Unreleased Supremes/Diana - what SHOULD have been released

out of all of the artists at Motown, the Sups/Di seem to have the most vaulted materials. entire album projects shelved

So given what was and wasn't released, what would you have done differently? should they have released Gold in May 66? should There's A place for us been better than CW&P or Sam Cooke? would 12 of the Promises Kept tracks done better than Floy Joy?

For reference here are the unreleased albums: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Su...Shelved_albums


Sing Ballads & Blues
Live! Live! Live!
There's A Place for Us
Tribute to the Girls
Around the World with the Supremes
Pure Gold
Live at Roostertail [[1966)
Supremes and the Motown Sound from Broadway to Hollywood
the double LP version of Sing Rodgers & Hart
Live at the Roostertail [[1967)
Sing Disney Classics
Some Things You Never Get Used To

Diana Ross projects
Bones and Howe debut lp [[rather than A&S)
Blue
To the Baby
double lp version of Live At Caesar's Palace
Feelin' Fun [[the disco lp concept in lieu of Ross 78)
Sings Songs From the Wiz

let me know if i missed any :)

actually i thought of another

the original Red Hot Rhythm & Blues concept - focusing on classic r&b tracks

for me ,if I were BG, I would have dropped or not released
MEET THE SUPREMES
BIT OF LIVERPOOL..not that good .imo.to much product in 1 year.
LET THE SUNSHINE IN
FUNNY GIRL. although there were some good vocals.just to much product in a 6 month span.
I would have held back Great Hits 3 until Diana first solo release.
Farewell would have been a TV special.

SUPREMES 70S
no Jimmy Webb lp. I would have released Promises Kept.

I would release Bend a Little.....Sha La Bandit.

DIANA ROSS
hold back EVERYTHING IS.. until 1972 with better trax. Motown always gave us everything or nothing at all.

Blue. what dummy cancelled this. she had no new product in 1975. WTF.
Baby Its Me needed better PR. she never promoted it.
Diana had several more additional singles.
Ross 78??? who , why???? no excuse for this or Last Time I Saw Him lp but I prefer Ross but side 2 .
both Ross and Supremes needed to drop the broadway style songs and stick to promoting their own material

A Bit of Liverpool and Sing CW&P should have been left in the can. Sing Rodgers & Hart should have been released as a 2-LP set with a single release like “This Can’t Be Love,” “Mountain Greenery,” or “Lover.” I would have pulled Funny Girl from release. Swap out the Jimmy Webb album for the Stevie Wonder one.

I would release the Disney album instead of "Funny Girl"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sup_fan

out of all of the artists at Motown, the Sups/Di seem to have the most vaulted materials. entire album projects shelved

So given what was and wasn't released, what would you have done differently? should they have released Gold in May 66? should There's A place for us been better than CW&P or Sam Cooke? would 12 of the Promises Kept tracks done better than Floy Joy?

For reference here are the unreleased albums: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Su...Shelved_albums


Sing Ballads & Blues
Live! Live! Live!
There's A Place for Us
Tribute to the Girls
Around the World with the Supremes
Pure Gold
Live at Roostertail [[1966)
Supremes and the Motown Sound from Broadway to Hollywood
the double LP version of Sing Rodgers & Hart
Live at the Roostertail [[1967)
Sing Disney Classics
Some Things You Never Get Used To

Diana Ross projects
Bones and Howe debut lp [[rather than A&S)
Blue
To the Baby
double lp version of Live At Caesar's Palace
Feelin' Fun [[the disco lp concept in lieu of Ross 78)
Sings Songs From the Wiz

let me know if i missed any :)

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You missed No Matter What Sign You Are ... i believe the line up was different from LTSI
Copa '67
Wasn't there a concert in Japan recorded in 1966.
They could have also continued with recording spiritual songs to complete that type of album.
The many unreleased tracks would have filled several albums as well as many unfinished songs which could have been released in the late '70's for the die hards since they didn't think that they were as good as the other studio recordings.

