Originally Posted by
benross
The new Supremes weren't too old. The two biggest selling women on the record charts in 1971 -- Carole King and Aretha Franklin -- were both born in 1942, two years before Mary.
Carole sang two "old" songs -- Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow and A Natural Woman -- on Tapestry, which for many years was the biggest selling album ever. Aretha had a hit with her surprising version of Bridge Over Troubled Water, a song also covered by the new Supremes. So "oldies" were acceptable. But the two solo performers treated these "old" songs as something new, in their own style. Too, they had pared down backing, with a heavy emphasis on the piano each played, making their interpretations sound contemporary and honest, adult and personal.
On the other hand, the new Supremes seemed to be caught in the land of 1967 Marvelettes' material, with meticulous, sometimes intricate instrumental backgrounds that maybe went too far, as with the dated sound effects on the group's Bridge... Also, on songs like It's Time To Break Down, the instrumental track, while youth-oriented, was too much. No one thought Jean, Mary and Cindy were handling the guitars, so the extended backgrounds diminished the contributions of the singers, who seemed almost disengaged. The women were in the room, following, not establishing, the beat; once in awhile they sang a few words or phrases, as they might if they were at a bar that featured live acts, but they were overshadowed by the band, or by the multi-layered vocal backgrounds, and they were only minimally important. [[That structure also hindered Norman Whitfield's presentations of The Temptations and other groups.) When the group did step forward, as with I Wish I Were Your Mirror, their vocals sounded frantic and the lyrics were a bit silly and maybe threatening. [[When I look in the mirror, I don't want to see Jean Terrell looking back at me.)
Had the new Supremes concentrated on songs like I Keep It Hid or possibly even I Guess I'll Miss The Man, with a strong emphasis on their individual voices and subdued harmony backing, they could have sounded more contemporary and more in control of their projects. Had they chosen songs that had messages or conveyed relatable feelings and experiences, they could have touched hearts. They could have appealed to teen, college and young and not-so-young adults.