jobeterob
08-27-2012, 12:51 AM
Diana Ross Project
Album-by-album…track-by-track…The Boss & her music
HomeAbout/Contact
Aug 26 2012
1 Comment
Studio Album
To The Baby [[2009)
“Let my baby be a baby in this world…”
As was the case with Blue in 2006, Diana Ross fans got a rare treat in late 2009 when an entire previously shelved album was finally pulled from the vaults and released to the public. To The Baby had been recorded in the early 1970s; most tracks were cut in either late 1971 or early 1972, during a busy time in Miss Ross’s career when she was working on several projects, including her Oscar-nominated film Lady Sings The Blues. She’s quoted in the release’s liner notes as saying, “I recorded [the songs] while I was pregnant, songs about children, for my children. I wanted something to give them that they can listen to and say, ‘Hey, this is what my mother was doing when I was a kid,’ you know? And I wanted to do an album that I can talk to them in.”
Plans changed, of course, when Motown decided to follow the movie with a big pop hit, and Diana soared to #1 with “Touch Me In The Morning.” An album was pulled together around the single, and several of the songs meant for the To The Baby album ended up on Touch Me In The Morning – and thus, Diana’s children-themed project seemed doomed to oblivion. Thankfully, Universal Music Group imprint Hip-O Select, in reissuing Miss Ross’s solo albums, resurrected To The Baby and included the entire album on its Touch Me In The Morning Expanded Edition. The release gave fans five new songs, including the title track written by Miss Ross’s younger brother Arthur “T-Boy” Ross [[coincidentally, Diana recorded her brother’s “I Want You” just a few years before this release, on her I Love You). The other five songs had all been previously released on other projects, but in very different versions. As a bonus, Hip-O included two other similarly themed tracks to round out the disc.
It’s hard to say how To The Baby would have done if it had been released in the early 70s; being that the world got “Touch Me In The Morning” instead, it’s hard to argue with Motown’s master plan. Still, finally hearing this scrapped project is like getting an intimate glimpse into Diana’s private life during an exciting time in her life. Though she didn’t write the songs here, she worked clearly worked closely with producer Tom Baird on them — and even produced a few of the tracks herself. Consequently, the project feels extremely personal; her vocals here are warm, relaxed, and tinged with the excitement of childbirth; it’s impossible to listen to opening track ”Part Of You” and not feel the giddiness of an expectant mother. More than anything else, To The Baby also serves as continued proof of just how strong the material being recorded and released by Miss Ross was during this time period. Most artists would kill to create an album this good; it’s amazing to think Motown and Diana had so much good stuff, they could afford to leave this one behind.
***
1. Part Of You: Written and produced by Tom Baird, this is a glorious opening track, built upon a shimmering, syncopated rhythm and featuring a sparkling, knowing performance from Diana Ross. Because this was recorded around the same time that Miss Ross was transitioning from her Ashford & Simpson work to the jazz standards of Lady Sings The Blues, her vocal style is a mix of the two; there’s a warm crispness to her voice that nods to the Billie Holiday recordings, but she also sounds much more contemporary here, keeping her voice nailed to the beat rather than letting it lag behind as it does on much of her jazz work. Baird’s production is impeccable; the song’s musical track sounds like a grown-up lullaby, built upon an accented piano line that gives way to swirling strings and a classic, soulful choir of background voices, and there’s a “tick-tock” that comes at the end of each chorus that serves as a smart, subtle nod to the theme of the song. They lyrics here are intelligently written, coming across as a love poem from an expectant mother to the father of her child, filled with the excitement of the journey or parenthood. Had To The Baby been released in the early 70s, this would have been a nice choice for a single; the song is incredibly catchy, and probably could have done well at radio, and Diana’s voice is at her gorgeous best.
2. A Wonderful Guest: Also written and produced by Tom Baird, this song serves almost like a slowed down sequel to “Part Of Me,” opening again with a piano line and also featuring lyrics from the point of view of an expectant mother. Because the song is set at a slower tempo, Diana gets to really sink her teeth into the material, and her voice sounds great here; the warmth and fullness of tone are on full display as she sings lines like “How…how can it be?” at :43, beautifully drawing out the first word over five full seconds. The instrumental break here is a bit odd; producer Baird brings in what sounds like a mariachi band to fill the space between 1:30 and 2:05, which doesn’t quite match the pensive, lullaby-esque atmosphere set by the other elements. Still, this is a lovely, touching ballad that again feels very authentic and unforced; the melody is almost as memorable as the snappy “Part Of You,” which is saying a lot.
