Supremes Live - comparing their shows. a discussion

so far we have 5 or so complete shows from the Diana era - Copa 65, Roostertail 66, Copa 67, Talk 68, Farewell. What are your thoughts? fav one? misses/hits? What are your thoughts on the evolution of their act?

Copa 65 is endearing to me - it's like listening to your kids make a success of themselves. the girls are so young and eager. but it's also tightly wound. maybe too much so

Rooster - i enjoy this show a LOT. the girls have an air of confidence and professionalism. they were in the zone here! i also prefer the full version of the hits.

Copa 67 - things just seem to be full speed ahead and it's too much IMO. diana's voice is weak, due to her headcold.

Talk of the town - solid but the sound balance is off. cindy might as well not be there for much of it. mary is too booming too. the structure of the show is interesting, in that it seems to be anchored with several large medleys - Symphony, hits, Millie, Beatles, Sam Cooke [[although that was cut from the lp)

Farewell - i think i prefer this to TOTT. there's a more fun vibe to it, with the girls ad libs and all. would LOVE to hear what was edited out hehehe. I like the addition of Aquarius and how that was a totally new element for them.

My favorite is Talk of the Town. But it's rushed.to fast paced.i would prefer more hits than standards.
Copa is great .love the groups harmony.

My favorite of the ones mentioned would be the Farewell performance mostly because of how it was recorded. It seemed to put me closer to the stage.

My least favorite would be the "Talk of the Town". I don't care for the production quality and this appeared to be the hiccup period of time for Diana.

Copa 65 is the turning point in the group. They are officially more than your run of the mill r&b/pop singers. Still the girls next door, but more mature. Flo and Mary sound great, but it sucks that we don't get the full Diana live at the Copa that we would've had she not had to re-record her vocals. Still, on "Make Someone Happy" she sounds absolutely fantastic. Clearly they are becoming masters of this kind of work.

Roostertail 66- absolutely fantastic. Hometown crowd, I'm sure the energy and emotion of the setting probably caused the ladies to kick their game up a notch. The hits sound really good here. Really not a dull moment. Good move replacing Ross on "People" with Mary, who sounded very good. Loved the harmony on "Let There Be Love". The girls next door had come back home worldly and mature young ladies who could still get down. Where the original trio is concerned, this is the show to hear.

Copa 67- still don't have it, although I have some of the old bootleg cuts from years ago. I'll reserve judgement for the cleaner, clearer version.

Talk of the Town- it's a nice enough show, but I miss Florence's voice and energy. Listening, I can tell that the act has gotten classier, more sophisticated. Clearly the group has completely thrown off it's girl next door image for that of ladies in the penthouse upstairs.:) But vocally the sound has not advanced at all, it's diminished. Watching the comparable Amsterdam show, it's better than Talk of the Town [[they tear "Shake" all the way up) in nearly every way, but I still think the act is missing Florence. Not to take anything away from Cindy, but she was no Florence Ballard, and I'll leave it at that.

Farewell- this is leaps and bounds better than TOTT. This show should've quieted all fears that Ross might have been making a mistake by leaving. With the absence of video, the show sounds like a winner. The energy is through the roof from the first rumblings of "TCB" through the end. For me the highlight is "Didn't We", but the hits were also very good, as was the fun "Let the Sunshine In" singalong. Of all the shows, this one is the one I would consider the show of shows for the Supremes. Just waiting for the video of this to finally make it's way into our hands.

Have to shout out the 20 Grand set and the Apollo set. I think both show that this group indeed had a certain something that audiences regarded as special and unique, even if didn't translate to successful hit singles. Diana has a certain command of the songs they perform, and Flo and Mary are on it with the harmony. Not yet the sophisticated ladies they would become with the Copa 65 on up, but the seeds are already showing signs of producing a supreme crop.

it's fun to take the live songs that they did multiple times and listen to each version. like Somewhere or Make Someone Happy. it's really an interesting progression as they became more seasoned entertainers.

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Originally Posted by sup_fan

so far we have 5 or so complete shows from the Diana era - Copa 65, Roostertail 66, Copa 67, Talk 68, Farewell. What are your thoughts? fav one? misses/hits? What are your thoughts on the evolution of their act?

Copa 65 is endearing to me - it's like listening to your kids make a success of themselves. the girls are so young and eager. but it's also tightly wound. maybe too much so

Rooster - i enjoy this show a LOT. the girls have an air of confidence and professionalism. they were in the zone here! i also prefer the full version of the hits.

Copa 67 - things just seem to be full speed ahead and it's too much IMO. diana's voice is weak, due to her headcold.

Talk of the town - solid but the sound balance is off. cindy might as well not be there for much of it. mary is too booming too. the structure of the show is interesting, in that it seems to be anchored with several large medleys - Symphony, hits, Millie, Beatles, Sam Cooke [[although that was cut from the lp)

Farewell - i think i prefer this to TOTT. there's a more fun vibe to it, with the girls ad libs and all. would LOVE to hear what was edited out hehehe. I like the addition of Aquarius and how that was a totally new element for them.

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I found this most interesting , along with your comments on each.
So there are only five complete performances by The Supremes w/ Diana Ross to be had ?

Are these audio only or video?

These are the five shows officially released and once they hit it big. There are bootlegs and many shorter shows from earlier days

I think for me the '66 Roostertail show is the ultimate Supremes concert, every number they did was electric and only wish there was video to go with it. The only one I thought was just okay was "Come See About Me" which I thought was too sped up. The versions from the Copa were just at the right pace. "Back In My Arms Again" was really fast too but I feel like it worked. The girls really seemed to be having fun.

Copa '65 is a close second but I really like the mono version of the show and the expanded edition of the full house I felt like Mary's mic was up too high for several of the songs but I think this was because Flo was recovering from the flu. It did seem like it was a little too rehearsed to perfection which takes away the natural flow we got from the Roostertail show.

Copa '67. Too rushed. Too much friction going on, Diana's sick and Flo's vocals aren't that great either. The only number I really enjoyed was "Love Is Here And Now You're Gone".

I really enjoy Talk of the Town but I do think there's too many medleys and a little too polished. As others have said, Mary is too loud and throws off the harmony. Flo's sharp soprano and ad-libs are definitely missed. Diana's vocals though are great. I really thought she thrived in this show.

Farewell. I like a lot of the songs but Diana sounds sleepy and you can hear it in her voice that she's just over it. "Reflections" on here is my favorite live version of the song.

The 20 Grand show. Well it depends on which version. The one released was okay but I had a bootleg of a different show with the same set list that was a lot more energetic and the audience was a lot more enthusiastic which I feel the girls really played off of. The bootleg show I had, "Let Me Go the Right Way" was the highlight. Diana and Flo both really tear it up at the end of the song. I'm surprised that for the Where Did Our Love Go Expanded Edition they went with a more tame version of the show.

^i have a box of old bootleg cassette tapes from the 80s and 90s and I need to see which might contain alt versions of material that we've been recently receiving in the EEs. didn't they also do People on the 20 Grand show? i remember liking it a lot and found Flo's lead really powerful and commanding on it. need to relisten to it and compare to these other versions

They did do People. It was a great performance though Diana's microphone was down too low for her part in the middle. They also did I Am Woman which I liked better than the Copa version. I wish I still had the show but unfortunately I played it too many times and it wore out.