I much prefer TMH and...”shock horror” WO over FBTP. During the 90’s and in Europe at least, Diana appears to have had a lot more success with pop orientated material then with r & b.
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i'd rank Diana's Motown 2 albums as such, from best to worst:
Everyday
Stolen moments
Christmas in Vienna
Take me higher
Force behind the power
Making spirits bright
voice of love
WO
Extended
Forever
Greatest hits live
I agree in that “Greatest Hits Live” would most definitely find its way bottom of the pile on my own personal list of RTM albums. Why Oh Why?.
Looking for positives, it did provide Diana impersonators the world over the opportunity to refresh their acts with more recent songs...... :)
I remember reading a review at the time of release of « Greatest Hits Live » in 1989, and the reviewer asked, « Why is she singing like this? ». I wondered too. Now, of course, I know, she was in a hurry! She was rushing thru her set so she could finish, get out, get on a private jet, and get home. All that mattered was getting home to her kids, at that time her boys were both toddlers. She put motherhood first. And thirty years later, watching Tracey at the Democratic Convention, we can all see what a great job she made of it. As I said before, I just wish she had told me at the time, so I would have known what she was up to! She made the right choice.
it's not just a rush job that's a problem. she just doesn't sound good. her voice is really weak here on many of the tracks.
oh plus is that we do at least get live versions of some of her WO songs. while not my fav album of hers by any stretch of the imagination, i do enjoy having lots of live versions of her songs. many times, and this is one, the live versions can improve on the original.
With all due respect, how on earth would you know that??. For the two nights i was in the audience at the Wembley Arena, Diana appeared to be having a great time and most certainly not in a rush to get off stage. On the contrary, they were rather long shows
and rank amongst her best.
I agree with Sup in that her voice sounds rather weak and tired on the album. It should never have been released.
Aside from Diana not being in great voice on the album, it also suffered from weird editing. Why shorten MIRROR, MIRROR but include the instrumental break afterwards when she is changing her clothes? Or including her dropping the mike right before ENDLESS LOVE? It was cute to see that moment on the HBO special but it made no sense on the album.
The one thing I do love about the Greatest Hits Live album is the cover artwork. With that huge, billowing red dress, it would have made a terrific cover for her “A Very Special Season” album.
I remember being surprised at just how cheap and dull looking the design of that seasonal album really was. Most unusual for Diana at that point in time.
I saw her in March 89 in Glasgow. I’m guessing that after the show she would have gone straight to the airport [[ 15 minutes by car) and flown back to London where Arne and the boys were.
Are you saying it was a review of the concert as opposed to the album??. Your post indicates it was an album review as you mention it was around the time of its release.
The Greatest Hits Live album was recorded at Wembley Arena, not Glasgow. There really is no indication at all that Diana was racing through to get home ASAP. As the concert was being recorded for possible release it would have been an extremely odd thing for her to do.
This must be what you're discussing :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geDL4WZCuFs
I'm not aware of this recording and I don't recall reading of it being discussed here at SD ....I must have missed it !
What jumps out right away is that her voice cracks upon first speaking the first lines of the night : "thank you ! thank you very much!"
The source for the video at youtube says it is from three nights of singing at Wembley, so from that I would conclude that they extracted the best versions from each night ? [[?) Either that or they picked the worst night for her voice to record ...perhaps the last night , thinking she'd be well rehearsed and the most comfortable at that point , not factoring in the notion that by then her voice could be stretched to its limit.
That strikes me as likely plausible , as its a loud , long, strenuous show to do three nights in a row. Pitchers in baseball don't do that !!
And performing in an arena is a whole different ballgame than smaller more intimate ones. You have to keep a lot of people, most sitting far away, engaged , which means amping it up [[louder faster) to suit the size of the crowd.
And to top it off Diana is doing it all alone !! [[Except the non-featured back up singers).
It's kind of a shocking, the nondescript staging. The style of the day is lots of flash, energetic dancers dominating, with lots of orchestrated lighting, and any other array of theatrics stuck in , pyrotechnics, etc.. . No dancers here at all , the lights are but spot lights and generic ambiences of red , blue, .. is there even a large screen ?? Very clever, the two costume changes , perhaps the one thing the most thought was put into.... but even at that , were the first and last looks too similar?? and to continue being picky, she changes out of a slinky tight sequinned Supremes type gown into an exaggerated broad and flowing ball gown .... to then do a Supremes medley!
Very surprising , [[and I'm guessing disappointing to the audience). Diana's performing a rather lengthy intro to LOVEHANGOVER only to truncate it right when it kicks in. [[that would've been a good time to let a dance instrumental take charge for a few minutes while taking a break, beyond the quick costume change).
Also I bet when she started singing the slow and vocally taxing ENDLESS LOVE , she was thinking , "Damn why did I just run around throughout this entire arena like that !" lol!!
Overall , I get the impression she's in over her head. But, she is one tough cookie , out there on her own taking on the crowd like that !:cool:
oh and WONDERFUL WORLD is ......wonderful ....
