The tears..a doo-wop classic!

[arr&bee]

Hi supremes fans, i'm just passing by and wanted to mention the very,very seldom mentioned[the tears-1961]with mary wilson on lead,written by smokey...no it wasn't pushed by berry but it should've been -...just a shout out to a cool but buried shoulda been a classic gem from the early supremes..thanks i'm out!!

[BobbyC]

Mary did a fantastic job on this song IMO

[lucky2012]

One of my favorite Mary Wilson lead vocals. It should have been on Meet The Supremes, preferably replacing Who's Lovin' You, imo.

[daviddh]

I agree..this is a gem.
Was never fond of Meet the Supremes, but I liked the blue album cover.
Only two songs I remember/ liked Buttered Popcorn, let me go the Right Way.
But the expanded edition gave us a few gems. We should do a thread on our 12 picks for Meet.imo.

[TheMotownManiac]

I would definitely have put it on the album instead of the boy that got away or I want a guy. It’s certainly would be a better choice as a single than I want a guy. I think the two strongest cuts on the album are you bring back memories and time changes things and they were both wasted as B – sides. I definitely would’ve tried this or baby. Don’t go as a single. Maybe both.

[sup_fan]

I would definitely have put it on the album instead of the boy that got away or I want a guy. It’s certainly would be a better choice as a single than I want a guy. I think the two strongest cuts on the album are you bring back memories and time changes things and they were both wasted as B – sides. I definitely would’ve tried this or baby. Don’t go as a single. Maybe both.

I Want A Guy is wonderfully atrocious lol. of course us diehard fans appreciate it and maybe the girls' mothers did too. lol that's about it. Buttered Popcorn is pretty much equally as hideous. of course we know the history and situation - how motown was just finding it's footing, the different out takes and attempts to identify a sound.

I think of the very, very early tunes, the best are After All, Never Again, The Boy That Got Away, Hey Baby. Of course the later tunes are really much stronger.

for an alternate Meet The Supremes and singles i would have done:

After All/The Boy That Got Away

Hey Baby/Never Again

Your Heart Belongs to Me/Baby Don't Go

Time Changes things/Let me go the right way

album line up:

Time Changes things
Hey Baby
the Tears
Let me go the right way
After all
he's 17

baby don't go
The boy that got away
Never again
your heart belongs to me
play a sad song
you bring back memories

[lucky2012]

I Want A Guy is wonderfully atrocious lol. of course us diehard fans appreciate it and maybe the girls' mothers did too. lol that's about it. Buttered Popcorn is pretty much equally as hideous. of course we know the history and situation - how motown was just finding it's footing, the different out takes and attempts to identify a sound.

I think of the very, very early tunes, the best are After All, Never Again, The Boy That Got Away, Hey Baby. Of course the later tunes are really much stronger.

for an alternate Meet The Supremes and singles i would have done:

After All/The Boy That Got Away

Hey Baby/Never Again

Your Heart Belongs to Me/Baby Don't Go

Time Changes things/Let me go the right way

album line up:

Time Changes things
Hey Baby
the Tears
Let me go the right way
After all
he's 17

baby don't go
The boy that got away
Never again
your heart belongs to me
play a sad song
you bring back memories

I began to appreciate Meet The Supremes only when the EE came out. [MTS came as a shock after WDLOG, More Hits & IHAS ;)]

The revelations, for me, on the EE were After All, You Can Depend On Me, Those DJ Shows and, especially, The Tears.

I guiltily admit that I also like I Want A Guy Version 1, with no backing vocals. I hated the original album release, but this version is like hearing Diana Ross' first solo recording.

Mary shines on The Tears but I'm ambivalent about the early Florence leads, Hey Baby and Save Me A Star. I remain pretty much unimpressed by the rest of the EE early recordings, but still so glad to have them.

My choice for the singles would be:
Buttered Popcorn/After All
The Tears/You Can Depend On Me
Your Heart Belongs To Me/Baby Don't Go
Time Changes Things/Never Again
Let Me Go The Right Way/Those DJ Shows

Album:
Your Heart Belongs To Me
Baby Don't Go
Buttered Popcorn
The Tears
Let Me Go The Right Way
Play A Sad Song

Time Changes Things
Never Again
Hey Baby
Those DJ Shows
You Bring Back Memories
He's Seventeen

[sup_fan]

oh i agree. the majority of the tunes are really nowhere as exciting or strong as other contemporary tunes like Postman, Maybe, Heatwave, One Fine Day, Soldier Boy, Be My Baby, Locomotion, My Boyfriend's Back. 99.9% of the tunes are really 2nd or even 3rd rate. but of course i love them still and love having the EE

with the Flo-lead tunes, i get it that Popcorn was most likely intended to spark a dance craze like Mashed Potato. but i just don't really care for it. Heavenly Father and Save Me A Star are ok but they drag a little too much. Hey Baby is IMO the strongest of Flo's early leads. it's lyrics are at least somewhat less nonsensical than Popcorn and she's able to give a feisty performance

[jobeterob]

The Tears is as good as Buttered Popcorn or some of the early Diana songs where she was a bit screechy.

