Motown releases the album "Mary Wilson" !
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Motown releases the album "Mary Wilson" !
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I am one of the biggest MW fans....but this was one lackluster LP. the "Red Hot" 12" version is a better mix and better structured version. "Warm Summer Night" is the only other keeper here IMHO....I like 3 of the 4 songs recorded for the unfinished 2nd LP. "You Danced My Heart...." remains one of [[if not) her best vocals...I know many folks like Green River....but I like the orig. and think MW's version is a hot mess
I loved this song from it. It had a similar sound to Teddy Pendergrass' "Close the Door":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuaLzbMkWX0
Another one of my favorites from the album and small preview of what she'll be doing on "Dancing With the Stars"! LOL!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J44MIj8_iPY
I've always loved the album cover - it is a fantastic portrait of Mary and those gold pants...chiiiiiiild!
much of this album was SOOOOOOO the wrong direction for mary. barely passable
now the Gus tracks are a radically different story. that's absolutely the direction they should have gone with her
Mary performs this cut, "You Make Me Feel So Good" on television in early 1980:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NdJhVVAKCE
I loved the intro to this one, another favorite cut of mine from the album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kyr7R04XXw
My most favorite in all versions [[which is still being remixed sporadically today)......."Red Hot"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBXA3pG1ui0
Having been active in the garage/club scene at the time, I can tell you, we were NOT listening to "Red Hot" but rather this:
https://www.soultracks.com/story-the-boss-40
Mary's duet here with Billie Woodruff was also nice.......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-MTu0eGc1Q
Here is another one that I really like a lot! "I Got What You Need"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBw3suQZz2E
40 years? Where did the time go? LOL!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caY6Ad-R1ks
It was a poor album. Sub standard material with mediocre vocals. Only three tracks were of an acceptable standard in my opinion. Pick up the pieces, warm summer night and The light that guides my way.
A UK company obtained the rights to release an expanded edition a few years ago, but eventually decided against it. I suspect they made the correct decision.
This is the direction the album should have gone in. IMO it's far and above the best song on the lp. I had in constant rotation on my ipod for a long time. That groove is great. Mary's strength at the time was in the sexy quality of her voice. To not capitalize on that was criminal, with all of those great 70s grooves available.
Motown did her dirty. That's all I'll say about this project.
I've seen Mary live about 12 times since '85....Red Hot was a spectacular live cut. she used the 12" version for live performances and it always got one of the best responses of the night....Stoned Love and How Lucky Can You Get also got lots of applause.
I was actually one of the few people who bought this album when it first came out. I tried to like it but i found it to be a very disappointing project. The quality of the material was quite simply not good enough with the exception of the three tracks i mentioned in my previous post. I listened to it all again a few years ago when it was being considered for an expanded release. My opinion of it had not changed. It still sounded sub standard and quite simply not good enough to be reissued. We did not think it would be financially viable to reissue the album. If you think otherwise then why not e-mail a few Record Companies and start a campaign for its reissue? Good luck with it.
Well remember, there's two kinds of reviewers critical of Mary Wilson's work: one is unbiased and simply has a negative opinion of that album but not of Mary herself, the other is going to speak negatively of anything Mary does [[or says, or looks, etc).
I agree that the album is far from the worst album I've ever heard, but I definitely disagree that it's good. Most of it is mediocre disco. Perhaps a Thelma Houston could've made more of it because she had a voice that was a good fit for that style of music, even though I still think people would regard the album as mediocre. The biggest problem with the album is that the music doesn't fit Mary's voice. Mediocre songs coupled with Mary's unsuited style makes for a passable album. Her incomplete second album with Gus D would've probably ended up a critical success because the songs were perfect for Mary's voice.
I have not listened to the album in quite some time, but I'll put it on my to do list to revisit and see if I end up with a different opinion.
A lot the songs on the album might have been better suited to Diana's voice. I can hear her singing "Red Hot", although it's not the strongest of songs. Likewise, i think many of the songs on WDFFIL would have worked well for Mary.
The album received a lot of media attention at the time. I remember feeling quite angry with motown for not playing to Mary's strengths and wasting such an important opportunity for her.
Was this really motown's plan or just extremely bad management of an artist?.
they basically gave her the record deal to get her to drop her lawsuit. but by this time she had completely ruined her relationship with motown [[not that she was totally to blame). between her locking horns w berry during the supremes 70s years, the whole Pedro fiasco, the lawsuit, etc. But Mary took the record deal w Motown because no one else would give her a deal. clearly it was a last resort for her. So everyone raced into the studio to do this 1 project. And because this was 79, disco was king and motown wanted dance content.
Yes, a good re-cap. This is decades-known information; I guess we have some young posters here! The lp is widely regarding as a hot steamin' turd and a rusty ding in Motown's crown but Wilson can't be blamed for its quality given the circumstances under which it was recorded. Anyhoo, summer of '79 was all about Diana's 'The Boss'!
in her book she mentions seeing a poster of the album up on Tower Records [[i think) in LA. But was there any other promotion at all? she didn't do any US tv gigs for it, did she? obviously there was the NY NY opening concert. did she do anything in the NYC area to promote?
well there really wasn't a huge about of tv promotion for Boss either. Diana did a wonderful performance on Tonight Show. but were there any others? the HBO special aired in 80 i think but taped earlier.
And of course we don't really have much in terms of records of what was done with dj's and station managers. the publicity kits were sent out to accompany the promo copy of the lp. what was done at trade shows, etc
same for MW. although i think we know the answer - none
and for Partners too. S&S did a Mike Douglas show and that's about all i've ever heard
BG had a fallout with DR over The Boss.