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Does anyone really enjoy a hits medley? Even back in the 60s and 70s? I'd think I could better understand and appreciate the live shows more if they performed 5 of their hits in full then include their new song or two and then the covers and speciality material and show tunes. Medleys seem like a cheat--give the audience a taste of the hit that made the Supremes the success they were and then rush on to the next mini rendition of a hit.
Part of the reason of the hits medleys was Berry obsession with cross over into supper club/vegas venues..the hits were disposable to him - he was focused on "the bigger picture" with standards like "Your Nobody" and "Somewhere".. he wanted The Supremes accepted into the higher echelon of "crooners" and he achieved this to the highest degree from Sammy Davis To The Andrew Sisters, Dean Martin Bing Crosby and more ...the ladies made this transition with what looked like magical ease but in reality it took countless hundreds of hours or practicing and hardwork.. the fast paced medleys reflected Berry's belief - it wasnt where Motown was at that moment but where it was heading..it kills two birds with one stone - giving record buyers what they want but freeing up time in the set list for broadway/standardsQuote:
Originally Posted by Spreadinglove21
Personally i never liked the hits medleys and never listen to them right thru Ross's solo live shows as well.. but then ive never been a big Fan of Most of the Supremes singles
Beyonce used this medley formula in her solo concerts for Destinys Child material and that also leaves me cold
They're not so bad but I think they should have changed them up. For years it was always the same one:
-Stop in the name of love
- Come see about me
-My world is empty
-Baby Love
I understand they did it because they had so many hits but id still ratner they had performed them in full instead of trying to make room for more showtunes.
I never liked the Hits medley. Although I sort of understand the reasoning, I felt the songs were rushed as if they were thinking, "Let's hurry up and get this over with so we can get back to singing the standards." This probably worked in the supper clubs; however, I felt the young fans who were tuning in to shows like the Ed Sullivan Show were expecting the hits medley to be performed much truer to the original arrangements and tempos [[I know I was). The hits medley they did with the Temptations; however, 'grooved' with a young sound rather than sounding like a train speeding along the tracks.
I guess it depends on the hits medley itself. Sure, I would have preferred a full-length COME SEE ABOUT ME. But if I only got it along with STOP!, MY WORLD IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU, and BABY LOVE, then I'll take what I can get.
But as the 70s went on, it seemed that the Supremes had the diehards but lost the general public. But venues like Vegas or the Royal Hawaiian probably needed that business. So if a guy and his wife see that the Supremes are appearing, they aren't going to want to hear EARLY MORNING LOVE, if they even heard of it. They want to hear BABY LOVE.
And for some artists, there's no way they can possibly do all of their hits. And there's always someone out there waiting for a song that they will never hear. A medley can help with that. For some time, Dionne Warwick used to do a 33-minute hits medley that contained 23 songs. I used to look forward to it when I saw her in concert. But on the flip side, her newer Arista material [hits and album tracks] would get full-length treatment that some might have preferred go to ALFIE or SAN JOSE. So it is hard to satisfy everyone.
I could never figure the inclusion of "My World" in the hits medley. So many other hits [[and #1's even), and this stayed in for years, well into the 70's where it was given an overly dramatic interpretation.
through the 60s and into the early 70s, they typically did 4 - 5 of their most recent songs in full and then medleys for other, older hits.
TOTT - Reflections, In and Out, Love is Here, Happening, you keep me hanging on
Farewell - love child, love is here, reflections, i'm gonna make, someday
71 Central park - stoned love, river deep, nathan jones, everybody's got the right
copa 65 - baby love, come see, stop, heartaches, back in arms, where did our love go
roostertail 66 - you can't hurry love, symphony, come see, baby love, back in arms, stop, my world,
copa 67 - you keep me hanging, symphony, love is here, you can't hurry love, the happening
I think I wrote in another thread that I much prefer the full version of the songs. But of course with all the hits they had it was impossible to sing all of them and the added standards as well. I don't mind the hit medleys but they just seemed to be more and more rushed towards the final days of the Supremes in 77'. They did a hits medley on "Where is the action" with Baby Love, Come see about me and Stop. I think that one was well executed and Stop was only missing one verse.
I can't stand it when they had Love Child in the medley, in the 70's. The speeding of the song seems to destroys the telling of the story of Love Child.
I hear what you say but it is my personal all time favourite Supremes song so i would never complain about it's inclusion.Quote:
Originally Posted by marybrewster
I agree regarding "My World is Empty Without You" mostly because of the way it was usually delivered during the live performances...it sounded like a party song rather than an interpretation of the lyrics [[as done in the recording). Merely hearing the song being performed is not as important to me as experiencing the mood and interpretation of the original recording [[tempo and orchestration). No, it doesn't have the be the exact same instruments; however, there is a certain technique as to how an instrument is played that can answer "Is this a fast and happy song" or "Is this a somber song?"Quote:
Originally Posted by marybrewster
My World is Empty without you is my favorite HDH era hit. A masterpiece recording in all respects and very haunting. I don't care for the live version of it. It's well performed as a show biz razzmatazz song, but I think that doesn't do the song and recording justice. The later Scherrie era slow burn version is an improvement, but at times overwrought compared to the HDH DMF recording. Later in their solo shows, both Diana and Mary performed it closer in style to the recording and those are much better. My World is the Diana led hit that Mary actually does fine with with her voice though not crazy about her "sweet sweet love" ad libs at the end which turn the song from the emotional realm to just missing the guy for his prowess in bed.
