The 70"s Supremes Singles

I loved the Supremes in the 1970's but I noticed something that I think may have affected their singles with the mass public.
The ones that really hit were Up The Ladder To The Roof and Stoned Love. If you listen and compare them to the other singles there is a distinct difference in the sound, beat, rhythm and clarity of the songs. They really had a strong beat with clear vocals to catch your ear.The only follow ups that came close were River Deep Mountain High with the 4 Tops and I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking.
If you listen to some of the others the vocals seem muddy and muted, the beat was not nearly as fast or catchy. Check out the second single Everybody's Got The Right To Love was slower and sounded muddy and muted in the mix compared to Ladder. Nathan Jones was unusual with its sound and unison singing. Even You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart was muddy and muted and plodded along compared to River Deep Mountain High. I love Touch but feel it was a misfire as a single. Smokey's singles were a nice return to form but so light and frothy that all 3 don't grab you like the first 2 did. Once we got to the ballad I Guess I'll Miss The Man and the early disco sound of Bad Weather, the sounds and mixes just sounded fairly muted and were not grabbing you. He's My Man was good but I can see why it went well on the disco charts but not on pop. I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking clearly should have been a much bigger hit. It also sounded great with a terrific beat, the mix was clear and very catchy. Driving Wheel had the good beat and was clear, it was just not the right song to follow up a potential return, Let Yourself Go would have been a better choice to start but by the time they chose it, interest was once again gone. I wondered if anyone else noticed how the clarity and beat of those hits compared to the follow up singles. I loved those singles as a fan but with the general public I could see how the sound and mixes on those singles did not help them after such a great start.

My own opinion is that when you look at the Supremes catalog, most singles have a beat that's seemingly easy to dance to. With the exception of maybe "Symphony" and "Someday", nothing would be quite considered a ballad.

In the 70's, you've got "Ladder" and "Stoned Love". Both rockin' tunes. Fun to listen to, dance to, and watch in performance.

But then you've got "Miss the Man", "Touch", "Got the Right to Love". Kinda of a snoozefest compared to their other hits. Mary of course was great at ballads. But were the Supremes a ballads group?

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Originally Posted by marybrewster

My own opinion is that when you look at the Supremes catalog, most singles have a beat that's seemingly easy to dance to. With the exception of maybe "Symphony" and "Someday", nothing would be quite considered a ballad.

In the 70's, you've got "Ladder" and "Stoned Love". Both rockin' tunes. Fun to listen to, dance to, and watch in performance.

But then you've got "Miss the Man", "Touch", "Got the Right to Love". Kinda of a snoozefest compared to their other hits. Mary of course was great at ballads. But were the Supremes a ballads group?

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No, The Supremes were not a ballad group but Jean sang lead on Everybody and Miss The Man. Nathan Jones was a great song but the sound was quite different for the group and when you follow that up with Touch, it strayed too far from the formula. Had they kept the formula going, they could have slipped in Touch as something different but I would have preferred Mary only on the song, Jean's vocals and the mix of the song did not help it at all. Like I said, had they kept up with that sound and formula, they could have easily slipped in a ballad or two with Mary being featured and it might have been an easy way to expand their sound. It also is the mix, the songs sound somewhat muddied and muted compared to Ladder, Stoned Love, River Deep and Heart Do The Walking-there really is a distinct difference.

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Originally Posted by jim aka jtigre99

I loved the Supremes in the 1970's but I noticed something that I think may have affected their singles with the mass public.
The ones that really hit were Up The Ladder To The Roof and Stoned Love. If you listen and compare them to the other singles there is a distinct difference in the sound, beat, rhythm and clarity of the songs. They really had a strong beat with clear vocals to catch your ear.The only follow ups that came close were River Deep Mountain High with the 4 Tops and I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking.
If you listen to some of the others the vocals seem muddy and muted, the beat was not nearly as fast or catchy. Check out the second single Everybody's Got The Right To Love was slower and sounded muddy and muted in the mix compared to Ladder. Nathan Jones was unusual with its sound and unison singing. Even You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart was muddy and muted and plodded along compared to River Deep Mountain High. I love Touch but feel it was a misfire as a single. Smokey's singles were a nice return to form but so light and frothy that all 3 don't grab you like the first 2 did. Once we got to the ballad I Guess I'll Miss The Man and the early disco sound of Bad Weather, the sounds and mixes just sounded fairly muted and were not grabbing you. He's My Man was good but I can see why it went well on the disco charts but not on pop. I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking clearly should have been a much bigger hit. It also sounded great with a terrific beat, the mix was clear and very catchy. Driving Wheel had the good beat and was clear, it was just not the right song to follow up a potential return, Let Yourself Go would have been a better choice to start but by the time they chose it, interest was once again gone. I wondered if anyone else noticed how the clarity and beat of those hits compared to the follow up singles. I loved those singles as a fan but with the general public I could see how the sound and mixes on those singles did not help them after such a great start.

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I tend to agree with what you say. I love Nathan Jones but it always sounded muffled to me with the vocals too far back in the mix. I also thought Mary and Cindy's backing vocals on Everybody's got the right to love were too far back in the mix. It was so nearly a great record with topical lyrics.
I kind of lost interest after the first three albums all of which were great. Floy Joy was a crushing disappointment to me. It was throwaway pop and far too lightweight for my liking. Nothing much wrong with Smokey's production. It was the weak material that turned me off.
Once Jean left the building i was hot on her heels and quickly followed suit. In fact i was so close behind her the door pretty much slammed in my face.
I agree the vocals and production were top notch on Walking, but i was way more interested in The Three Degrees and The Emotions by this time. The decline in the Supremes was quite rapid and ultimately fatal.

i agree that Everybody was a weak production. it was completely just day/days prior to RO being released. IMO it was too rushed. I guess everyone was super excited about it and raced to get it on the LP and then as the single. perhaps if they'd taken their time with it and focused the production more, it would have helped. I know some people like it but it's one of my least fav songs from the 70s.