3. Young Mothers: This is an alternate version of the acoustic ballad that first showed up on 1983′s Anthology as a “previously unreleased” track. Again produced by Tom Baird, he co-wrote this one with Kaye Lawrence Dunham, and it certainly has a different feel than the previous two pieces of music, which he’d written alone. “Young Mothers” is far more evocative of the folk/pop sound of the late 1960s and early 1970s, thanks to the persistent strumming guitar and the lyrics, which nod to the Vietnam War with lines like, “Hey now, young mothers…how shall we raise our sons? To live their lives in peace, and not take out the guns?” Miss Ross’s performance here is simple and pretty; she sounds gentle and knowing as she calls to other young women to raise their children in a world of peace. Because of the theme and sound of the production, “Young Mothers” does come off as more dated than much of the other material on To The Baby, and it’s certainly less exciting than many of the other songs here. That said, it’s nice to hear Diana “sing” her feelings about the war on record [[she’d earlier called for the return of troops from Vietnam during the Supremes farewell concert in 1970, a moment that’s captured on the recording of that show). Most in the general public never associate Diana Ross with anything remotely political, though fans know she often made her case for peace and civil rights in her own elegant way.
4. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face: During the same time Diana was recording the songs for To The Baby, Roberta Flack was enjoying her first massive hit with this song. Flack had recorded it back in 1969, but it only became a hit when it was used by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 film Play Misty For Me. Flack’s version spent several weeks at #1, and soon became an oft-recorded standard. Miss Ross’s version here is produced by none other than Gil Askey, the man who’d been handling her jazz work; the reissue lines notes state it happened “…on a break from Lady Sings The Blues.” His touch is immediately audible on “First Time…,” there’s a lush, dreamy feel to the song that echoes songs like “Little Girl Blue” and “I Can’t Get Started” on Blue. Miss Ross opens the song with a spoken dedication to her “little baby, Rhonda,” a nice reminder of the motivation for this entire project, before launching into a fine vocal performance. The only fault with the lead here is that it does seems a little affected, similar to her work on “Smile” [[featured on both 1976′s Diana Ross and Blue), meaning she seems to be laying it on a little thick, rather than just letting the performance happen. Her delivery on other songs from the era, like “Little Girl Blue” and “Touch Me In The Morning,” seemed more effortless and organic; there was an innate sophistication in those performances and others that just isn’t quite matched here. That said, Miss Ross is interpreting this song as a love song to a baby, not an adult lover, which means it would make sense for her to use a different tone in her voice. Listened to in that context, there is certainly an appealing sweetness to “First Time…,” even if it ultimately isn’t the standout here.
Album-by-album…track-by-track…The Boss & her music
HomeAbout/Contact
Aug 26 2012
1 Comment
Studio Album
To The Baby [[2009)
“Let my baby be a baby in this world…”
As was the case with Blue in 2006, Diana Ross fans got a rare treat in late 2009 when an entire previously shelved album was finally pulled from the vaults and released to the public. To The Baby had been recorded in the early 1970s; most tracks were cut in either late 1971 or early 1972, during a busy time in Miss Ross’s career when she was working on several projects, including her Oscar-nominated film Lady Sings The Blues. She’s quoted in the release’s liner notes as saying, “I recorded [the songs] while I was pregnant, songs about children, for my children. I wanted something to give them that they can listen to and say, ‘Hey, this is what my mother was doing when I was a kid,’ you know? And I wanted to do an album that I can talk to them in.”
Plans changed, of course, when Motown decided to follow the movie with a big pop hit, and Diana soared to #1 with “Touch Me In The Morning.” An album was pulled together around the single, and several of the songs meant for the To The Baby album ended up on Touch Me In The Morning – and thus, Diana’s children-themed project seemed doomed to oblivion. Thankfully, Universal Music Group imprint Hip-O Select, in reissuing Miss Ross’s solo albums, resurrected To The Baby and included the entire album on its Touch Me In The Morning Expanded Edition. The release gave fans five new songs, including the title track written by Miss Ross’s younger brother Arthur “T-Boy” Ross [[coincidentally, Diana recorded her brother’s “I Want You” just a few years before this release, on her I Love You). The other five songs had all been previously released on other projects, but in very different versions. As a bonus, Hip-O included two other similarly themed tracks to round out the disc.
It’s hard to say how To The Baby would have done if it had been released in the early 70s; being that the world got “Touch Me In The Morning” instead, it’s hard to argue with Motown’s master plan. Still, finally hearing this scrapped project is like getting an intimate glimpse into Diana’s private life during an exciting time in her life. Though she didn’t write the songs here, she worked clearly worked closely with producer Tom Baird on them — and even produced a few of the tracks herself. Consequently, the project feels extremely personal; her vocals here are warm, relaxed, and tinged with the excitement of childbirth; it’s impossible to listen to opening track ”Part Of You” and not feel the giddiness of an expectant mother. More than anything else, To The Baby also serves as continued proof of just how strong the material being recorded and released by Miss Ross was during this time period. Most artists would kill to create an album this good; it’s amazing to think Motown and Diana had so much good stuff, they could afford to leave this one behind.