Additionally, her debut solo was started by Bones Howe ... not Bones and Howe
She never finished the Smokey Robinson produced album
or the Jimmy Bowen/Bubba Banks album ?
Plus too many ideas on albums that never came to fruition.

I don't think that there were too many albums in the '60's as the speciality album were not always meant to be million sellers, just to showcase their versatility. Only if you went for the style would it be on top of one's list of things to purchase. I don't know about anyone else, but I always bought the current studio album and caught up on the speciality and live albums later.

Though on the '70's Supremes, I do think that the Supremes & Four Tops albums did hurt the sales on Supremes as they were too many singles and albums competing in some weeks since they were both studio albums.

Don't forget "Revelations" :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daviddh

for me ,if I were BG, I would have dropped or not released
MEET THE SUPREMES
BIT OF LIVERPOOL..not that good .imo.to much product in 1 year.
LET THE SUNSHINE IN
FUNNY GIRL. although there were some good vocals.just to much product in a 6 month span.
I would have held back Great Hits 3 until Diana first solo release.
Farewell would have been a TV special.

SUPREMES 70S
no Jimmy Webb lp. I would have released Promises Kept.

I would release Bend a Little.....Sha La Bandit.

DIANA ROSS
hold back EVERYTHING IS.. until 1972 with better trax. Motown always gave us everything or nothing at all.

Blue. what dummy cancelled this. she had no new product in 1975. WTF.
Baby Its Me needed better PR. she never promoted it.
Diana had several more additional singles.
Ross 78??? who , why???? no excuse for this or Last Time I Saw Him lp but I prefer Ross but side 2 .
both Ross and Supremes needed to drop the broadway style songs and stick to promoting their own material

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I thought Ross78 was a strong album from a musical point of view. It was just a lazy release using previously released material. Having said that i can understand the inclusion of SDAMIR and T because they had not been included on a previous album, just a 7" single. I greatly look forward to the expanded version.

This might be a long one, so stick with me...

There's slightly more than a year's time between the release of their first album and their second album, which means 1963 saw no album release. I would have completed and released Sings Ballads and Blues. The potential lineup is some of my favorite Supremes work. I doubt the album would have done any better than Meet the Supremes, but I think it could have ended up an unsung classic.

I would have released Meet and WDOLG with no changes. I think it was too early for a live album on the group so I would scrap Live!.

I am not a fan of the Liverpool album aside from a couple choice cuts, even though I think the girls sound great on it. What throws me off is the attempt by the backing band to recreate the British Invasion sound, a sound that I personally am not a fan of. For that reason I would have shelved this album. However, from a business standpoint I think it was genius to pair what had quickly become the world's most popular female group with anything having to do with the invasion. So in theory the album was a good idea. It was in practice that it was a dud. I would have recorded the Supremes doing all those songs over true blue Funk Brothers beats, giving it the Motown treatment. I think with the true Motown sound the album would have been more successful.

I LOVE the C&W album. So much great singing and harmonizing to be found there. The girls are in great form. But yeah, I would have shelved this one too. There just isn't anything about it that amounts to dollars and cents for Motown. Neither pop or r&b audiences- especially youngsters- would seem to clamor for such an album, even if by "the undisputed queens of popular music". And the idea that country fans would snatch up an album of country songs by three Black chicks from the hood just doesn't make much sense either.

We Remember Sam Cooke is another fav and I would have released it, but again I would have had every track a Funk Brothers track. I don't know why Gordy was allowing anything out of Motown to be cut by anyone other than the Funks.

More Hits is fine, as is the Copa album.

I would have released an album of some of the cuts for There's a Place For Us, A Tribute to the Girls and Around the World in one single album and called it a day. After doing that, I would have released I Hear a Symphony minus the standards and MOR and replaced them with true Motown tracks.

