This would have been a perfect time for the Supremes to have ditched the elaborate outfits, slow it down and take turns singing with feeling.
This would have been a perfect time for the Supremes to have ditched the elaborate outfits, slow it down and take turns singing with feeling.
Last edited by luke; 06-23-2017 at 08:51 AM.
It was a great performance and the girls really made a statement of intent here. All this talk has made me dig out The Jean Terrell Years cds, and most of the songs sound as fresh and relevant as they did back then. If the Supremes ever recorded a finer tune than "stoned love" i have yet to hear it. Such a timeless classic. They really don't make them like that anymore.
In the case of "Brand New Key", when you read what the author has to say about what inspired the song and the way she views the controversy over the lyrics, you come to understand how certain songs are interpreted based on the person doing the interpreting. As for "Ding A Ling", only an idiot wouldn't know what was going on there. I was about 7 or 8 the first time I remember hearing it and I knew immediately what his ding a ling was. LOL
Didn't matter what they were going to do. In my mind it was about the moment and the way I interpreted the lyrics was that this guy was breaking down whatever wall she had up. She was trying to figure out if stepping back into the game is a good idea or not. But as I said, when you posted the lyrics I can definitely see where the song might be about sex.
Even so, I still maintain that the song wasn't so over the top that radio wouldn't have played it like crazy. I certainly can't believe that Motown didn't release it as a single because they feared backlash, after all they let the girls do the song on prime time television. And then the question has to be asked: if "Time to Break Down" was such a problem, what changed in the year between that and "Touch", which I think is a much more sexually suggestive song. Now THAT song is clearly about sex. Lol
"Touch" hardly got played on the radio back then either. In "It's Time to Break Down" she says touch me a lot of times vs Mary saying it in "Touch" 3-4 times. Oh sure was a very sexually suggestive song and a good one too, but the times just did not accept a woman singing about sex or wanting it on the radio. If you think back to all of the early Rock and Roll songs like "Work With Me Annie" , "Roll With Me Henry" there were always hidden sexually suggestive lyrics/meanings in those songs.
As the years roll by i realise just how good the Supremes were at doing the old standards. We know Berry had them do it to broaden their appeal and boy did it work. Even in the late 60's when some of the Supremes singles lacked the quality of the earlier ones and were not selling very well they remained a huge draw on the concert/cabaret circuit, and this was due in no small way to their ability to impress audiences with their versatility . As the 70's dawned it began to look "old hat" and the era of the variety show was beginning to recede somewhat. This is when the 70's Supremes live act should have been updated and moved on with the times.
the key to hit singles on the radio are 'hooks';
catchy chorus, catchy melody, instantly familiar;
I knew "Touch' would fail because it had none of the above, and the same reasons apply to the bad news that was 'Bad Weather' which sort of just sauntered along to its doom.
Excellent point Jimi. Neither touch or bad weather are hummable or singable. What I mean is when your driving your car and singing along. Perhaps BW would have been if Jean sang it straight and stuck to a simple melody. But all of her riffs and ad libs make it so the avg person can't sing along. Therefore they tend to not buy the single
while we're on the subject of 'suicide' singles.."I Guess I'll Miss The Man"??? really.. on what planet? great ALBUM TRACK, but a lead off single?? people needed to lay down the crack pipe, unless these were willful 'assisted suicide' choices!!
yes, Marv! lol..the equivalent thereof! and it's a shame that so many singles that should have been, right up to and including Mary's "I Love A Warm Summer Night" which I thought radio would have loved [[especially if it had been released in late spring!) never got out of the gate..
The whole album was a disaster from the choice of songs to the dreadful cover. I remember speaking to a former employee of Motown UK who took a listen to the album and turned to his colleague and said "how the f*ck are we expected to find a hit single on this pile of sh*t". No truer words were ever spoken. Whoever came up with this lame idea needed relieving of their duties.
the only song that should have been considered for a single was WHEN CAN BROWN BEGIN.
i thought the album was to laid back and would have preferred Promises Kept instead.
i also have been enjoying This Is The Story.
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