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  1. #51
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bluebrock View Post
    I thought the whole Floy Joy album marked a downturn in quality following Right on, New Ways and Touch. It is not that it is a bad album. Just a dull uninspiring one.
    I really liked the album Floy Joy from first listen. I think it was a good creative choice. Smokey's exquisite production and songwriting was a great right turn after the three excellent Frank Wilson albums. I think the Promises Kept tracks, had they been released after Touch, would have marked a downturn in quality. As mentioned elsewhere here, an album produced by Thom Bell also would have been great.

  2. #52
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    Quote Originally Posted by TomatoTom123 View Post
    HEY SUP first you have it in for Smokey's songwriting, now you have it in for Smokey's singing too!!! Is there ANYTHING you like about the man??!!
    hahahaha i know!!

    actually there are some Smokey compositions that i really do like. love even. I love Tracks of My Tears. that's one of the most amazing ballads ever from motown. And i like Breathtaking guy - probably mostly cuz i listened to the WDOLG lp alot as a kid and found it fun with the girls sharing the chorus. and Long Gone Lover too with Flo's sassy lead on the end

    Till Johnny Comes is a beautiful track too. so see i don't hate all smokey work lolol

    And i think it would have been great to have Smokey sing a duet with the girls on the FJ album, similar to what Jimmy Webb did. What i don't like about his vocal on YWSSL is that it's buried in the chorus and overpowers the girls vocals. maybe if he just did some ad libs or something but with him singing it makes the song quite unrecognizable as a Supremes song. if you just heard it on the radio, you might recognize Jean but then be scratching your head when the chorus hits.

  3. #53
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    Quote Originally Posted by lucky2012 View Post
    I really liked the album Floy Joy from first listen. I think it was a good creative choice. Smokey's exquisite production and songwriting was a great right turn after the three excellent Frank Wilson albums. I think the Promises Kept tracks, had they been released after Touch, would have marked a downturn in quality. As mentioned elsewhere here, an album produced by Thom Bell also would have been great.
    i agree. i'm guessing that the various producers were all being brought in to see what clicked and then whoever got the job, would get an lp after that. the song Floy Joy was released several months prior to the rest of the recording sessions for the FL album. So had something like Tears Left Over [[frank wilson) or maybe Oh My Poor Baby [[gloria jones and pam sawyer) or maybe some of Clay McMurray tracks been released then they would have followed up with a full album

    but i agree - trying to make something cohesive out of the 20 or so Promises Kept tracks wouldn't have been a very strong album. even trying to pad it out with some of the older canned tracks like The Day Will Come, Life Beats, Mind Body and Soul would have struggled.

  4. #54
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    Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
    i agree. i'm guessing that the various producers were all being brought in to see what clicked and then whoever got the job, would get an lp after that. the song Floy Joy was released several months prior to the rest of the recording sessions for the FL album. So had something like Tears Left Over [[frank wilson) or maybe Oh My Poor Baby [[gloria jones and pam sawyer) or maybe some of Clay McMurray tracks been released then they would have followed up with a full album

    but i agree - trying to make something cohesive out of the 20 or so Promises Kept tracks wouldn't have been a very strong album. even trying to pad it out with some of the older canned tracks like The Day Will Come, Life Beats, Mind Body and Soul would have struggled.
    I agree. The Promises kept sessions did not appear to produce anything that screamed"hit single". I enjoy listening to the sessions purely for the historic value, but i can fully understand why they remained in the vault for so long.

  5. #55
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    a few sort of showed some promise of what could happen with a producer. a few of my favs are:

    Tears Left Over [[frank wilson) - i think this is the strongest one and could have been a hit
    Never Can Say Goodbye [[clay mcmurray)
    Can't get you our of my mind [[Ashford & simpson)
    I'll let him know i love him [[gloria jones & pam sawyer)
    and i thought you loved me [[bobby taylor)

    but other than Tears, most everything else just seems like a strong album track. not a single.

    they seemed to do a lot of recording work with Clay. out of the PK tracks he did Never, Walk with Me, Take a look inside, I ain't that easy to loose. He did Is There A Place on New Ways. On Right On he did, Then We Can Try It Again, I Got Hurt. On Mag 7 he did Without the One You Love, Baby you Got What It Takes, Everyday People, it's got to be a miracle. On Return he did You Gotta Have Love, I Wonder where we're going, I'll try not to cry, where would i be without you baby. and unreleased duets include Function at the Junction, hold onto me, it your thing. I'm assuming he also did some of the unreleased early Jean tracks too.

