Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough

[Hitsville_Jazza]

Classic Motown are featuring this as their Track of the Week with a great story behind the song. A personal fave - go check it out...

http://classic.motown.com/story/dian...n-high-enough/

[mysterysinger]

This should be posted in the DRATS Forum.

[milven]

Here is the original Tammi solo version. It isn't really a solo though. My guess is that is Nick singing with her.



We keep hearing how Berry could pick out the hits. He seems to have had a lot of misses too. He thought Marvin Gaye's WHATS GOIN ON album would go nowhere and he held back on releasing Diana's version of MOUNTAIN.

As mentioned in the article in the link above, the edited single was released, but only after an argument between the song’s creators and their boss. “Berry Gordy didn’t like the version we did with Diana when he first heard it,” Ashford told David Nathan for liner notes to a 2002 expanded edition of Diana Ross. “He didn’t like all that talking at the beginning. We thought it should have been the first single, but he held it back because we wouldn’t change it. Once the DJs started playing it, we knew we were right.”

[marv2]

This belongs in the sub-forum.

[Motown Eddie]

Classic Motown are featuring this as their Track of the Week with a great story behind the song. A personal fave - go check it out...

http://classic.motown.com/story/dian...n-high-enough/

Great article about one of my favorite Motown songs; Diana Ross' "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". I always think of Isaac Hayes' groundbreaking work with remakes [[on his late 60's-early '70s LPs) of songs with monologues, extended musical passages and mood changes whenever I hear the full length version of "Mountain". Despite B.G.s resistance, it's a good thing that this song came out and topped the charts [[something Diana's first solo single didn't do). Thanks for sharing!

[midnightman]

The Tammi demo... okay this is gonna sound harsh and I love Tammi's solo recordings [[most of them) but the "solo" version of "Mountain" she did was NOT happening. They NEEDED Marvin on it.

But Diana's was done just right. I'm glad they resisted Berry and got him to see the hit potential. DR's version turned her into a legend imho

[florence]

Wasn't Reach Out And Touch the lead single from the Diana Ross album at Diana's insistence despite Berry's objections?

[rovereab]

The Tammi demo... okay this is gonna sound harsh and I love Tammi's solo recordings [[most of them) but the "solo" version of "Mountain" she did was NOT happening. They NEEDED Marvin on it.

I do wonder if the Tammi version was ever intended to be a solo recording and that the male vocal is some kind of guide vocal for Marvin to use?

[midnightman]

^ It was probably a demo. The way folks talk, they implied it was meant to be a solo but a song that sounds like that calls for a duet partner.

@florence, yeah Berry was pretty upset that Diana wanted that song out. Heard they had a few nasty arguments over it. Berry relented because Diana was that determined to prove to people she wasn't just some glamorous pop diva. Though not a HUGE hit, it did what it intended to do for Diana. It became another anthem for her. She's probably proud of herself for standing her ground there despite the song's modest success on the charts.

[reese]

^ It was probably a demo. The way folks talk, they implied it was meant to be a solo but a song that sounds like that calls for a duet partner.

@florence, yeah Berry was pretty upset that Diana wanted that song out. Heard they had a few nasty arguments over it. Berry relented because Diana was that determined to prove to people she wasn't just some glamorous pop diva. Though not a HUGE hit, it did what it intended to do for Diana. It became another anthem for her. She's probably proud of herself for standing her ground there despite the song's modest success on the charts.

It's funny. In MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, Berry switches the story around, saying that it was his idea to have REACH OUT AND TOUCH as Diana's solo debut. When he suggests it, she responds "Are you out of your f**king mind?"

[lucky2012]

She's probably proud of herself for standing her ground there despite the song's modest success on the charts.

^ I'm proud of her, too. Reach Out is a great legacy anthem. Although having a huge #1 hit as her debut solo would have stunned the public, the music industry and, best of all, the critics.

[midnightman]

It's funny. In MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, Berry switches the story around, saying that it was his idea to have REACH OUT AND TOUCH as Diana's solo debut. When he suggests it, she responds "Are you out of your f**king mind?"

Berry rewriting history. Who woulda thunk?

[jobeterob]

On the spoken part of The Motown Story intro to Reach Out and Touch, Diana says Berry Gordy did not particularly want to release ROAT because ROAT is a waltz and they are not usually the type of songs that really sell - or something similar to that

[midnightman]

On the spoken part of The Motown Story intro to Reach Out and Touch, Diana says Berry Gordy did not particularly want to release ROAT because ROAT is a waltz and they are not usually the type of songs that really sell - or something similar to that

Right. I forgot to mention it but BG did think that. Another reason he hated it lol

Berry had weird views on songs that became Motown classics, that's for sure. He knew a hit when he heard it but other times, he was drunk with power occasionally lol

[144man]

On the spoken part of The Motown Story intro to Reach Out and Touch, Diana says Berry Gordy did not particularly want to release ROAT because ROAT is a waltz and they are not usually the type of songs that really sell - or something similar to that

Ralph has said in the past that "Reach Out And Touch" isn't a waltz because it's in 6/8 time rather than 3/4, but the subtlety of that eludes me.