This is so wonderful. Can you imagine how tickled Mary would be?
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I got my copy today. Can’t wait to play it tonight.
My copy arrived this afternoon. Just finished listening to it. Congrats to the team for another job well done. This set was truly befitting Mary. It showcases her evolution as a vocalist and puts her natural gift on front and center display. The rememberances of Mary in the booklet were absolutely beautiful and further testimony of her impact as a human being. The photo of her in the yellow mesh and hood is officially one of my favorite photos of Mary. Stunningly beautiful woman. I'm super tired right now, so I'll try to make this quick and just touch on a few thoughts regarding the tracks:
-So glad to have "Send Him To Me" and "If You Let Me Baby", but super pissed that they remained vaulted so long. "Send" would've made a great album track, either as a solo or with backing vocals, possibly for New Ways. Would've much rather had it than "Come Together". "If You Let Me Baby" was worthy of single release IMO. It was definitely a new direction for the group and I think it could have made some noise.
-While I love the musical track to "Wichi-Tai-Toe", the song itself is a little out there for my taste.
-Both outtakes of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and "Falling In Love", IMO, are far superior to what made the Farewell album. For the life of me I can't figure out what Deke heard that made him scrap either of these for the versions that actually made the album.
-"Touch", "Floy Joy", "Automatically Sunshine"...they have been given new life. While "Automatically" has never fallen out of favor with me, the other two have, to various degrees. I'll be playing both "Touch" and "Floy" quite a bit again. Especially "Touch". Wow.
-This version of "Teardrops" just solidifies my opinion that it should have been a single. I really believe it had the potential to put the Supremes back into the top 10 across the board.
I'm so glad to have this set. And so glad to see that it's selling well. Hopefully it'll cause Universal to get behind further projects regarding the Supremes. The guys really did Mary proud with this one. It's so bittersweet knowing that she isn't around to bask in what would have surely danced her heart around the stars.:cool:
As usual I do have a bit of criticism. [[I know, I know, but it wouldn't be me if I didn't hit the positives and the negs too.) Reading through the words of love from Mary's friends and peers in the business, it sucked that there was that glaringly obvious missing testimonial from a certain someone who was once so close to Mary.
Yes, I'm referring to Tony "Tall Tales" Turner, in case you were wondering.:p
I just spent a notable amount of time writing a considered and thoughtful review of the songs on this Anthology. Pressed post, and the whole thing ended up in oblivion..
What a f——-g waste of time, not to mention heartbreaking lol. :mad:
Been there, done that. And it never happens when I've just written a sentence or two. It's always when I've done one of my long dissertations about whatever Supreme subject we're discussing. Sometimes before I hit "post", I'll copy what I've written just in case. Trust me, I know your pain all too well.
I am not good at writing reviews. But all I got to say is I love this Anthology of Mary Wilson. I didn’t expect it to be so good. Thank you so much George and Andy. It’s so good. I love the alternate or remixed versions of the High Energy sessions. They sound so new and fresh. They truly should have been big hits. It’s so sad Mary couldn’t have shared and enjoyed this release with us. RIP beautiful Mary Wilson.
Brief review...Great packaging and remaster. I never considered sweet and fluffy songs such as “Floy” and “ Automatically Sunshine” Marys vibe, but nice to hear extended versions. Great to here more of Mary on “Touch”, which really should have been a solo.
Love her letting rip on “I Keep It Hid” while the extended Closer Together” is beautiful.
“Your What’s missing” was good enough to be a Mary solo, but don’t like the additional backing vocals featured on “I Don’t Want To Loose You”. For me they weigh the song down as well as sounding a ‘tad old hat.
The only commercial song from the solo album is for me is [[ I Love A) Warm Summer Night. Much prefer the laidback arrangement of “Any Time At All” To The the rather dull “Red Hot” featured on the album.. Kupper certainly brings the song to life.
Overall a great package, hearing something new every time i play it.
Oliie ,
do you know about the auto save feature?
also when you log in at the top of the page
check the box remember me . It’ll keep you active, mostly works .
I like Mary on the Clodagh Rodgers song "Save Me" - it's much nicer than the original. Love "Our Day Will Come".
A couple of days before her death in February 2021, Mary Wilson uploaded a video to her YouTube channel. Poignantly, it was full of forthcoming plans: the 60th anniversary of the Supremes’ debut single the following month; interviews she’d given for Black History Month, discussing the problems the group had faced touring the south of America in the 1960s; videos she was planning to upload, including a tribute to Florence Ballard, the former Supreme who had died 45 years previously, aged 32, after a struggle with alcoholism that had seen her fired from the group in 1967.
