Interestingly, on the expanded album's alternate version of LH, those moans at at the end of the song. I wonder where they were originally, moans of what's to come or moans of a joyous end!
after love, hangover, I would’ve trotted out. I thought it took a little time again and worked the hell out of it. Then, don’t leave me this way might’ve been ready, and it wouldn’t have been back to back. But even if it was, since mahogany had been so huge right before, I don’t think it’ll have pigeonholed her any. With the lack of quality material at Motown, I don’t think she could afford to be so picky. For having sakes look at her next five singles…… None of them with a lick of Chance to hit big.
I do think the title of baby it’s me would’ve been a scorcher, but it was a little too urban for it today perhaps, perhaps not, and I still think coming from the rain would’ve hit. And a slight reworking of getting ready for love might’ve taken it top five.
problem is, she didn’t plug her singles on TV ever when they were new, and some of them really needed it.
I'm pleased that Diana didn't record Don't Leave Me This Way. The arrangement is too close to LH and would have been seen as trying to replicate a masterpiece. LH needed to be left as a one off given its game changer feel. I think it was entirely right for Diana to move on with the next phase of her career having hit big with LH.
However, I do agree that I Thought It Took A Little Time would have been a good follow-up to LH followed by One Love In My Lifetime, then move on with the next album/project.
Above all, LH really stirred up the public's view of Diana and showed the world what she is more than capable of.
i don't disagree that One Love isn't the most iconic of songs. but i think it could have charted higher than it did. one of the problems is that the single was remixed and included an additional instrumental break while current a chorus or a verse or something. i think it just got too much "instrumental"
also the other voice on the track is a bit odd. maybe they should have just dubbed diana in and had her do both.
i don't think this would ever have been a #1 but should have gone a bit higher than the 25 it achieved. the track is an exciting one
I hate the instrumental break on the single version, but don’t think the song had potential to climb much higher.
I really wish BIM had contained a killer dance track. “Your Love Is So Good For Me” is pleasant enough but nothing more. The 12inch version at least had some oomph.
agree. YLISGFM is fine but relatively generic. there's nothing generic about LH. similarly with the Sups. I think Where Do I Go From Here is nice enough but any group could have sung it. whereas Walking, Let Yourself Go - that was a sound. something specific to Scherrie and the Sups.
maybe that's one of the problems with Diana. probably her most identifiable sound during these years was her big, gushy ballad - Mahogany, TMITM, I Thought It Took, etc. LH is so great but it's not a sound. it's a 1-off. and the rest of the Hal Davis tunes were pretty generic. and also typical motown filler.
then she shifts to Richard Perry. totally different approach and sound. then skipping Ross 78 which is mostly useless, she shifts to A&S. now we're dealing with gospel-infused disco and r&b. then off to the chic organization for a totally different sound with diana 80 - very urban, hip. then back to Masser.
I've never cared for the title cut, but admittedly after the first couple of spins of the album when I first purchased it about 20 years ago, I really haven't sat through the entirety of the song. I'll have to give it a listen. That being said, while I didn't care for it, I do think you're right, that the sound of the title cut was pretty fresh and might have been well received by the public.
IMO the worst song on the album was "Your Love Is So Good". For the life of me I can't understand why it was nominated for a Grammy. Had it been shelved, I wouldn't complain.
i was never really keen on the title track either but on the EE, the refreshed version seemed to pop more. it's funky but there's a bit more life to it than the original IMO.
and i wouldn't say YLISGFM is bad. it's fine enough. it fits the overall album more that Country John or Brass Band.
Oh some of the single releases were ridiculous, for sure. But I do think had "You Were the One" been released and promoted appropriately, it was a surefire hit. I think it would have done better than "The Boss". I also believe "Summertime Livin" was a lost hit. Especially if it had been released in time to peak during the summer, I believe it would have been popular. I think George or Andy said Diana and others felt strongly about it too, but why it didn't make it out, who knows?
Of the four singles from BIM, I think they were all good choices, except "Your Love". My favorite is "You Got It". I love that one. Looking at their chart placements across the board, on average they all did pretty well considering the botched promotion. I think "The Same Love" was a worthy single and could have been a hit. That being said, at this point, singles were often being treated as promotional tools for the albums, as opposed to the 60s when the albums were often nothing more than filler to capitalize off the single. So with BIM being such a critical success, I don't think the album had to necessarily have a "Love Hangover" type massive hit. I think the album really works on the strength of all the songs together.
I agree. As I understand it, the song was doing fairly well until "Hangover" was rushed out and all the promotion was put behind "Hangover". After "Hangover" peaked, it may have been a good idea to revisit "I Thought It Took a Little Time", which is one of my all time favorite Diana songs.