The reviewer was commenting on how rushed and breathless she sounded on tracks like « Upside Down ». Recorded, as you say, at Wembley. And in person, in Glasgow, she sounded even more rushed. She sang for over two hours, with an interval, so there was no need to hurry, but she did. Why, I don’t know. I can only speculate that she wanted to get the job done and get home. Maybe she was bored... it was around the same time she said, on stage, after singing « Baby Love », « I been singing these fucking songs for over 20 years now. ». She didn’t say much in Glasgow, other than to introduce four songs from WO - which wouldn’t be released for two months, a marketing own goal. I do remember she slowed down to do a note perfect rendition of « Missing You ». Maybe she hadn’t tired of it at that point.
This show originally aired on HBO. So one must remember the entire performance was edited down to fit a 60-minute tv timeslot. Many of the songs were edited down [[LOVE HANGOVER was amongst them) or left out of the telecast completely.
I saw the show in person a few weeks before this tv special aired and it was great. It was also done end-stage as opposed to in the round. And most important for me, Diana called me on stage to dance during WORKIN' OVERTIME. ;)
Re the staging, after leaving Motown, Diana left the big-budgeted spectacles behind. For the most part, her shows were in the round. For me, it really showed how great an entertainer she is to just get up alone on a small stage in the center of a sports arena and use only her talent to hold thousands of people enraptured for a couple of hours. She brought back dancers during the TAKE ME HIGHER era and again during RTL, but I honestly don't think they were needed.
As you point out, this was a no frills presentation that proved Diana really didn’t need all those other distractions to prop up the show. She looked stunning in that short dress and moved like a teenager during the WO segment.
For the two nights I was there the audience fed off her incredible energy level and dazzling charisma. I was not there for the final night at WA so am unable to comment.
Did you dance holding Diana or was it a solo bop?.
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actually it was prior to leaving motown that she radically changed her show. The clips from the 1980 tv special at the LA Forum show her in a simple "stage in the round" presentation. no gimmicks, no mimes, no dancers, no laser light shows.
I do have to say that i think it's effective. of course we can speculate how/why the change came about. was she thinking of leaving motown and looking to trim fat? did she have sticker shock from the price tag of The Boss tour? now that she was running her own business [[albeit still within the overall motown corporation) did she discover just how crazy expensive her shows were and cut back?
76 to 79 were what I think of as the razzmatazz concert years. From 81 of course there appeared the more simplistic in the round presentations. The Boss as we know was a very expensive tour, so i’m sure budget was a huge consideration. Perhaps also she felt the inclusion of dancers, movie screens etc had been done to death and felt a simpler, less constrained staging was the way to go.
It was surprising that the RTL tour was augmented with additional backing singers and dancers when she had already proved they were not really necessary.
Wow reese !! How lucky for you !! [[ I hope ! Are you a good dancer ? lol!) How did that happen? Were you pushing for yourself to get called up? Were you at the stage? Did she point at you in your seat? Do you think you had made some kind of contact with her already? [[ eyes met ?) ?
I will say it would seem awkward to be asked to dance up there to a song yet unknown to you .....??? .....
Very cool though !
I was sitting in the front row and having a very good time, mouthing the lyrics to everything, even the flops. When she pointed at me, I was shocked. I'm still surprised that I actually went up there as I'm basically rather shy and dancing in front of 15,000 people isn't my idea of fun. But when Diana calls, you come.
She called me up during WORKIN' OVERTIME which was a #3 hit on the r&b chart that summer so it wasn't unknown.
As regards The Wiz, does anyone know for sure if “Home” was ever considered for single release?. If so, was it the soundtrack or studio version?. Ive always thought the studio version should have definitely been included on the “Ross” album. It would surely have proved more successful then “What You Gave Me”, if harder to dance to.
It seems fitting as it’s pretty much regarded as a Diana classic.
Ross78 and The Wiz soundtrack were released in the same month. The movie was about a month after that. It's my understanding that the studio version of "Home" and the accompanying sessions for Diana Sings Songs From were intended for release after the movie came out and was a success. When that didn't happen, the plans were shelved. So I don't think it was ever up for consideration for Ross78, although with hindsight it would have made a very nice addition.
While I certainly love Diana's version of "Home", I'm not sure I subscribe to the thought that it would've done well as a single. I think it makes a helluva standout performance in the movie, on the soundtrack, and, had the collection been released, on the proposed Diana Sings album it would have been a highlight of the album. But I hear the commercial potential in "What You Gave Me" and feel "Home" lacks that potential. Although for the record, I LOVE Diana's version of "What You Gave Me" [[I also LOVE Marvin and Tammi's too), I think it was a poor choice of single.