***
1. Part Of You: Written and produced by Tom Baird, this is a glorious opening track, built upon a shimmering, syncopated rhythm and featuring a sparkling, knowing performance from Diana Ross. Because this was recorded around the same time that Miss Ross was transitioning from her Ashford & Simpson work to the jazz standards of Lady Sings The Blues, her vocal style is a mix of the two; there’s a warm crispness to her voice that nods to the Billie Holiday recordings, but she also sounds much more contemporary here, keeping her voice nailed to the beat rather than letting it lag behind as it does on much of her jazz work. Baird’s production is impeccable; the song’s musical track sounds like a grown-up lullaby, built upon an accented piano line that gives way to swirling strings and a classic, soulful choir of background voices, and there’s a “tick-tock” that comes at the end of each chorus that serves as a smart, subtle nod to the theme of the song. They lyrics here are intelligently written, coming across as a love poem from an expectant mother to the father of her child, filled with the excitement of the journey or parenthood. Had To The Baby been released in the early 70s, this would have been a nice choice for a single; the song is incredibly catchy, and probably could have done well at radio, and Diana’s voice is at her gorgeous best.
2. A Wonderful Guest: Also written and produced by Tom Baird, this song serves almost like a slowed down sequel to “Part Of Me,” opening again with a piano line and also featuring lyrics from the point of view of an expectant mother. Because the song is set at a slower tempo, Diana gets to really sink her teeth into the material, and her voice sounds great here; the warmth and fullness of tone are on full display as she sings lines like “How…how can it be?” at :43, beautifully drawing out the first word over five full seconds. The instrumental break here is a bit odd; producer Baird brings in what sounds like a mariachi band to fill the space between 1:30 and 2:05, which doesn’t quite match the pensive, lullaby-esque atmosphere set by the other elements. Still, this is a lovely, touching ballad that again feels very authentic and unforced; the melody is almost as memorable as the snappy “Part Of You,” which is saying a lot.
3. Young Mothers: This is an alternate version of the acoustic ballad that first showed up on 1983′s Anthology as a “previously unreleased” track. Again produced by Tom Baird, he co-wrote this one with Kaye Lawrence Dunham, and it certainly has a different feel than the previous two pieces of music, which he’d written alone. “Young Mothers” is far more evocative of the folk/pop sound of the late 1960s and early 1970s, thanks to the persistent strumming guitar and the lyrics, which nod to the Vietnam War with lines like, “Hey now, young mothers…how shall we raise our sons? To live their lives in peace, and not take out the guns?” Miss Ross’s performance here is simple and pretty; she sounds gentle and knowing as she calls to other young women to raise their children in a world of peace. Because of the theme and sound of the production, “Young Mothers” does come off as more dated than much of the other material on To The Baby, and it’s certainly less exciting than many of the other songs here. That said, it’s nice to hear Diana “sing” her feelings about the war on record [[she’d earlier called for the return of troops from Vietnam during the Supremes farewell concert in 1970, a moment that’s captured on the recording of that show). Most in the general public never associate Diana Ross with anything remotely political, though fans know she often made her case for peace and civil rights in her own elegant way.
4. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face: During the same time Diana was recording the songs for To The Baby, Roberta Flack was enjoying her first massive hit with this song. Flack had recorded it back in 1969, but it only became a hit when it was used by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 film Play Misty For Me. Flack’s version spent several weeks at #1, and soon became an oft-recorded standard. Miss Ross’s version here is produced by none other than Gil Askey, the man who’d been handling her jazz work; the reissue lines notes state it happened “…on a break from Lady Sings The Blues.” His touch is immediately audible on “First Time…,” there’s a lush, dreamy feel to the song that echoes songs like “Little Girl Blue” and “I Can’t Get Started” on Blue. Miss Ross opens the song with a spoken dedication to her “little baby, Rhonda,” a nice reminder of the motivation for this entire project, before launching into a fine vocal performance. The only fault with the lead here is that it does seems a little affected, similar to her work on “Smile” [[featured on both 1976′s Diana Ross and Blue), meaning she seems to be laying it on a little thick, rather than just letting the performance happen. Her delivery on other songs from the era, like “Little Girl Blue” and “Touch Me In The Morning,” seemed more effortless and organic; there was an innate sophistication in those performances and others that just isn’t quite matched here. That said, Miss Ross is interpreting this song as a love song to a baby, not an adult lover, which means it would make sense for her to use a different tone in her voice. Listened to in that context, there is certainly an appealing sweetness to “First Time…,” even if it ultimately isn’t the standout here.