You might be right!
If there is, it hasn't surfaced yet. Flo's vocal on the album version of "It Makes No Difference Now" captures what I believe is the voice that her peers speak so highly of, as far as being "soulful". Diana's lead on "Funny" is one of my favorites. I think she nailed it from the first note to the last, but I also think Florence would have killed it if it had been assigned to her.
I agree. I think when the original project was shelved and the Ballads and Blues concept emerged, a few of the tracks from C&W would have made it onto it.
This is all true. I would point out a couple of things. One, this dynamic is just the nature of a recording. The background vocals on a record- with certain exceptions- are nothing more than orchestration. The lead voice and the musical accompaniment are the two things that immediately catches the ears of listeners. Background voices and even the lyrics don't always seem to be the most important. But the background singers can be an integral part of a song. Imagine Diana's "Aint No Mountain High Enough" without the Blackberries. That's criminal. Or imagine "Come See About Me" without Flo and Mary. I actually think Flo and Mary's vocals are just as important as Diana's on "You Keep Me Hanging On". I think that's a perfect record where EVERYTHING mattered pretty equally.
As far as deciphering who's who in the back, I think the biggest problem there is the volume. Look at "My World Is Empty Without You". The original released version has Flo and Mary buried so far down in the mix that it could've been anyone singing back there, and when someone published a false story that Flo wasn't back there, it was easy for a lot of us to buy it because honestly we just couldn't hear her. Now listen to the version on Symphony expanded with the backgrounds turned up. Unmistakably Flo and Mary. To my ears there's only a few instances where I can't say with my own certainty whether a song has Mary and Flo or if they've been replaced because together the two girls had an unmistakable sound.
I actually think a few of the A Go Go session cuts have lifeless, boring background vocals from Flo and Mary. IMO the group was starting to slip a bit in sound when doing the usual Motown fare, yet they continued to shine when they were singing showtunes and standards. But I agree, some of those cuts like "Sloopy", which I've never liked, could have benefited from the group's personality coming through, like on "Right Way".
Ha!
- who is Marlene??
Last edited by Boogiedown; 11-12-2017 at 04:45 AM.
Lots of great work here by Ranran and Brad
Thanks for it
I always thought the 45 version of Stop sounded like an Andante or Andantes but there are other versions around clearly with the supremes
Well I know this threat is old, but ranran79 did really a good job and I think he has ears of gold to hear the differnet voices in the backround.
I have a general question, why did Motown such an backround mixture with the voices by female groups ?
Never they did it with the male groups, so we have clear voices of Miracles, Gladys Knight and The Pips and The Temptations, there are only a few tracks with The Andantes, and there were an coincidence with "Just another lonly night" The Four Tops used the bandtrack of The Temptations, and we had Four Tops, Temps and The Andantes on the track
Good question!! I have heard that the definitive answer as to who all are singing background on Someday we’ll be together...the jury is still out!
Love the list Brad made...have to say, it looks VERY accurate to my ears!...when you see them all listed together and run through them in your head, you can hear the stated similarities in the line ups.
and I have to say, I became much more familiar with what the Andantes sound like from the 4 Tops records than the Supremes ones….they are sometimes too much all over those tracks. I'm sure the guys were capable enough...but the company must have wanted the sweetening the Andantes always achieved.
I always enjoy hearing the girls on-not now i'll tell you later-the temptations.
Well, I guess that's what they got. I love the song but was disappointed when the original 45 was released. I didn't wear hearing aids back then but could have used a pair to hear M and F. Recently, we got versions with the background turned up and I like that better.
Mary and Flo look bored to death here.
I have thought the albums "join The Temptations" and "Togehter" were recorded ba all original members, I was a little shocked as I read there are a lot of times the Andantes used. I have read somewhere, both groups had fun recorded together and were in the studios for the two albums. So I think this is not true, or maybe all tracks recorded by the original Supremes and then replaced by the vocals of The Andantes ?
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