Nathan is a curious one. I've read the the girls really were psyched about it and were sure that, following the huge hit of SL, it would go to #1. but i think it suffered from being rushed too. agree with the comments that the vocals would have benefited from being more forward in the mix. I also think they should have gone further with the phased vocals. it's almost like they just restrained themselves slightly too much and it just doesn't quite hit the peak it should. had the vocals been forward, add a bit more revving/zooming synth sound in the intro to really grab the listener's ear and a bigger peak at the end after the bridge then it might have done much better. it was also bogged down by the release of You Gotta Have Love.

i happen to like the FJ material. yes it is drastically different from the Frank Wilson work. But let's face it - as excellent as that work was, it was VERY heavily produced. he had a LOT going on especially with the sound effects on NW and the many layered vocals on Touch lp.

so the FJ set is light, fun and like spun sugar. the cover is even lightweight. so it works as a concept IMO. the lead single was fun. not groundbreaking but a solid song and should have gone further. Auto Sun is a better tune and the track is stronger. had they not been going through a personnel change and could have done more tv promotion, it might have charted higher.

in another post, I noted that Pay Sawyer and Gloria Jones turned in a couple excellent tunes around this time. I'll Have To Let Him Know and Oh My Poor Baby are among the strongest of the Promises Kept tracks. Add in Tears Left Over [[from Frank) and Can't Get You Out Of My Mind [[from A&S) and there's something there. it's definitely more hard hitting than the FJ content. a touch of light funkiness. Pan and Gloria had already been working on some of the girls' tracks with Frank. so it could have been a nice, natural progression

Agree.
Some songs just didn't have the Motown feel to me.
Everybody sounded like a dean martin song .
Seems like everything was rushed where as if they had done a better mix and we had to wait another month
...probably would have been better.
I know frank wilson stated he wanted more time on EVerybodys got the Right...
Touch....maybe one lead .
Gonna let me heart was great

For me, Automatically Sunshine was the last true hit for the '70s Supremes. It did not sell well, but it received more airplay than any other release since Nathan Jones, and the follow-ups were, for the most part, ignored. [[I heard Bad Weather on Soul Train, but it was played rarely, if at all, on the radio, and I couldn't find the 45 in the record stores; I suspect it was there, then gone, within a week or so.) I thought Automatically Sunshine's lyrics were contemporary and the feeling, while light, was catchy; it was a great song to sing along with, and it radiated a delicious optimism that was compelling.

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Originally Posted by benross

For me, Automatically Sunshine was the last true hit for the '70s Supremes. It did not sell well, but it received more airplay than any other release since Nathan Jones, and the follow-ups were, for the most part, ignored. [[I heard Bad Weather on Soul Train, but it was played rarely, if at all, on the radio, and I couldn't find the 45 in the record stores; I suspect it was there, then gone, within a week or so.) I thought Automatically Sunshine's lyrics were contemporary and the feeling, while light, was catchy; it was a great song to sing along with, and it radiated a delicious optimism that was compelling.

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AS has always been a favorite of mine. I know i'm sometimes a little rough on Mary's leads but wow. this is a perfect song for her and also for the group

on the "Diana Ross Project" website, Tony uses the BEST description of Mary's lead "...with Wilson taking on the role of wise flower child as she murmurs the memorable opening lines..." That smokey [[no pun intended lol) quality in her voice, how she she sort of cracks her voice on "behind you" at 1:29 and again on "i'll go follow" just adds sexiness and character

Cindy's role is much smaller but still important. her breathy, sexy "hey" and "baby" give her a more Marilyn Monroe [[like she was in the Dream segment in later years). warm, silky. moist ;) lolol hehe

and Jean is perfect jean. strong. powerful even though she's not doing any major voice gymnastics. a perfect counterpoint to the groovy hippy of mary and the sexy pot of cindy.

Nathan Jones is far and away my favourite post-Diana Supremes' single.

It's funky and catchy and I love the guitar work - the girls all "singing lead" together worked really well, too.

It was really popular in the UK - top 5 and in terms of shelf life was their overall fifth biggest single here even outselling songs like Stop! In The Name Of Love and Love Child to name but two.

Billboard was regarded as the Bible of the American Record Industry so not for the first time airplay kept it lower in their chart but it was top 10 in both Cashbox and Record World.

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Originally Posted by florence

Nathan Jones is far and away my favourite post-Diana Supremes' single.

It's funky and catchy and I love the guitar work - the girls all "singing lead" together worked really well, too.

It was really popular in the UK - top 5 and in terms of shelf life was their overall fifth biggest single here even outselling songs like Stop! In The Name Of Love and Love Child to name but two.

Billboard was regarded as the Bible of the American Record Industry so not for the first time airplay kept it lower in their chart but it was top 10 in both Cashbox and Record World.

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It's a wonderful song, but i do think the ladies voices are a little too far back in the mix. That brief criticism aside it is a classic tune the standard of which they never quite managed to achieve again.

Thinking out loud.
I'll go for a remix cd with all above songs mixed by kevin reeves