A Go Go and HDH is fine and I would not have released a greatest hits in 1966, not if I was building an album around YCHL and Itching. Unless YCHL and Itchin were on the Gold album and then some of the A Go Go tracks merged with some of the HDH tracks, including Hangin On and Love Is Here to create the followup to the Pure Gold album.

Roostertail 66 is a good idea. I think this was a much better live album than At the Copa.

I would have merged a lot of those Rodgers and Hart songs with some of the Disney songs and any other recorded Hollywood/Broadway cuts, along with The Happening, and released the Broadway to Hollywood album instead of R&H and/or a stand alone Disney album. As much as I love a good Disney song, and think it was a genius idea to pair the Supremes with Disney, I don't see the album having much commercial appeal. The best Gordy could've hoped for is that it would be some kind of collectable offered through Disney.

I would have released Roostertail 67 only if there were no 66. For me it's either one or the other, but not both.

Reflections, Talk of the Town, Love Child are fine as is. I don't think I would have released Funny Girl in it's entirety, but if Broadway to Hollywood still had not been released, I would have taken the best tracks from FG and added them to B&H and finally released it then.

Join the Tempts and LTSI [[with a different title) are fine where they are. Same with TCB and GIT [[though I would have made sure to include performances of the two groups doing cuts from the duet album, duh). Crop would have been called "Someday We'll Be Together", given a different cover and the tracklist would have been rearranged.

After Ross left, the only things I would have done differently is given NWBLS the title of their big hit Stoned Love and changed the cover. Promises Kept would have been released and Floy Joy pushed back and then released. Jimmy Webb would never have happened and the Stevie album would have been completed and released.

As for Ross, I would have kept the debut the same. I may be in the minority but I love the Everything album. I might have switched out a song here or there but I would have immediately made at least two single releases. After Everything, I would kept Surrender as is [[my fav Diana album), LSTB and Touch Me In the Morning. I think it was a fairly good idea to shelve Blue, as great an album as it turned out to be.

To the Baby would probably have been a critical success but not a commercial one. Who really wanted to hear a bunch of songs about babies and families? Diana could've kept that for her personal use. [[Although I'm glad Brown Baby/Save the Children ended up on TMITM, it's one of my all time favorite Diana songs.)

Diana and Marvin is fine. LTISH I would have saved for 1974 but I would have drastically changed the tracklist. I think it was the word of mouth opinions regarding the song choices that kept this album from being more successful, that and being released in the same year as D&M and TMITM.

The Caesar's Palace album would have been double and the Mahogany soundtrack would have had all Diana vocals instead of so many instrumentals. How I would love to have heard what Diana did with "My Hero Is a Gun" because that track is crazy.

Ross 78 would have definitely been a disco album and I bet it would have been well received too. Sing Songs from the Wiz doesn't make much sense after the movie. But I think if Quincy Jones had produced it, it could've been classic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by greg jones

You missed No Matter What Sign You Are ... i believe the line up was different from LTSI
Copa '67
Wasn't there a concert in Japan recorded in 1966.
They could have also continued with recording spiritual songs to complete that type of album.
The many unreleased tracks would have filled several albums as well as many unfinished songs which could have been released in the late '70's for the die hards since they didn't think that they were as good as the other studio recordings.

Additionally, her debut solo was started by Bones Howe ... not Bones and Howe
She never finished the Smokey Robinson produced album
or the Jimmy Bowen/Bubba Banks album ?
Plus too many ideas on albums that never came to fruition.

I don't think that there were too many albums in the '60's as the speciality album were not always meant to be million sellers, just to showcase their versatility. Only if you went for the style would it be on top of one's list of things to purchase. I don't know about anyone else, but I always bought the current studio album and caught up on the speciality and live albums later.

Though on the '70's Supremes, I do think that the Supremes & Four Tops albums did hurt the sales on Supremes as they were too many singles and albums competing in some weeks since they were both studio albums.

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wow - hadn't heard about a lineup change for the NMWSYA lp. anyone have any info?

with the 60s specialty albums, i think too many of them were rushed out and not enough effort or attention paid to quality. sure we fans love just about anything from the group.