This for me is the nadir of the hits medley performances. MSS are working hard, but it just doesn't work. I'm glad there's no video of the Vegas version of this medley with them in the shared gown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjiNwud_zjg
I disagreed with almost every administrative decision made regarding the group’s live act: the glossing-over of the hits and the under-utilization of Mary and Florence. They could have devised a much better balance all around, but of course that wasn’t the plan, which was to springboard Diane into superstardom as a crossover. Who knows if doing otherwise would have worked? I believe it would have, but I don’t know s**t from Shinola about showbiz.
That cowbell in Where Did Our Love Go is incredibly obnoxious. Whoever thought up that arrangement should have been fired. And why did Mary just speak half the lyrics to Baby Love? If she was that bored with the song she should have given it to somebody else. AND Scherrie should get an award for spitting out all those lyrics to Love Child--the arrangement is so fast she just about gets swept away. Not in a good way.
She should get an award indeed lol. Like I said earlier Love child in the medley is just horrible. I do love how My World is Empty often got the final spot in the medley but they omitted it from this performance.Quote:
Originally Posted by BobbyC
I'll never forget watching this and my brother asking me if this was supposed to be a parody of the Supremes. I had to break it to him that they were the Supremes lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spreadinglove21
Tyk--I would argue that the group should have recorded Scherrie's slow version of My World is Empty as a single. I think it totally works and it was different enough from the original so as not to compete with itself.
there is an audio and it's frightful. there's a very odd intro by an Ed Sullivan wannabe that starts the whole thing - most likely to give them time to quickly get into that dress. he does the cliche mispronunciation and all. but then the girls emerge to spoof Hair, yet there was no lead in or explanation. you just had to HOPE that people in De 76 remembered the segment in Hair with the 3 women. Perhaps if they had done an intro or medley of Hair first [[although by 76 that was really a dated musical and not necessarily a good idea to include), then after that go into the medley? maybe?Quote:
Originally Posted by Spreadinglove21
anyway the medley includes several songs such as You Keep me Hanging on, nothing but heartache and Itching. if you recall the lyrics of those 3 tunes, they all have some sort of phrase about let go/get away - set me free, you keep me hangin on, i can't break away, i can't scratch it, tearing all apart, etc. Those parts of the song are emphasized by repeating the lines and all, bouncing back and forth, etc.
My guess is that by this point in the medley, they're obviously seen in the mega-dress and they're using the "set me free" "I can't break away" to play up the concept.
the applause was almost non-existent after it
however earlier in the show after Maybe This Time there was strong applause. of course being just an audio, you can't tell how many people there are but the audience did appreciate a good performance
unfortunately the Supremes singing their own songs was apparently not a good performance
I was watching the Supremes medley from "Where The Action Is" this morning and a couple things:
Was this the first legit "remix"? LOL. The medley seems a bit ahead of its time.
Also: WHAT IS WITH THE "CANNED" SCREAMING? There is one "scream" that is so much louder and prominent than the others. And: it makes it sound like there are THOUSANDS in the audience, when there appears to be a hundred at best. Didn't anyone at the time think this was a bit odd?
What a great performance regardless; the Supremes at their peak, belting out three of their #1 hits.
That's my favourite medley performance of the Supremes of any line-up. I am not a huge fan of the continuous screaming either. It gets rather annoying and think the screaming is fine ones they start and finish the medley but the in between does my head in lol.
I think this medley is better than the more orchestra medley they do during the DRATS period. I wonder too if there is another version of this medley because it was definitely not live.
Mary Brewster, find out what day the medley was recorded, and then figure out where Lucille Ball's mother was that day. Désirée "DeDe" Evelyn Ball was well-known for her contributions to the I Love Lucy soundtrack's weekly episodes. Although Mrs. Ball was most famous for the "uh-oh" that was heard just before Lucy's stunts each week went awry, her loud laughter was also very much in evidence. It's quite possible that if Mrs. Ball was not watching the filming of one of Lucy's later series in the mid-1960s, she could have been available to contribute her talent to other soundtracks, whether live or on tape. And who knows...maybe a few years later, when Dinah Shore called Lucy, to ask her to appear in Like Hep, Mrs. Ball answered the phone and said Lucy would only appear on the show if Diana was an equally billed guest star. This act in turn drove Liza Minnelli, who had been dating Desi and craving Lucy's attention, to launch a savage attack on Diana, an attack that ended with Liza stealing the Academy Award Diana earned. So Diana saw that Hollywood was a knife-in-the-back kind of place, and as soon as she could, she stopped making movies and spent more time with her children, teaching them how to say "uh-oh" and laugh aloud in a variety of styles so they could get jobs sweetening soundtracks if all else failed.
Thanks for posting this wonderful medley. Love it.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnny_raven