  6. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by lucky2012 View Post
    I really liked the album Floy Joy from first listen. I think it was a good creative choice. Smokey's exquisite production and songwriting was a great right turn after the three excellent Frank Wilson albums. I think the Promises Kept tracks, had they been released after Touch, would have marked a downturn in quality. As mentioned elsewhere here, an album produced by Thom Bell also would have been great.
    I love the Floy Joy album. It's my second favorite from the Jean years, topped only by Touch. I don't care for "Wonderful Sweet Love" or "Now the Bitter", "Oh Be My Love" and the title cut are cool, but I really love "A Heart Like Mine", "Over and Over", "Precious Little Things", "Automatically Sunshine", "Wisdom of Time". I think it was a great artistic choice. The photo shoot for the album was a smart idea. "Floy Joy" as the first single was a great decision. I think "Automatically" was a good idea that just simply fizzled out. "YWSSL" needed some more work and attention to compete as a hit single. The potential was there. I can't imagine anything else on the album becoming a hit, although it's possible that "Bitter" could've been worked on and released as a single. It's definitely an interesting song.

  7. #57
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    I think that if 1) cindy had not left and 2) they'd updated their show to better promote the lp and their work with such a famous producer, things would have been different

    we've talked a lot on here about how the girls should have changed with the times and done more to promote the lps and start dropping some of the vegas approach. here's my ideas on Floy Joy tour

    Colors - whites, pinks and reds. i love the photo shoot and it's a smart, sexy, hip look for the girls. their costumes should have included a set or two of all-white casual outfits [[like the lp), their white Central Park gowns, the white poncho pantsuits, the white bugle bead gowns and then rotate the red pantsuits from Sullivan, the pink pantsuits from Glen, maybe some new costumes too. They could do 2 -3 changes per show

    line up

    *start with YWSSL
    *stage patter about working with smokey and short fun medley of their early smokey songs - a line or two of Breathtaking Guy, a line of Your heart belongs to me
    *smokey medley - Second that emotion, don't mess with bill, tracks of my tears, going to a go go, automatically sunshine
    *Floy Joy

    -costume change-

    *Sup medley - You keep me hanging on, Stop, Reflections, Up the ladder
    *Stoned love
    *woman's lib patter & love the one you're with
    *Nathan jones

    -costume change-
    *Now the bitter and lead into...
    *FJ medley - precious little things, a heart like mine, oh be my love
    *Mary lead - some contemporary song maybe First Time I ever saw your face, Still water or something
    *Lean on me
    *everybody's got the right
    *jesus christ superstar medley
    *oh happy day finale

  8. #58
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    ^ I like it! Where can I get tickets?!

  9. #59
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    i love the Diana concert from 79 on HBO when she was promoting The Boss. the lp title and graphics are used throughout, she sings the majority of the tracks. it's really a tour promoting the lp. it might be a bit ahead of the times to expect them to do this around 72 but they always were updating the show anyway to incorporate new material. an album gives you something to anchor the show around and a way to help keep the performances fresh. a new approach with new costumes, new format and stage settings, etc. give the fans a reason to come see you again


    i thought the cover of FJ was always quite iconic. the white with pops of red, the patio table and chairs. i can see if large stage structure, centered, that's white and red with Floy Joy written across. as the intro to YWSSL starts and the band is vamping on it, the stage structure could either open up or turn to reveal the girls, in their white outfits, sitting and standing around the table. then they descend a few steps to the stage and start singing

    now that would have given their show a big facelift!! lol

  10. #60
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    Did Mary always have a lead in the Jean years in concert? When I saw them she and Cindy each did a solo verse of EGTRTL.

