me NBH was not as exciting as BIMAA. I only bought the single for the picture sleeve. I know a lot of people here on SD may prefer NBH but to those of us listening to it on the radio we heard the similarity and shrugged it off. Most likely the DJs were still playing BIMAA a fair amount until NBH was released, which most likely diminished the appeal of NBH.

When MH was released our local stations were playing many of the songs on the radio and albums were given away as prizes to listeners. Maybe hearing all the songs on the radio convinced some that this album wasn't for them.

[daviddh]

I thought ,More Hits ,should have been released early because....., WDOLG was released as the title cut was falling from the top spot and the second single was released same month ,giving the LP to benefit from all three songs going to #1.
But with More,.....it was held back until the release of the third single.
Of course the market was flooded with other albums, but if I were BG I would have released, there's a place for us and included songs from Cooke album such as You Send Me and Change Gonna Come.
Delete Liverpool LP all together.
Country LP ,I would have retitled.
Just my opinion

[daviddh]

My other top five,
Symphony
Country
Touch
Talk of the town
Reflections ..side one

[floyjoy678]

For me [[in order)
Where Did Our Love Go
More Hits
Sing Rodgers and Hart
Sing HDH
We Remember Sam Cooke
Love Child

Honorable Mentions:
Touch
Floy Joy
Country, Western and Pop
A Go Go

[Ollie9]

I thought about including R&H, but my issue is and will always be that the best tracks were left off the album. Of all the albums that we've gotten session material for, I believe R&H album is by far the one where more "inferior" cuts were included and the superior cuts were left in the can. The original album certainly has its highlights, but when I listen to the original and then listen to the canned tracks, IMO, there's a world of difference in quality. The speculation is that the released tracks were more Diana highlights than the canned tracks. Perhaps. Whatever the reason, I play the vaulted material a thousand times more than most of what made the original album.

Thats interesting, because i consider the original track selection pretty good. The sheer quality of arrangements and vocal performances certainly made it more then worthy of a double album release.
One song I absolutely would have included would be “Blue Room” which highlights all the great things there are about the Diana Ross voice.
Fans often mention “Manhattan”, but personally it’s my least favourite track, finding it a little forced.
Which songs would you have substituted?.

[RanRan79]

Looking at Joel Whitburn's Top R&B ALBUMS book, it looks like one [or all] of the following albums could have been at #1 while MORE HITS was at #2:

THE IN CROWD by the Ramsey Lewis Trio.
OTIS BLUE/OTIS REDDING SINGS SOUL by Otis Redding
TEMPTIN' TEMPTATIONS by the Temptations
GOING TO A GO GO by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Re MORE HITS' title, I used to think it was strange and almost rather plain. But as the years have passed, I wonder if the title was Motown's way of informing their distributors that a regular studio album was coming as opposed to a potentially lesser-selling themed album, as the previous three had been.

Hard to argue against those albums Reese, so I can understand why More Hits would stall at #2. However, and this also speaks to your point about the album title, one has to ponder what might the difference have been if the album had been titled after either "Stop" or "Arms".

[RanRan79]

More Hits peaked on October 16, 1965 at #6 in its 9th week. What kept it from charting higher were albums by The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sonny & Cher, Bob Dylan and The Sound Of Music. HELP was released the week after More Hits and shot to #1 in 3 weeks and stayed in the top spot for 9 weeks! Sonny & Cher's first album, Look At Us, debuted the same week as MH but shot to #3 in its 3rd week and stayed in the Top 5 for a while. The Sound of Music Soundtrack was in the Top 5 for about 30 weeks while MH was lingering in the Top 10. That Soundtrack was kept from #1 by the Mary Poppins Soundtrack, ironically. Bob Dylan's new album shot to the Top 5 as did a Rolling Stones album. So lots of strong competition. MH hits dropped from the Top 10 in its 12th week and by the next week At The Copa debuted. By contrast WDOLG was in the Top 10 for 15 of its 89 weeks on the chart.

MH was a more Pop album than WDOLG. NBH was too similar in sound to BIMAA. Back then we often had follow-ups that sounded similar to the previous hit. For me NBH was not as exciting as BIMAA. I only bought the single for the picture sleeve. I know a lot of people here on SD may prefer NBH but to those of us listening to it on the radio we heard the similarity and shrugged it off. Most likely the DJs were still playing BIMAA a fair amount until NBH was released, which most likely diminished the appeal of NBH.

When MH was released our local stations were playing many of the songs on the radio and albums were given away as prizes to listeners. Maybe hearing all the songs on the radio convinced some that this album wasn't for them.

Yeah, there's always been speculation that "Heartaches" was too similar to "Back", which is why it didn't go as far as the previous singles. I have opined in the forum that each of the first five number ones sounded different from the one before it. "Baby Love" does not sound like "Where", "Come See" doesn't sound like "Baby Love", "Stop" doesn't sound "Come See", and "Back" doesn't sound like "Stop". I'm not a fan of "Stop", but I do prefer the clomping sound of the first version of the song. However, I think it was a smart move to recut the song without the clomp because the clomp was too similar to "Come See About Me", which itself does share the clomp element with "Where", but still the songs are so very dissimilar.

"Heartaches" comes along, and as great a song as it is, it's easy to understand the public saying "It's cool, but we've heard it before". The girls rebounded with "Symphony", which doesn't sound a thing like anything they released as a single before. In fact, I might go so far as to suggest that all of the group's number one singles had their own unique thing going for it that it set it apart from the ones before it, so it was always like the Supremes were doing something new.