The solo I Want A Guy foreshadowed what was to come.

Arr & Bee - this Forum gets the activity and it’s as sedate as an old folks home mostly. One Monkey Couldn’t Stop the Show and they are long gone.

[TheMotownManiac]

Singles would have been:

Baby don’t go
Buttered, popcorn
Let me go to the right way
You bring back memories
Time changes things

Van Segway into the next phase with

Your sweet kiss of fire, and or long, gone lover
Then love light
than anything but run run run
Dinner where did our love go etc.

[RanRan79]

"The Tears" is a really good doowop song, but it was recorded when doowop was nearing the end of its popularity, so to speak. I think the track needed some extra sparks. It's a pity that the song wasn't revisited in 1962 in a more up to date style. It might have made some noise.

Vocally, I think Mary was genuinely the key to the group's success in those earliest of days had Gordy viewed her as that kind of asset. Her voice was perfect for those "boy that got away", "the boy broke my heart", "I'm in love with him but he doesn't know I exist" type of girly love songs that were so popular during that time.

True enough, I prefer Flo's voice and Diana's voice to Mary's most of the time. The issue I have is that most of the songs on the Meet EE seem to be better fits for Mary than anyone else. Diana's voice was so untrained and she clearly didn't always have a good command of it, although there were exceptions, namely the beautiful job she did with "Never Again" and "You Can Depend On Me", and of course her gutsy approach to "Those DJ Shows". But Mary would have done a better job of "I Want a Guy", "Who's Lovin You" [[which really is not a good Diana vocal at all), certainly could have done just as well with "Never Again", maybe even "He's 17". But Gordy seems to have been more impressed with Diana and didn't give Mary much thought.

Same with Florence. Gordy obviously saw Flo had potential which is why she got the second single and he recorded more leads on her than Mary. But like Lucky, those Flo leads mostly leave me with a "meh" feeling and I do believe Mary would have done better jobs with "Save Me a Star" and "Heavenly Father". I don't care for "Hey Baby" now do I think it would have been better for Mary or Diana. I do think Flo sounds pretty good on "Star", I just think Mary would have fit it better. Nobody in the group other than Florence could have made such a nonsensical song as "Popcorn" sound so good. Flo obviously had the better gift for the more "rowdy" songs, and I wonder how well she would have done with "Too Hot" and "Those DJ Shows".

But during that period, the Shirelles were queen. Seems like to me if Motown wanted to compete with that, they should have pushed Mary as lead. I'm not really a fan of the Shirelles [[although "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" is one of my favorite songs ever) but I think the Supremes with Mary could have given them a run for their money early on with the right songs.

[sup_fan]

oh i think mary would have sounded amazing on Heavenly Father. the complaint i have about mary's leads on Tears and Don't Go is that she doesn't vary her tone and voice that much. she pretty much just hits the first note and just keeps going. she sings it straight on, doesn't add much nuance, variety or interpretation. now i completely get that she was 17 and so i know i'm putting a lot of expectation on her here. both of these tunes were worthy of being released. not just on MTS but also as B sides. i don't know that either warrants an A side release.

[sup_fan]

Ran - i think you're right. at this point the girl group movement was just taking off [[as the traditional doo-wop was declining). the shirelles were the only ones at this point to reach the top of the charts and so i'm sure that was everyone's goal - mimic that. fortunately the genre continued to grow and expand. and people found that there were more options and ways to interpret the "girl group sound" than only the shirelles. you eventually got the Marvelettes with their stronger bravado sound, then MRATV with their revival meeting, r&b sound with Heatwave and others, the tough girls from the wrong side of the tracks with the Shangri Las.

[Thornton]

album line up:

Time Changes things
Hey Baby
the Tears
Let me go the right way
After all
he's 17

baby don't go
The boy that got away
Never again
your heart belongs to me
play a sad song
you bring back memories

"Time Changes Things" would have been a great opening track. I also have it as the opener on my remix of "Meet The Supremes."

[sup_fan]

one might be able to argue that Time Changes Things is a better harbinger of things to come between HDH and Sups than Lovelight. not discounting Lovelight at all but frankly that song was really more of a MRATV sound. TCT is closer to the eventual Supremes sound

so it makes for an interesting idea if it had been released as an A side. it certainly would have done better than the depressing My Heart Can't Take It No More. and frankly i believe it would have done far better than Breathtaking too.