Although the Supremes did not have any new releases in 1974, they were recording. Here's one of them that should have been released in 1974. It would have definitely charted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvG_1uC5S3s
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Although the Supremes did not have any new releases in 1974, they were recording. Here's one of them that should have been released in 1974. It would have definitely charted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvG_1uC5S3s
Ehh...not much impressed. So many better renditions: Merry Clayton [[the first), Cher [[the last), and the best, hands down, no contest: Betty Everett with The Blossoms on background.
would have been fine enough for an album track. there are certainly worse lp tracks that were released throughout all of the years of the group. but yeah - this wasn't going to put them on the top of the charts
i have a few fan magazines from this period and the author interviews MSC and talks about their new recordings. The girls said they thought Shoop was ok but they weren't very excited about it at the time. Color My World Blue was one they were much more excited about
I always thought this would have been a good B-Side for "It's All Been Said Before" as a late 1974 single release. I believe they both had the same producer.
I believe this song would have charted if released in the first half of '74. I have a good memory of the type of Pop music that was being played then. "Color My World Blue", which is a better recording would have gone at least Top 40 if also released as a single in that time frame of 1974-75.
I don't hear Mary or Cindy in the background, it doesn't even sound like the Andantes.
Linda Lewis had a great version of this song which was a big hit in the UK at about the same time
Sucks. Wasn't going to do any better than most of the Scherrie year singles. This is something the Supremes should've covered during the Flo years, not in the mid 70s.
once Scherrie joined all recordings are only MSC or MSS. except of course the male voices on a couple tracks - like Mr Boogie and Sweet Dream Machine ;)
i think they could have done a pop lp on the girls once the Ivy Woodward tracks were done. Shoop and It's all been Said would have completed the other pop songs like You Can't Stop a Girl, Color, Sha La, Give Out, Turn me around, etc. that would have been a solid pop album to re-introduce the group to the general population and they could have had a couple top 40 hits. maybe not #1 but decent hits just the same
i think they could have scored with:
It's all been said
Color
You Can't stop a girl in love
I still maintain He's my man could have hit big had Scherrie done the lead vocal. She would have carried it to a new level. Mary's lead was insipid and that killed any impact the song may have had. I agree that It's all been said had hit potential, and a remix of Where do i go from here could have been successful too.
I just think that disco wasn’t really ultra mainstream in 75. Sat Night Fever wasn’t until 77. So given the group’s pop history I think to “relaunch” them a pop album would have been the most likely to chart well. Plus they had such a long dormant period. They could have quickly pulled the pop songs together and push out an lp and then jump into the disco work
And I agree HMM would have done much better had scherrie handled majority of lead.
I love Scherrie Payne, she is incredibly underrated. Her vocals added spark and fire that seemed to be missing in the last year of the group before she joined. Miss Payne was and is a true vocal dynamo.
I disagree that Scherrie should have done the whole lead for He’s My Man. I agree she has a phenomenal voice but also tends to over sing a lot.
I do like the idea of the group sharing leads more. And I think HMM would have been great with all three women getting some portion of the song. But it’s such a high energy [[pun intended lol) song and for the first voice to be a sleepy sounding Mary just sucks the wind out of things. U needed someone that would explode from
Ur speakers. Then counter that with some of Mary’s deep smokey vocals and some of Cindy’s sexiness and it would have done better in my opinion
Mary's lead was not strong enough to carry the tune. Scherrie had the technique and strength that Mary lacked. We will never know of course, but i maintain it was a big mistake to use Mary so much. The public quite simply did not take to her voice. Scherrie would have killed it. A missed opportunity that the girls never really recovered from.
It seems to me it didn’t make a difference who sang lead because Motown wasn’t going to support them. Minus IGLMHDTW all the Scherrie lead songs didn’t do squat on the top 40 charts.
And I have to laugh when some of you say HMM came alive when Scherrie parts came alive even though Scherrie “lead” was the whole group singing in unison with Scherrie doing a little Adlib
Sort of how I see it too. I don't mind people preferring Scherrie's voice over Mary's, but the idea that Mary singing lead turns the public off while Scherrie somehow excited everyone just isn't followed up by the facts. Maybe HMM would have sounded better with Scherrie singing the whole thing, maybe not. But there's no evidence to suggest that HMM would have sold any better or gotten anymore airplay that any of the subsequent Scherrie leads released as single. "Heart Walking" being the obvious exception, which still didn't surpass the success of Mary's integral roles in "Floy Joy" or "Automatically Sunshine" which did better than "Heart Walking" on both r&b and pop charts. Mary had already proven to Motown that her voice could sale a record. I'd argue that Mary's voice is more appealing on those two Smokey cuts than Jean, the "official" lead singer, was.
Here in the UK He's my man was heavily promoted and played. Tony Blackburn had it as his record of the week on his radio 1 show. The girls appeared on tv shows and did lots of press interviews but the song quite simply refused to chart despite the 70's Supremes previously impressive chart record in the UK. The public either did not like the song and/or did not like Mary's vocals. For what its worth i thought it was a good record that could have been great with a stronger lead vocal.
i don't believe Blue is saying that Mary's voice is totally unsuitable for airing in public on tv or radio. I think she fit wonderfully on FJ and Auto. those sort of mellow songs really allowed her to shine. I adore her phrasing on on Auto where she sings "...where you go, I'll go follow" and how she sort of cracks her voice on the lyric.
But those two tunes are drastically different from HMM. like comparing a song from Parliament to an operatic aria from Aida. both songs are wonderful and George is a hot vocalist for what he does. whereas Maria callas sounds phenomenal in her genre.
IMO that smokey husky sound didn't fit the beginning of HMM. it was such an explosive introduction on the song and i think you needed a really belter to sing the majority of it to make it come alive. I think M and C could have really made it fun and unique by having some trade-off lead parts and all. But Scherrie was the most appropriate member of the group to handle the lead
now do i think the choice of singer is totally responsible for the charting it received - no not 100%. I think these were the issues for the problems with the lack of hit with HMM:
1. the group had been dormant [[on the record charts) for over two years and prior to that they hadn't had a huge mega-hit since Stoned Love in late 70.
2. their live rendition of HMM on The Tonight Show was disastrous. the choreography was a mess, the huge chiffon ballgowns the wrong image, the band sounds tin-y and off. Their Soul Train lip sync was better, as was Dinah.
3. motown's lack of huge support - i'm repeating what has been told on here. But motown wanted It's All Been Said but Pedro/Mary demanded HMM. Motown frankly didn't have any interest in the group and had wished Mary had just retired when J and L left. Also they had no interest in Mary as a lead singer of the group. Whatever minimal promotion the group MIGHT have gotten for IABSB evaporated when the group pushed motown to release a song sung by a lead singer they weren't interested in supporting.
I think you will find that most of the early 70's Supremes singles charted higher in the UK than the States. Ladder, Stoned Love, Nathan, Bad Weather, River Deep and You gotta have love as well as Floy Joy and Automatically Sunshine. They were hot in the UK during Jean's tenure in the group.
Sup where is the info for Motown wanting "Been Said Before" as the first single coming from? I would think if they were interested in the group at all they would not have wanted to send them out of the gate with Scherrie on a cover version as Bobby Hutton had already done the song in 1973.
Betty Everett's version had the Chicago group, the Opals as the background singers. The Blossoms were on Merry Clayton's version the year before.