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One of my favorite Diana songs and videos. You have to admit the three Diana's a la the Supremes is pretty clever.
I wonder why this was never released in the US? If I recall it was from the "Chain Reaction" LP?
An odd choice for a cover, but cute and catchy. Very much a prequel to the denim and leather she'd wear in "Workin' Overtime".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SLFGI4jpV4
It is from the RED HOT RHYTHM AND BLUES.
Not sure why it wasn't released in the US. Another song on that album, TELL MAMA, suffered the same fate. I think some record companies probably realized that some diehard fans would buy multiple versions of an album if they really liked an artist. Or maybe RCA decided it wasn't suitable for the US release. Did Diana have control over that at this time?
RED HOT RHYTHM AND BLUES
I stand corrected, thank you!
Was this released as a single in the UK? Did it do anything on the charts? Odd she'd do a video if it wasn't single material.
It was a single in the UK with a picture sleeve, no less. I think it hit the low 50s on the chart.Quote:
Originally Posted by marybrewster
it was released on "7 & '12 vinyl and cd single..three of the remixes appear on RHRB expanded edition
Attachment 19534Attachment 19535
IMO it's one of the worst things she ever recorded. A real testament to the failing of the entire RHRAB project. Diana was better than this nonsense but it's almost like she no longer believed that herself and was willing to throw crap at the wall and see if there would be any takers. That voice deserved better. Much better.
I will say about "Tell Mama", I am a huge Etta James fan and to find out Diana covered one of Etta's classics raised both of my eyebrows. Honestly, I just knew she messed it up like she butchered "Rescue Me". But I was a bit more pleased when I heard "Tell Mama" over "Mr. Lee". Diana handles the verses of "Tell Mama" pretty good. It's the chorus where she sounds out of her comfort zone. The chorus is bad. The album was just poorly executed.
She was great on "Selfish One" and "There Goes My Baby", though.
Love this album! Wish we could get her TV specials on DVD. Love the performance of Summertime. Wish we could get the Shockwaves video released!
Maybe a reason why Mr. Lee was given a single release was because Diana had big hits with Why Do fools and Chain Reaction, both songs with a throwback vibe, so why not try for 3 and get a hit out of the album in the UK? In the US, I suspect RCA had given up on her at this point and just released RHRAB album to end the contract and let her go.
how old is "Mr. Lee"??
First time listening to the song, and watching the video… I really don’t know what to make of it. :p:D Strange choice of song to cover.
A #6 record in 1957
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ0eoH4l4us
Not a fav of mine.
Think it lacks something
That might be right and probably the same reason EMI released "Shockwaves" too as a single, which, even more than Mr Lee does, has the same retro-vibe as Chain Reaction. In an interview with Q magazine, Ross explained that she had re-discovered "Mr. Lee" on the Stand By Me soundtrack [[from 1986).Quote:
Originally Posted by Spreadinglove21
Both "Shockwaves" and "Mr. Lee" were clearly not the strongest possible singles on the album. My first choices would have been "It's Hard For Me to Say" and "Shine," followed by "Summertime."
Unbelievably, even as far forward as 1987 Diana was still hoping to score with another retro song to match the huge success of “Why Do Fools”.
Releasing “So Close” as a single should have been a warning and a lesson learnt. I’m amazed she never considered duetting with Luther on “Hard For Me To Say”. :confused:
Her musical instincts seemed to have abandoned her for much of the 80’s.
It would be enlightening to learn just who’s idea it was to release such singles. Diana’s or the record company?.
I would love a book containing detailed info on the recording process of such albums and how decisions were made.
I remember this being played on BBC radio 1 at the time of release in the U.K. [[Radio 1 was THE national station where chart hits were made) The DJ played about 30 seconds of the record then ripped it off with that sound of a stylus scratching a record and said 'that's quite enough of that'. It was the lowest point she could have got and I was embarrassed to be a fan by that stage. For me, Mr Lee is the worst thing she ever did.Quote:
Originally Posted by marybrewster
I think Mr Lee is still better than much of the final product on Eaten Alive. at least here her vocals aren't 1) muffled and muted and 2) combined with the grating falsettos of the Gibbs
the whole RHRAB project was both good and bad. as a tv special, there was some merit to exploring the history of the R&B music, re-exploring more of the songs that were influential to Diana when she was a young girl in Detroit - could totally see her and mary dancing around on the street corner singing Mr Lee. So on tv as a special, it works
as an lp, it MIGHT have worked had it been released as a soundtrack to the tv special. but even then, i think the general record-buying public wasn't overly interested in retro in 87 or 88. You had recent songs like True Blue or Walking On Sunshine but those were one offs and were by young artists. Diana was already considered "old" and so highlighting "old" songs just amps that up
There was a big rival in the sound of 60's soul in the U.K at that time. Stevie Wonder's 'Part time lover' was massive because it sounded retro. Even Phil Collins got in on the act with You can't hurry love. And Mick Jagger with Dancing in the street. Diana's Chain Reaction was bang on the money for Britain at the time. So in principle releasing Mr Lee should have been ok it was just a truly weak insipid number.Quote:
Originally Posted by sup_fan
I would have loved 'Shine' to have been the lead single from the album. It was such s strong contemporary track.