  11. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
    I think that if 1) cindy had not left and 2) they'd updated their show to better promote the lp and their work with such a famous producer, things would have been different

    we've talked a lot on here about how the girls should have changed with the times and done more to promote the lps and start dropping some of the vegas approach. here's my ideas on Floy Joy tour

    Colors - whites, pinks and reds. i love the photo shoot and it's a smart, sexy, hip look for the girls. their costumes should have included a set or two of all-white casual outfits [[like the lp), their white Central Park gowns, the white poncho pantsuits, the white bugle bead gowns and then rotate the red pantsuits from Sullivan, the pink pantsuits from Glen, maybe some new costumes too. They could do 2 -3 changes per show

    line up

    *start with YWSSL
    *stage patter about working with smokey and short fun medley of their early smokey songs - a line or two of Breathtaking Guy, a line of Your heart belongs to me
    *smokey medley - Second that emotion, don't mess with bill, tracks of my tears, going to a go go, automatically sunshine
    *Floy Joy

    -costume change-

    *Sup medley - You keep me hanging on, Stop, Reflections, Up the ladder
    *Stoned love
    *woman's lib patter & love the one you're with
    *Nathan jones

    -costume change-
    *Now the bitter and lead into...
    *FJ medley - precious little things, a heart like mine, oh be my love
    *Mary lead - some contemporary song maybe First Time I ever saw your face, Still water or something
    *Lean on me
    *everybody's got the right
    *jesus christ superstar medley
    *oh happy day finale
    I love this set list. The Jesus Christ Superstar medley is perfect because it would have worked in a regular concert as well as a night club set.

  12. #62
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    I'd love to hear jean do it. i heard a short medley from Diana's concert around this time. it's a good medley but she comes across a little shrill. it's arranged quite high.

    I thought the "revival" concept was a good way to close out the Jean shows. first with Oh Happy Day and then later with the Love Train/O Happy Day medley. she has the ability to really delve into gospel and so it worked nicely.

    Lynda did a great job on Theme From Exodus in the hawaii clips on youtube and mary mentions they used this as an encore in their show. image jean singing this!!

  13. #63
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    Quote Originally Posted by luke View Post
    Did Mary always have a lead in the Jean years in concert? When I saw them she and Cindy each did a solo verse of EGTRTL.
    i'm not sure when but by the later DRATS years, Mary was getting a lead song in the shows. Can't Take My Eyes was included on Farewell and then throughout the Jean years. they later added Quiet Nights and made it a medley for her. She'd also do some of the leads in the 60s medley of hits and then a line in Everybody's Got the Right. Also when they used Love The One You're With, Mary got a verse

    Lynda got a lead with You're Nobody and then if they did Everybody or Love The one You're With, lynda got a line too.

  14. #64
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    Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
    i love the Diana concert from 79 on HBO when she was promoting The Boss. the lp title and graphics are used throughout, she sings the majority of the tracks. it's really a tour promoting the lp.
    The Boss album was released in May1979. I saw Diana Ross in late April 1979. There was not one mention of an upcoming single or album, not even a new pic - nothing.

    I was amazed a couple of weeks later to learn that The Boss single and album were released. I wondered why there had been absolutely no promotion at her concert just a few weeks earlier. I think our concert in Boston was the first on her tour which would certainly be continuing when The Boss album was released. I can't recall if any songs from that album were added during that tour.

    The 1979 show was the same one that I saw in the Fall of 1978 at Radio City Music Hall [[basically the HBO show with the movie screen, dancers, etc but without the songs from The Boss album). At that time Ross [[78) had just been released. I was surprised when she did at least one song from that album. It was either Never Say...or You We're The One - not sure.

    So Motown didn't seem to care about promotion during concerts. I guess they wanted to see chart and sales response before introducing something into the act. When I saw The Supremes in February 1966 they didn't sing My World... In August 1967 they didn't sing Reflections... In April 1968 they didn't sing Forever... In October 1969 they didn't sing Someday...

    I understand that there are costs with making changes to a show. Unfortunately I think Motown dragged it's feet too many times in keeping their shows updated in step with new releases. I was always amazed when I saw The Supremes in concert at a college event that it was their supper club show to a "T" rather than tailoring it to their album-buying younger fans.

  15. #65
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    yeah i'm not sure when they really started to focus the touring around the album. obviously at some point in 79 diana did the "boss" touring. and of course into the 80s the concerts were tied to an album more, as was promotional materials for the tours.

    in the 60s, the girls made the jump into the Copa/Vegas shows. They didn't make any attempt to faithfully recreate their hit songs in those shows - the arrangements were totally different and more big band/show tune. it seems though they did at least sort of shift up their song line up between college dates and Vegas stages. but the money was in the Copa performances so that's what they focused on

    as time went on and fans/teens had more money to buy things like albums and as albums become more of a concept rather than just filler, the promotional activities should have evolved with it. But the Sups show really stayed a very Vegas concept through the 70s.

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