Stoned Love by Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong

[luke]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1jobamPSPM&feature=related How did these ladies hit it out of the ballbark without the Andantes? Somehow it sounds vg without them "rounding out" the vocals lol. Is Jean in the background? I dont hear her.

[marv2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1jobamPSPM&feature=related How did these ladies hit it out of the ballbark without the Andantes? Somehow it sounds vg without them "rounding out" the vocals lol. Is Jean in the background? I dont hear her.

How? Come on now Luke! It was because they are excellent vocalists. Anyone that has sung or knows anything about singing knows that creating harmony is not always very easy. These ladies were tops in their profession.

[bradsupremes]

It's been noted that by the 70's all three ladies did the background vocals together and then the lead singer would go in and record the lead. If you listen to their later 70's recordings, you can hear Scherrie singing with Mary and Cindy in the background. Jean even has said herself that she sang with Mary and Cindy for the background vocals. Yes, extra singers were brought in the fill-in the sound [[ex. "Nathan Jones" with Clydie King), but Jean, Mary & Cindy recorded the majority of the songs. The Andantes appear mostly on the Right On album. It was different when New Way But Love Stays was released as the Andantes are nowhere to be found. That album from beginning to end is Jean, Mary and Cindy.

As for "Stoned Love," I don't hear the Andantes. They had a particular sound and I don't hear it anywhere in the song. By 1970, Motown was using 16-track tapes for the recording process which allowed for instruments to have their own track and for more vocals to be recorded. It could be very possible that there are two background vocals tracks of Jean, Mary & Cindy singing to beef up the sound.

[franjoy56]

Do you think Mary Scherrie Cindy and Susaye did all the background for the last two album pariculary High Energy and Mary Scherrie and Susaye were session singers added to their vocals. "Up the Ladder to the Roof is another strong ex. of Mary Jean and Cindy, but the Honeycone by HDH were lurking in the wind.

[marv2]

Do you think Mary Scherrie Cindy and Susaye did all the background for the last two album pariculary High Energy and Mary Scherrie and Susaye were session singers added to their vocals. "Up the Ladder to the Roof is another strong ex. of Mary Jean and Cindy, but the Honeycone by HDH were lurking in the wind.

I believe the last two albums, "High Energy" and "Mary,Scherrie & Susaye" was all Supremes only! They sounded great. Sometimes adding session singers muddy up things. "Up the Ladder to the Roof" was a masterpiece. Mary and Cindy and of course Jean sounded great. It is probably the most covered song ever recorded by Motown period! Every school in the nation it seems has had a choral group sing it, even my local High School here.

[bradsupremes]

Do you think Mary Scherrie Cindy and Susaye did all the background for the last two album pariculary High Energy and Mary Scherrie and Susaye were session singers added to their vocals. "Up the Ladder to the Roof is another strong ex. of Mary Jean and Cindy, but the Honeycone by HDH were lurking in the wind.

The last three Supremes albums - The Supremes, High Energy, and Mary, Scherrie & Susaye are the Supremes only. No session singers were added to those albums. Mary made it pretty clear by that time that she and the group would no longer tolerate having others sing on their songs after Jimmy Webb added the Blossoms to the Produced & Arranged by Jimmy Webb album. Plus the ladies really grew into being strong vocalists by this time so there was no need for additional vocalists.

[franjoy56]

thanks bradsupremes for the insight it is so nice to hear that Mary made it clear
no session singers, it should have been done on the right on lp because there are
so many hit potential songs there and the a's are all over that lp.

what about the track "There's Room at the Top" a song that had hit written all over it, it was overlooked for the High Energy lp, but who do you hear on bg.

[luke]

Well said Marv. Why the Andantes recording have to be brought up when they arent on Stoned Love is beyond me!

[marv2]

Well said Marv. Why the Andantes recording have to be brought up when they arent on Stoned Love is beyond me!

Beats me too! If I asked Berry about them, I wonder if he would even remember them or what they did or give me his "why are you asking me about this stuff?" look. LOL!

[rod_rick]

thanks bradsupremes for the insight it is so nice to hear that Mary made it clear
no session singers, it should have been done on the right on lp because there are
so many hit potential songs there and the a's are all over that lp.

what about the track "There's Room at the Top" a song that had hit written all over it, it was overlooked for the High Energy lp, but who do you hear on bg.

I would say that is Mary, Cindy and Scherrie on backing vocals. Scherrie on the top note, then Cindy and Mary singing bottom harmony. As Brad stated the vocal blend became quite strong and with the recording process, the producers could take the time to get the vocal performance they wanted out the singers. There is a rehearsal recording floating around of MCS singing, "This Is Why I Believe In You" one listen and you can tell the ladies are really getting into the recording process.

[marv2]

I would say that is Mary, Cindy and Scherrie on backing vocals. Scherrie on the top note, then Cindy and Mary singing bottom harmony. As Brad stated the vocal blend became quite strong and with the recording process, the producers could take the time to get the vocal performance they wanted out the singers. There is a rehearsal recording floating around of MCS singing, "This Is Why I Believe In You" one listen and you can tell the ladies are really getting into the recording process.

I remember hearing that "This Is Why I Believe In You" rehearsal tape. It was very impressive!

[franjoy56]

Oh how i would have loved to have had that added to the Supremes Let yourself go set as an extra.
This is why i believe in you is one of the best uptempo songs the Supremes ever did right next to
going down for the third time.

[marv2]

Oh how i would have loved to have had that added to the Supremes Let yourself go set as an extra.
This is why i believe in you is one of the best uptempo songs the Supremes ever did right next to
going down for the third time.

Oh Fran you would have loved it! It was classic proof as to how hard those ladies worked in the studio to get things right. You had Mary Wilson acting like choir director with Cindy and Scherrie moaning, shouting, singing and even some ad-libbing. It was a real work out!

[soulballad]

Standing Ovation by Martha & The Vandellas would have been the perfect song for the Jean Supremes. The backgrounds on this could have easily been Mary and Cindy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvtItW3XWl0

[bradsupremes]

I believe "Standing Ovation" was assigned to the Supremes. It was re-assigned to Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, but it's possible that Jean, Mary & Cindy recorded a version.

[lester]

New remix of Stoned Love

http://soundcloud.com/jay-soulix/the-supremes-stoned-love-jay

Hope you like it?

[marv2]

New remix of Stoned Love

http://soundcloud.com/jay-soulix/the-supremes-stoned-love-jay

Hope you like it?

Thank you Lester. It was a bit too fast for my tastes and I prefer the vocals to be on top of the instrumentation, however there were points of that mix I thought were excellent. The part right when they sing "Don't you hear the wind blowing....." and the way the vocals reverberate and mixed with the music was very nice.

Marv