I think the best and only ‘hit’ sounding track from Red Hot Rhythm & Blues is probably "Dirty Looks" [[which I guess is why it was released as its lead single, which then makes this post rather pointless :p)
Quote:
Originally Posted by marybrewster
But then there's the video's blooper.....
Considering Diana’s obvious fondness for 50’s music, it seems odd that it was she who apparently decided to include new songs on an album christened “RHR&B”.
No wonder peep’s were confused. :confused:
I personally like Shockwaves and was surprised it wasn't at least a minor hit in the UK given it got airplay on Radio 1.
perhaps it's more about "enough is enough" then. not overall within the record buying public but with an artist. Diana scored huge with Why Do Fools. then two years later she pushed out So Close. then on Swept Away there was Rescue Me. Then Chain Reaction. and now the whole RHRAB concept. it's one thing for an artist to occasionally reflect back and do a retro song or a remake. But when it's done too often, people maybe tire of it and don't see the artist as being fresh or innovative.Quote:
Originally Posted by lakedistrictlad1
This album makes me cringe. There’s a few tracks that I like, but it’s such a hodgepodge and I’m surprised she wasn’t sued for mislabeling a product because in my opinion there’s nothing red heart and there are no rhythm and blues in this album. Motown wisely eliminated Mr. Lee because that would’ve given the album even more chance to be ridiculed. I think with summertime, selfish one, it’s hard for me to say and perhaps there Goes my baby you might have a slight EP, but I think everything else should never have been exposed to the public. I like tell mama , I forgot about that, I would’ve add that to the EP. I just wonder what she was hearing when she was recording dirty looks and tell me again and cross my heart and Stranger in Paradise add that corn ball derivative shockwaves…… They remind me of it’s your move and rescue me and I am me…… Shockingly awful if they are being made for the purpose of enticing record buyers. If she just wanted to record them to show that she could record them, she did a great job. But I believe those tracks scared 100 times more people away than they attracted.
I just found out that The Pointer Sisters also covered this track in 1989, for Richard Perry’s album project Rock, Rhythm & Blues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=wXHokdr-Jl0
It’s similarly terrible, in fact possibly worse LOL
I LOVE Diana's rendition of 'Mr. Lee'. RHR&B is an excellent lp as released, even better in the expanded edition, and I would have loved to have had 2 lps of this material: covers and original material.
Lumm-me my 'Shockwaves'. Great song and great performance. Hit status is fleeting; fan love is forever.Quote:
Originally Posted by florence
Slightly worse I’d say, but not much in it. What was Diana thinking lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by TomatoTom123
I didnt know there was a video for shockwaves?
I remember reading that it had to be shot from the waist up as Diana was pregnant at the time and showing. The single was panned in Blues & Soul magazine plus a couple of other major trade mags.Quote:
Originally Posted by mowsville
I think she was hoping for another “Chain Reaction”, with “SW” being but a pale imitation.
The single quite rightly bombed. Perhaps the worst clutch of single releases off a DR album ever.
see i don't think SW is a travesty. while far from her strongest single, it isn't IMO a disaster. Like WO would be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ollie9
i'd put SW as a better single than Pieces of ice or Sleepin. Pieces and Sleepin are fine for album tracks but not singles. and Eaten Alive was a nightmare too
I think there were just too many "throwback" songs and remakes in the 80s and 90s from her.
Why Do fools
sweet nothings
So close
rescue me
Forever young
chain reaction
Shockwaves
Selfish one
there goes my baby
mr lee
battlefield
heart don't change my mind
i will survive
carry on
pretty much every album. that's a LOT
She clearly wasn’t.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ollie9
Add “Tell Mama” to the list.Quote:
Originally Posted by sup_fan
I consider both “Pieces Of Ice” And “Sleepin” better quality songs, but not hit singles.
I agree in that there were just to many retreads. She really should have recorded a whole album of 50’s songs and got it out of her system.
”Shockwaves” had as much chance of becoming a hit single in 1987/88 as “Sleepin” did in 74. Personally I find it lightweight, banal and instantly forgettable. She was so much better then this.
interestingly 1987 was a HUGE year for retro:
La Bamba
Everybody have fun tonight [[i think this has a retro feel, just my opinion)
mony mony - billy idol
you keep me hangin on - kim wilde
stand by me
when smokey sings
funkytown
plus the movies Stand By me, Dirty Dancing were huge
but i totally with you. 1) Diana had definitely worn out the retread idea and 2) she was an older artist that the parents of the kids in the 80s listened to. all of this throwback content just reiterated she was from the previous generation which doesn't assist her in moving forward
You could also argue that 86/87 had a resurgence of the 60's with chart toppers by Ronnie Spector [[Eddie Money) and Dusty Springfield [[Pet Shop Boys). Might even stretch it just a bit by including Chaka [[Steve Winwood). Maybe what Diana needed was a duet.Quote:
Originally Posted by sup_fan
“You Keep Me Hanging On”, “La Bamba”, “Stand By Me” etc are all classic songs. Unfortunately there was/is nothing classic about “Shockwaves” lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by marybrewster
I agree with MB in that a duet was needed. Barry Gibb has said that Diana did not want any duets on the “Eaten Alive” album which i think was a massive mistake. There were at least two ballads from that album which would have worked brilliantly as a duet.
The same with “RHR&B”. As a duet with Luther, “Hard For Me To Say” could have done very well both on the pop and r&b charts.