Her voice catches slightly when she mentions Ballard’s name: Wilson never gave up on her, even when Ballard appeared to have given up on herself. “She was always trying to help her,” says Wilson’s friend, actor Beverly Todd. “Mary loved Florence and she understood why Florence was in so much pain” – Wilson believed her alcoholism had less to do with the pressures of fame than the fact that Ballard had been raped at knifepoint in 1960 – “and she would invite her to become part of what she was doing. The last time, she was trying to get Florence back involved with the Supremes, but Florence told her, ‘Mary, why do you keep trying to help? Stop trying to help me.’”
That aside, the tone of the video is one of huge excitement. Wilson seems particularly thrilled that a collection of her solo work is about to be released, including her eponymous 1979 album, an extremely classy disco collection that had the misfortune to be released weeks after the Chicago Disco Demolitionriot turned America’s radio and record labels against the sound it embodied; tracks she recorded for a follow-up with celebrated producer Gus Dudgeon that went unreleased when Motown dropped her from her contract; and some new recordings, including a song called Why Can’t We All Get Along?that ruminated on the strained relationship between the Supremes’ members. According to her daughter, Turkessa Babich, Wilson had been planning the collection for “about 20 years”: it’s now been released posthumously, as The Motown Anthology, augmented with Supremes tracks featuring Wilson’s lead vocals……
https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...e_iOSApp_Other
I couldn't work out why the unreleased track "Send Him To Me" sounded so familiar until I realised that the Debbie Dean version had already appeared on the "Motown Unreleased 1968" download and also on the "Good Good Feeling! More Motown Girls" CD.
Thanks for mentioning the Four Tops' version, 144man. I don't think I had heard it before today. I think I prefer Mary's version, but their version is solid too.
I'm kind of surprised at the lack of discussion in this thread, considering the number of fellow members who participated in lengthy discussions concerning the delays of this release and the best place to purchase this release from. I shared my thoughts in a number of posts that I had made earlier on, in this thread, but I know we have other Mary fans on this forum. Where y'all at? Hope you're enjoying the anthology? :)
I really enjoyed reading your lengthy review of the album Carlo. My in-depth review somehow got lost when i tried to post it, so ended up writing a much shorter one.
Im still very much enjoying it.
I was a little disappointed with folks brief opinions on Diana’s new album. It had been a fifteen year wait after all. Perhaps if a bead had been missing off her frock on the cover it might have inspired more lengthy discussion. I’m really not sure. :confused:
The discussion has been spread across other threads as well. There are several of us who were obviously live posting as we were listening to it. I caught the different verse of Automatically Sunshine whilst typing. This thread was just for people who already had the set and didn't want to spoil it for others. As it has been released now for a while, people are posting reactions all over the place, so not to worry, it is loved!
I must say how much I enjoyed the Gus Dudgeon tracks.
Thanks Ollie! Glad to hear that you are enjoying the anthology. I understand the frustration about having lost the post containing the review that you had written. I've been in that unfortunate position many times.
I am still enjoying Mary's Anthology, alongside Diana's Thank You album. Perhaps I will look into resurrecting one of the threads that discussed Thank You, in the coming days. Lol, you are right about the potential for lengthy discussions to be sparked by a missing bead. I suppose that did happen, with the discussion regarding the old photo used for the cover art. :)
Hey thanxal, glad to hear you're still enjoying it too. I saw a few of the individual threads with the YouTube links to songs from the anthology, but didn't see a whole lot else going on. Maybe I missed all of that, since I was busy genuflecting to Saint Diana Ross, as per our daily cult rituals. I hope you have not forgotten to complete your daily rituals, since after all, you are the leader of our group! In fact, we probably shouldn't even be talking about Mary's Anthology. Shhhh... :)
I haven't posted too much about it. I listen to it and it is striking to hear such beautiful and clear tracks with Mary singing so beautifully. I am sure we all have our favorites. I wasn't too sure about Witchi Tai To, but honestly I don't think anyone but Mary in the Motown stable would be able to do it any justice. It seems the CD did well for awhile but after its initial Real Gone release and the "formal" release near her birthday, something must have happened. I know Andy, George and company did a superior job on it and the work they did should leave them justifiably proud. I was going to get a spare second copy but once Amazon cancelled it and then offered it, I became hesitant. I guess one copy will suffice.
Your sin has been pardoned by our brethren, due to your genuine repentance and penance. Do not allow yourself to be entrapped by such frivolities again, lest you lose your ranking in the Ross-hood. It would mean having to sacrifice all of your Diana Ross CD's to the great 'force behind the power' in a firey pit, and you would spend eternity solely listening to this insufferable compact disc...
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon...._QL70_ML2_.jpg
Learn from this.