As far as "Home" being a Diana classic, she's surely associated with the song, and usually in a positive way. But the song belongs to Stephanie Mills. I remember one time back in the 90s, on Showtime At the Apollo, a young lady walked onto the stage during the amateur night competition and said she was going to sing "Home" by Diana Ross. The audience wasn't having it. The host- I think it was Steve Harvey at the time, but might be mistaken- had to remind the audience that Diana did it too. LOL
With the resurgence in popularity of the film version of The Wiz, it might possibly be all a younger generation are familiar with. So for them to associate “Home” with Diana seems a natural. As we all know, Mills was the original stage star, but movies are far wider reaching then stage productions. It would be interesting to know if ever a poll was conducted as to who’s name would feature the most.
For black audiences, "Home" will always be Stephanie Mills' song. For younger people of all races though, it belongs to either Diana or Whitney.
I remember going to kindergarten hearing Stephanie's R&B studio version [[from her 1989 album of the same name) and thought Stephanie was covering Diana lol
I didn't know the real truth until a couple years later!
Yeah, nobody I know thinks of Diana when "Home" comes up. And since you opened the door...The young lady on Apollo was white. Clearly a fan of The Wiz but not exposed to Stephanie's number one cover of her own originating song. Lol I remember in 1989/90 you couldn't go down the street without that song either being played on the car radio or blasting out of someone's house. I love Diana's versions, but Stephanie took "Home" in the late 80s, tore it down, and built a mansion in it's place. My mama still bumps it on the regular. [[As do I. I play Stephanie's version 10 times more than Diana's.)
I do! The first time I ever heard anyone sing the song is when Diana Ross performed it on her tv special in 1981. I didn't get to hear Stephanie Mills's version until over 10 years later. As a young kid I was in awe of how long DR held the last note of the song, tilted her head back and it sounds like her mic cuts out for a couple seconds and then tilts her head back and is still holding the note. It was EPIC.
Yes. I agree. It was sensational. But the first time I heard “Home” was by Diana Ross on her 1977 “Big Event“ TV special and I loved it. This was before she filmed The Wiz. I recorded the TV special with a portable cassette recorder. I wore that tape out. Lol. I was only 15 years old. Never heard it by Stephanie until years later. It will always be a Diana Ross song to me.
I never really thought of HOME as Diana's song even though it was the one I was most familiar it.
In the 70s, I knew that Stephanie was doing it on Broadway and I saw her sing it on a few television shows but it didn't make a big impression on me. By comparison, my aunt bought me THE WIZ soundtrack for Christmas 1978 and I wore that album out, particularly HOME. Subsequent performances of it on her 1981 tv special and various concerts that I attended made the song even more special for me.
But when Stephanie remade the song in 1989, I was shook. That soaring voice backed up by Take 6 just took the song somewhere else. I've seen her sing that version in concert many times and she never fails to hit it out of the ball park. By comparison, in the 90s I finally Stephanie reprise her role of Dorothy in a touring version of "THE WIZ" and the version she sang paled considerably.
"Home" was a huge R&B hit that year. Went all the way to number one there for, I don't know how many weeks.
I think she gave the greatest vocal performance of any singer at the Apollo when she performed the song live on "Showtime at the Apollo" the week the album came out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCCq2MnYxwE
I think Stephanie’s version of “Home” worked extremely well in the context of the stage musical. As a one off performance i personally prefer Diana’s version.
SM is an all out, full throttle Patti Labelle type performance. Diana’s a little more wistful/poignant . It’s not necessarily a look what I can do type performance.
Don’t get me wrong, i think Mills does a fantastic job with the song giving it her all. I just think Diana’s interpretation has the edge.
As regards association, it was Mills who first originated the song on stage before a film version was even considered. As such, it seems fitting if it’s her name that were the first to be associated with it.
Oh, she tore it up on the Apollo. Another one of my favorite performances is the one from Sinbad's Summer Jam, I think from the late 90s. Stephanie was hoarse, but she evoked every emotion of that song possible. Sinbad's commentary at the end sums up the way many of us "hear" "Home" by Stephanie Mills. Diana's versions can't compare, for my taste.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpVB7yqV20o
Meh. Lol I can't argue against how great Diana's versions are. But if we're gonna talk notes, that "like HOOOOMMMMEEEE" Stephanie does in her hit version from 89 is so long, I can run to the store, grab a few things, stop to chitchat with someone [[socially distancing, of course), come home and cook the meal, before she's finished.:p
If we're gonna talk Diana and notes held, I love what she does with that last one on "Somewhere" from the Albert Hall performance in 1973. Absolutely fantastic.
HOME was the song chosen to introduce Whitney Houston to the world :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf9P-_zvplo
What an introduction to the world. Seeing that performance of her at just 19 years old, you can tell Whitney was destined to be where she eventually got to... singing "Home" like THAT?! I wonder how Stephanie and Diana felt watching that lol
I loved Whitney's 1994 live performance of it in South Africa as well.
Oh man, I know you heard the 1974/75 studio version Stephanie gave of this song. I don't know how long she held the note at the end. Maybe 17 seconds?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taNKf24_cZw
As for Diana, yeah, that Somewhere performance from '73 was spell binding. Diana can hold some notes too!