Diana Ross Live Performances 1970 - What's In The Vaults?

Further to the thread in the Motown Forum regarding Unreleased 1970 wish list where one member wished for early Diana Ross live performances of that time - does anyone know what is in the vaults for Diana's early solo live shows from 1970-1971 prior to including Lady Sings The Blues to her repertoire? There were a couple of tracks included in the expanded edition of her first solo album, so there must be at least an album's worth of material. It would be an interesting contrast to the later live albums Motown did issue in the 1970s. Thoughts/comments?

There are some outtakes from her first solo tv special.

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Originally Posted by reese

There are some outtakes from her first solo tv special.

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When exactly was her first tv special recorded? And do you know what the outtakes were?

i would assume there are many live shows taped. motown had a policy of taping their top acts more for the educational experience versus releasing it to the public. let the groups listen to and study their performances to learn what did/didn't work. and of course they often taped things with the idea of exploring releasing live albums. many times the live lps were actually cobbled together from various shows and not really just 1 show beginning to end.

So there are undoubtedly multiple shows during the first few years.

we've heard, for the most part, what songs were included in her debut act, some of which included:

is that all there is
reach out and touch
sup medley
leading lady medley
don't rain on my parade-nitty gritty- reflections

i always find it interesting as to what songs came and went quickly from an act. I heard that MJC tried Day By Day from Godspell at one of their later Frontier Hotel shows but it just didn't click.

and who knows how often DFM did My Favorite Things, like they did at Copa 67

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Originally Posted by SatansBlues

When exactly was her first tv special recorded? And do you know what the outtakes were?

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I think the special was recorded in January of 1971, around the time of her first marriage. The outtakes mentioned in the last J. Randy book were a Supremes medley and MY MAN.

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Originally Posted by sup_fan

i would assume there are many live shows taped. motown had a policy of taping their top acts more for the educational experience versus releasing it to the public. let the groups listen to and study their performances to learn what did/didn't work. and of course they often taped things with the idea of exploring releasing live albums. many times the live lps were actually cobbled together from various shows and not really just 1 show beginning to end.

So there are undoubtedly multiple shows during the first few years.

we've heard, for the most part, what songs were included in her debut act, some of which included:

is that all there is
reach out and touch
sup medley
leading lady medley
don't rain on my parade-nitty gritty- reflections

i always find it interesting as to what songs came and went quickly from an act. I heard that MJC tried Day By Day from Godspell at one of their later Frontier Hotel shows but it just didn't click.

and who knows how often DFM did My Favorite Things, like they did at Copa 67

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I have a copy of her Coconut Grove concert and these songs are performed along with “Something on my mind”. The one that was on the 1970 Diana Ross album expanded.

Discogs has a listing for an unofficial release, which is not available for sale on their site. No source information provided but it does include a line up of songs included in Diana's act at The Grove in 1970....it would be nice to have an official version [[expanded??) - maybe there could be one that includes selections from the Surrender album as well?

Here is the link:
https://www.discogs.com/Diana-Ross-L...lease/10654810

Yes, the Coconut Grove show was recorded professionally and a treasure on bootleg; other than that I don't know ...

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Originally Posted by Roscoe

Discogs has a listing for an unofficial release, which is not available for sale on their site. No source information provided but it does include a line up of songs included in Diana's act at The Grove in 1970....it would be nice to have an official version [[expanded??) - maybe there could be one that includes selections from the Surrender album as well?

Here is the link:
https://www.discogs.com/Diana-Ross-L...lease/10654810

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Does anyone have a copy of this and would like to share? DM me please.

Although the bootleg is in near perfect sound quality it would have been superb in an official release

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Originally Posted by Rossone

Although the bootleg is in near perfect sound quality it would have been superb in an official release

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I couldn’t agree more. See my other post regarding George and Andy!

Interesting to see in the line-up from the bootleg live album that Diana used Everybody Is A Star as a backdrop for her introduction of the band personnel; Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson used it for the same purpose in their Soul Show concert at the time Valerie's second solo album for Motown was about to be released.

Not releasing "Live at the Grove" after the success of the 2006 release of "Blue" seems a missed opportunity. Could easily been promoted as another "lost" album... would love to get more 1970s, early 1980s Diana Ross live released in good sound quality.

I would also welcome an official release of the Coconut Grove show. I recall that there were plans at one point for Universal to release her Live at Royal Albert Hall concert on DVD and then scrapped the plans after encountering licensing issues. It's too bad because when we consider the significant visual legacy of Diana and the Supremes, you would think we would have seen more of their specials and concerts officially released. In regards to DVD's and Blu-ray's, we have barely scraped the barrel, in my opinion. At least we finally got Central Park!

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Originally Posted by carlo

I would also welcome an official release of the Coconut Grove show. I recall that there were plans at one point for Universal to release her Live at Royal Albert Hall concert on DVD and then scrapped the plans after encountering licensing issues. It's too bad because when we consider the significant visual legacy of Diana and the Supremes, you would think we would have seen more of their specials and concerts officially released. In regards to DVD's and Blu-ray's, we have barely scraped the barrel, in my opinion. At least we finally got Central Park!

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Would be interesting to find out what the licensing issue actually are: one would expect the Jesus Christ Superstar songs as almost all other songs have been released in live versions in one way or another. I still don't get it though... of so many other artists we get so much official live stuff released; it should be possible.

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Originally Posted by Jaap

Would be interesting to find out what the licensing issue actually are: one would expect the Jesus Christ Superstar songs as almost all other songs have been released in live versions in one way or another. I still don't get it though... of so many other artists we get so much official live stuff released; it should be possible.

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I remember reading that there might also have been technical issues with the master tape. Of course, one would think that would have been discovered before an announcement was made. But it was disappointing that it was never officially released.

Around the same time, there was a Motown Xmas special that aired on [[I believe) the USA cable network. I didn't bother taping it because it had been announced that it would be released on home video in a few weeks. Now I wish I had because it never came out nor has it been shown again to my knowledge.

I just don't think Motown home video is high on the list of the powers that be.

Let’s hope some digital releases of Diana’s TV specials with and without the Supremes arrive sooner than later!