Liverpool probably should have stayed in the vaults, except it connected with the Beatles craze and Brit Invasion so was sure to sell at least somewhat well.

CW&P has some strong moments but could have used a bit more polish. I do think the Tribute To the Girls project could have been excellent - great way to play up their heritage and predecessors. strong 3-part harmonies.

I do think the R&H package is better produced than the Broadway songs that we've recently received. not that the Broadway set was bad. but Gil's work on R&H is better IMO than HDH on the Broadway stuff

and I would have dropped the country lp and released Theres A Place For Us

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bluebrock

I thought Ross78 was a strong album from a musical point of view. It was just a lazy release using previously released material. Having said that i can understand the inclusion of SDAMIR and T because they had not been included on a previous album, just a 7" single. I greatly look forward to the expanded version.

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you said it better than I did.i like it also but thought it could have been better, love her song Never Say I Don't Love You

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daviddh

you said it better than I did.i like it also but thought it could have been better, love her song Never Say I Don't Love You

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Your inbox is full David. You need to get rid of some of it. I cannot reply to your recent message.

CW&P has some of DR's finest early moments....and great harmony on most cuts.
Liverpool's weak spots were How Do You Do It [[not exactly a opening track that reeled you in....when was Mickey Mouse gonna stop singing and the Supremes start??? LOL!)every Beatle cut except Hard Days Night. Also hard to find in my '68 start point. I had the 8 track..finally got it in a cutout bin with big cardboard box cover in '73.
Sam Cooke was my last purchase D era LP...in the late 70's in a used record shop. it never seemed to be in any of my local stores when I became a fan in '68...come to think of it all the specialty LPs except R&H which was fairly recent were Special Order and even then If Available.

I would have shelved:
- A Bit of Liverpool
-Sing Country Western & Pop
-Funny Girl
-The Return of the Magnificent Seven [[w/Four Tops)
-Dynamite [[w/Four Tops)
Nothing against Four Tops. Just too much competing product.
-I Guess I'll Miss the Man

I would have combined "Let the Sunshine In" and "Cream of the Crop" into a single album with the 12 strongest tracks.

I would have released:
-There's A Place for Us
-Live at the Roosertail '66 [[my favorite live performance)
-A single release from the Rodgers & Hart album
-Bill, When Are You Coming Back or Life Beats instead of Everbody's Got The Right To Love
-Stone Love [[as opposed to "Stoned Love" the song and "News Ways But Love Stays" the album
-Promises Kept
-5:30 Plane or Tossin' & Turnin' as the single from the Jimmy Webb album.
-Stevie Wonder album
-more of the dance/longer tracks from the '75 sessions [[Bend a Little, Dance Fever, I Can Never Recover, Seed of Love, Can We Love Again)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bluebrock

Your inbox is full David. You need to get rid of some of it. I cannot reply to your recent message.

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done , thanks

I agree, regarding Everbodys Got The Right To Love. nope not for me. good vocal and lp track but not a single. Life Beats would have been my choice
same for I Guess Ill Miss The Man. I would have released When Can Brown Begin with more 3 part harmony.beautiful lyrics and message

I'm curious to hear more of the unreleased versions of Everybody. the version on GH&RC is better, as Jean ad libs and plays a bit more. makes it a bit more interesting. wonder what ways they could have completely redone this

I think R&H is a superior set to the planned Broadway to Hollywood. first of all it contains all Sups and no Andantes. Second, when you hear all of the tracks, you get much more F and M work than what was released. obviously they picked the released tracks mostly on what would best showcase Diana. Third it's very cohesive. and finally the performances are top notch

Broadway to Hollywood is more hit or miss. If they'd included Happening, while it would have fit being a movie song, stylistically it had nothing in common with the other pieces and IMO would have sounded out of place next to Tender is the Night and the others. Same if they'd reached back for Dr Goldfoot.