Speaking of which, some months ago I remarked that my favorite version of "Time" was the one from To Love Again. For some reason I keep erroneously attributing the long version with the studio chatter to To Love Again, but it's the one from the DR76 EE. That's my favorite.
i don't disagree You Were The One would have charted well but i don't know that it's really "special." The Boss is special. it was a totally different sound and it totally diana. YWTO is good but i could see any number of artists singing it. heck Wright could have given it to the Sups as a companion number to HMM. and then have had a couple of his tunes on Sup 75 [[assuming the song was even written then). But The Boss is totally diana. can't really hear others singing it.
i don't know how much they'd have been able to resurrect ITITALT. Ain't Nothing But A Maybe or You're Good My Child are strong tracks too that might have done well. obviously nothing like LH but maybe that was the way to go. a soundalike song might have been just never able to pull away from LH.
After You is another stunning tune on the album but i don't know about it's chance as a single. the song structure is a bit too all over the place. it doesn't have the convenient verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge structure.
I disagree. I love the album, but don’t hear any obvious hit singles. “Gettin’ Ready For Love” was played to death on the radio, and danced to on a prime time pop show here in the UK. Still it only scraped into the 20’s.
”I think “Summertime Lovin” pretty dreadful and not worthy of one of the world’s premiere female singers of that time.
I agree with sup that the material the Hollands were producing on Diana was schlock when compared to what they had done with the 70’s Supremes.
haha - whoa we agree on something Ollie ;) jk
i've said it before. the BIM project is lovely but just not what was happening at that time. it has a more traditional, innocent pop sound. and things were getting too hot in 77 and into 78. hell DR had just been moaning and groaning about her love hangover and then comes out with these innocuous little pop ditties about getting ready for lover and being at the top of the world.
i think BIM being released in 75 would have been magical. same with the Sups doing the Ivey Woodford tunes like Can't Stop a Girl and Color My World. all of those are just excellent 70s pop. but right time, right place.
Ive decided to make this angle into a new thread
How Did The Song LOVE HANGOVER Come About?
As long as it doesn’t get to be a habit lol.
Although for various reasons not commercially successful, MS&S remains a slick and sophisticated album that still sounds contemporary today.
I’ve always found it odd that in comparison Diana was recording such dated material as “Fire Don’t Burn”, and “Never Light That Old Flame”, being far removed from the contemporary groove of the Supremes.
maybe since diana had such a strong public image they didn't want to stray too far. her Masser produced songs are almost torchsong-like. sure they did a hard left with LH but overall things were pretty standard.
the sups on the other hand had nowhere to go but up. they were so far from the public vision in 76 that they could have sung something X rated and few would have even noticed. So once they hit with Walking, it seems the Hollands used that as an opportunity to really dive in with some amazing material. and of course they were well familiar with Scherrie's voice from the Invictus years.
Yes the Supremes could easily shift their style to something more contemporary because they themselves were reinvented as well. Diana had crafted herself to a high level of respectability over a long period of time and had built a prestigious legacy she didn't want to throw away.
I think had anyone said to her, "How about this bouncy song called UPSIDE DOWN?", in 1976, she'd have shown them the door!
LOVE HANGOVER was a stretch enough!
So are you saying more than one dance hit [[LH) would have been perceived as a threat to her level of respectability and legacy around that time. If so, they might have been plunged into troubled waters had “Your Love Is So Good For Me really taken off. Perish the thought.
donna summer sort of had the work from the opposite side of things - she was an excellent vocalist but was sort of pigeon holed into being a sexpot disco diva. maybe people look down their noses at "just dance music" as if it's some sort of lesser type of artistic expression. and sure some disco music sucks. but then again, you can find atrocious and mediocre material in any musical genre.
for instance, mozart [[heralded as one of the most gifted composers ever) wrote scores and scores of operas. not because he was so moved or compelled but because he was the resident composer and was expected to turn in something new regularly. that was one of the main forms of entertainment at the time. most of the operas are frankly garbage and haven't hardly every been performed outside of their original show. it wasn't about creating something for the ages - it was about completing something quickly to make a buck. even back in the 1700s
they probably didn't want Diana too associated with something that was considered a "lesser" form of popular music, mostly happening in gay nightclubs. didn't want her to be "only" a dance artist. in hindsight, it's clear you can make superb and timeless disco music and so maybe there should have been more effort
That's a good point. Trying to pass YOUR LOVE IS SO... as disco was really a stretch, and counterintuitive to recording a Richard Perry project. Were they getting desperate at that time and seeing nothing much there to push, decided a hit from any angle, even disco, was better than nothing.
I think another dance hit at that point would have done her career the power of good, with no reason to relinquish her trademark ballads because of it.
The thinking behind releasing “Your Love Is So Good” was that it was being singled out for additional praise in the trade reviews and picked up on national radio. A bit like what happened with “Up Front” six years later. Not the most reliable litmus test it would seem.
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