Touch is 50!

Released in June 1971 after the hit single Nathan Jones was released April 15, 1971. I remember being in such anticipation for this album after hearing Nathan Jones which was a tremendous and unexpected song for The Supremes. The cover itself was just beautiful. I could never understand why this wasn't performed [[I prefer lip-synced), on tv more. Sullivan was doing reruns and canceled soon after and the Carson appearance was live and long ago destroyed. I read somewhere there is a clip of this from a Cilla Black show??? I don't know how factual this is. I honestly felt this should have gone at least top 5. My solace came from the fact it hit #1 locally. I never wanted JMC to end...

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Together with the Rodgers and Hart cover my 2 fave album covers. The cover always reminds me of a cover of "the many grooves of Barbara Lewis". Nathan Jones went top 5 here in the UK. I think the album looked refreshing after the glamourous Right on cover and the new ways cover with the small pictures on the bottom. The only live version I've heard is somewhere on the 70's supremes page on Facebook. It's from the Central Park show but the quality is not very good so I can't judge if it was any good live. Hope the Cilla Black performance survived and will become available to watch one day.

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Originally Posted by nathanj06

Released in June 1971 after the hit single Nathan Jones was released April 15, 1971. I remember being in such anticipation for this album after hearing Nathan Jones which was a tremendous and unexpected song for The Supremes. The cover itself was just beautiful. I could never understand why this wasn't performed [[I prefer lip-synced), on tv more. Sullivan was doing reruns and canceled soon after and the Carson appearance was live and long ago destroyed. I read somewhere there is a clip of this from a Cilla Black show??? I don't know how factual this is. I honestly felt this should have gone at least top 5. My solace came from the fact it hit #1 locally. I never wanted JMC to end...

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I recall the Cilla Black show performance. Hopefully it will be found one day. They performed another tune on the show which i cannot recall. I was only a kid at the time.

I was not around during that era, but it's difficult for me to believe that it's now a 50 year old album. When I first bought it, it was only a 30 year old album. The last 10 years in particular have flown by.

Still a fantastic album. The Jean era really had it going on!

Great album.a few tweaks needed but great vocals

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Originally Posted by carlo

I was not around during that era, but it's difficult for me to believe that it's now a 50 year old album. When I first bought it, it was only a 30 year old album. The last 10 years in particular have flown by.

Still a fantastic album. The Jean era really had it going on!

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In my opinion it all went downhill after Touch. I know some people enjoy the Floy Joy album, but i found it to be dull, bland and lightweight. Touch contained stronger material and way better production values, and that cover was just stunning. I wish they had stayed with Frank Wilson. I lost interest in the group thereafter.
A very strong album.

I loved Touch, I felt it contained the strongest vocals by Jean Terrell and it was so wonderful to hear Mary Wilson co lead on a song. I actually won Floy Joy off of the radio, I had bought the singles but was hesitant to buy the LP. I loved,loved ,loved the fact that Mary Wilson had a lead and co leads on the album. I felt Jean showed she could hold back and show the nuances of her voice. I also felt the LP was very light and bouncy compared to the strong,more rock tinged Touch LP. It took me years to appreciate Floy Joy and its vocal nuances as well as the musicianship. Thinking of Jean's vocals-she was strong and let loose on Touch, controlled and showed the nuances and complexities of holding back and by the time she was on Jimmy Webb, she was almost shrill in ranges beyond her comfort zone. Once Scherrie joined and Mary co-led in 1975, I was far more optimistic as I loved Mary's voice and thought Scherrie had a wonderful voice with strength that sounded far more contemporary than Jean did by Jimmy Webb. I could also tell Motown did not care what happened to the group by the time Jean left.

Great to hear the Cilla Black clip did happen at least. Man I would so love to see them perform this. Some people dislike lip-sync, I do not. I like to see a group perform what the record sounded like on the radio. Of course there are exceptions. Nathan Jones is an all time fave for me 50 years after it came out. I even remember the first time I heard it lying on my bed one evening and I caught the tail end of it on my radio and knew it was Jean Terrell. And what I heard was so exciting. That's all I could do as we only had radio and tv. But then it started getting massive airplay.....YES!!! Regarding the Touch single. For me it was an album track and should have stayed there. It was either Here Comes The Sunrise or This Is The Story and I go with Sunrise. I'm not blasting Touch, it just wasn't a Supremes single. 1970 and 1971 were such great years but such a short time for JMC. But I cherish it.

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Originally Posted by jim aka jtigre99

I loved Touch, I felt it contained the strongest vocals by Jean Terrell and it was so wonderful to hear Mary Wilson co lead on a song. I actually won Floy Joy off of the radio, I had bought the singles but was hesitant to buy the LP. I loved,loved ,loved the fact that Mary Wilson had a lead and co leads on the album. I felt Jean showed she could hold back and show the nuances of her voice. I also felt the LP was very light and bouncy compared to the strong,more rock tinged Touch LP. It took me years to appreciate Floy Joy and its vocal nuances as well as the musicianship. Thinking of Jean's vocals-she was strong and let loose on Touch, controlled and showed the nuances and complexities of holding back and by the time she was on Jimmy Webb, she was almost shrill in ranges beyond her comfort zone. Once Scherrie joined and Mary co-led in 1975, I was far more optimistic as I loved Mary's voice and thought Scherrie had a wonderful voice with strength that sounded far more contemporary than Jean did by Jimmy Webb. I could also tell Motown did not care what happened to the group by the time Jean left.

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i too appreciated the different sound jean provided on FJ. i'm assuming that both frank and smokey really helped produce and guide her vocals in the studio. all of these recordings really have jean following the melody pretty strictly - certainly when compared to how she would reinterpret things live.

I Guess I'll Miss The Man is a great one to compare. Deke produced the single and jean's vocals are very controlled. and i think lovely. they're delicate, understated and emotional. her live version is totally different but IMO equally as enjoyable. there's the Soul Train version, Mike Douglas and then the December 72 run at Apollo on bootleg. in the live versions, she really adds a lot of ad libs and embellishments but still delivers the melody.

Stoned love is one where i think the difference is NOT good. the recording is just perfection. but live she'd often go rambling off in all sorts of directions

BW is one where the live and studio versions are really quite similar

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Originally Posted by nathanj06

Great to hear the Cilla Black clip did happen at least. Man I would so love to see them perform this. Some people dislike lip-sync, I do not. I like to see a group perform what the record sounded like on the radio. Of course there are exceptions. Nathan Jones is an all time fave for me 50 years after it came out. I even remember the first time I heard it lying on my bed one evening and I caught the tail end of it on my radio and knew it was Jean Terrell. And what I heard was so exciting. That's all I could do as we only had radio and tv. But then it started getting massive airplay.....YES!!! Regarding the Touch single. For me it was an album track and should have stayed there. It was either Here Comes The Sunrise or This Is The Story and I go with Sunrise. I'm not blasting Touch, it just wasn't a Supremes single. 1970 and 1971 were such great years but such a short time for JMC. But I cherish it.

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They performed Nathan Jones live on the Cilla Black show as i recall. It wasn't lip synched. Not seen it since the original broadcast and whilst the show is listed as "lost" i wouldn't be at all surprised if it turns up one of these days.
Hopefully their performance of Stoned Love for a Christmas edition of totp will also be found.

You may be right Bluebrock. I did read that it was specifically lip synched but then I never saw it. I read this somewhere several years ago online. If it does exist, what a gift that would be. Thanks for the input. It would be fascinating to hear how Leonard Caston & Kathy Wakefield came up with that phenomenal arrangement.