[RanRan79]

Thats interesting, because i consider the original track selection pretty good. The sheer quality of arrangements and vocal performances certainly made it more then worthy of a double album release.
One song I absolutely would have included would be “Blue Room” which highlights all the great things there are about the Diana Ross voice.
Fans often mention “Manhattan”, but personally it’s my least favourite track, finding it a little forced.
Which songs would you have substituted?.

I would have canned "Tramp" [[which to me never lives up to the brilliance of the live versions), "Mountain Greenery", "My Funny Valentine", "Thou Swell", "Dancing On the Ceiling" and "Blue Moon". Basically half the album.

IMO, any one of the outtakes, with the exception of "With A Song In My Heart", would have made worthy replacements. But if I were producing the album, I probably would have gone with "Manhattan", "Blue Room", "There's a Small Hotel", "Bewitched", "Wait Till You See Him", and "I Could Write A Book".

[Ollie9]

I would have canned "Tramp" [[which to me never lives up to the brilliance of the live versions), "Mountain Greenery", "My Funny Valentine", "Thou Swell", "Dancing On the Ceiling" and "Blue Moon". Basically half the album.

IMO, any one of the outtakes, with the exception of "With A Song In My Heart", would have made worthy replacements. But if I were producing the album, I probably would have gone with "Manhattan", "Blue Room", "There's a Small Hotel", "Bewitched", "Wait Till You See Him", and "I Could Write A Book".

Really!!!. I consider “My Funny Valentine” one of Diana’s best vocals as a Supreme and a superb track. “Though Swell” is also one of my faves from the album, with Flo and Mary sounding particularly good.
Perhaps with “Tramp” being such a well known song they felt compelled to include it.
It’s interesting with us all being fans the different songs we prefer. :)

[reese]

Hard to argue against those albums Reese, so I can understand why More Hits would stall at #2. However, and this also speaks to your point about the album title, one has to ponder what might the difference have been if the album had been titled after either "Stop" or "Arms".

It might have helped a bit if the album was titled after STOP! or ARMS but I wonder really how much. Both hits [along with HEARTACHES] were prominently listed on the album cover. The album cover itself was unique, identifying each girl with a great photo and a signature no less. Not to mention, six photos on the rear. The album text and rear design are similar to the Tops' SECOND ALBUM [another rather plain title, BTW].

Re sales, it also might not have helped that by the time the album was released, six of the songs had already been released on singles [the hits and their b-sides]. So if you were a loyal fan, you were only getting six new songs. Then a few months later, here comes COPA and MERRY XMAS. A lot to choose from.

[lucky2012]

It might have helped a bit if the album was titled after STOP! or ARMS but I wonder really how much. Both hits [along with HEARTACHES] were prominently listed on the album cover. The album cover itself was unique, identifying each girl with a great photo and a signature no less. Not to mention, six photos on the rear. The album text and rear design are similar to the Tops' SECOND ALBUM [another rather plain title, BTW].

I’m glad it wasn’t titled The Supremes Sixth Album! How about The Supreme Supremes or The Chart-Topping Supremes [ahead of Temptin’ Temptations and The Four Tops On Top] :rolleyes:

[reese]

I’m glad it wasn’t titled The Supremes Sixth Album! How about The Supreme Supremes or The Chart-Topping Supremes [ahead of Temptin’ Temptations and The Four Tops On Top] :rolleyes:

Motown pulled that again with the J5's THIRD ALBUM.

[RanRan79]

Really!!!. I consider “My Funny Valentine” one of Diana’s best vocals as a Supreme and a superb track. “Though Swell” is also one of my faves from the album, with Flo and Mary sounding particularly good.
Perhaps with “Tramp” being such a well known song they felt compelled to include it.
It’s interesting with us all being fans the different songs we prefer. :)

"Valentine" is nice, I just think there are overall better songs that got canned. Although truth be told, I'm not much of a fan of the song period, no matter who's singing it.

[RanRan79]

A Supremes Sing Rodgers and Hart concert could have been a real treat, where they sang the entire album and the vaulted cuts. There are some real gems here that I think would have gone over beautifully live.

[Spreadinglove21]

My first exposure to the Rodgers and Hart songbook was Ella Fitzgerald's album. A great album. So alas for me, I think the Supremes versions of their songs are nice, but in no way compare to what Ella did with them. Sorry.

[Ollie9]

My first exposure to the Rodgers and Hart songbook was Ella Fitzgerald's album. A great album. So alas for me, I think the Supremes versions of their songs are nice, but in no way compare to what Ella did with them. Sorry.

No need to apologise for having a personal opinion SL. I also like Ella in moderation. The only problem for me being it all sounds so very similar, whether singing of unrequited love or a picnic in the park. Smooth as velvet, but same emotion.
The R &H recordings revealed a new found maturity in Diana’s voice. When she sings “My Funny Valentine” you believe every word.
It would be interesting to compare Diana’s as yet unreleased Harold Arlen songs with Ella that were recorded when she was in her 40’s.

[sup_fan]

albums that i thoroughly enjoy listening to from beginning to end include:

Where Did Our Love Go
Mary, Scherrie & Susaye
Right On
Touch
Floy Joy
Sing Rogers & Hart
The Boss
Diana Ross 1970
Touch Me in the Morning

other albums that i may not listen to often but recognize their importance:
Sam Cooke
Love Child
diana 1980
Baby It's Me