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  1. #1
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    Wow! The Supremes Jimmy Webb Japan CD

    I got my copy of The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb and much to my surprise it is in a real bona fide jewel case CD. I fully expected a cardboard sleeve [[which I hate - they don’t fit in standard CD racks) but was pleasantly surprised. The packaging is very good and looks like the early 90s CDs from US Motown. Very impressed and would love to have High Energy and MSS in such nice packaging.

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    https://www.dustygroove.com/item/907196

    I noticed it just popped up at Dusty Groove at a good price.

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    How is the sound quality?

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    the Japanese pressings usually have great fidelity...I'll be passing on this one. It is tied with Meet the Supremes for my least played LP....I can live with having the entire LP on the Jean Terrell box set if I ever want to revisit it...I find about 50% of it listenable, and the only 2 cuts I can say I love are I Guess I'll Miss The Man & 5.30 Plane.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gman View Post
    the Japanese pressings usually have great fidelity...I'll be passing on this one. It is tied with Meet the Supremes for my least played LP....I can live with having the entire LP on the Jean Terrell box set if I ever want to revisit it...I find about 50% of it listenable, and the only 2 cuts I can say I love are I Guess I'll Miss The Man & 5.30 Plane.
    I was a kid when I bought that album, but was shocked at what I thought were styrofoam cups on the backside. Damn a Supreme drinking out of styrofoam. Yikes! I found a couple of the JT box sets at a used record store for around $10. In a sense I didn’t mind the cover.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gman View Post
    the Japanese pressings usually have great fidelity...I'll be passing on this one. It is tied with Meet the Supremes for my least played LP....I can live with having the entire LP on the Jean Terrell box set if I ever want to revisit it...I find about 50% of it listenable, and the only 2 cuts I can say I love are I Guess I'll Miss The Man & 5.30 Plane.
    It is my least played Supremes album too - along with meet The Supremes! It is a dire album with Jean sounding strained on a couple of the tracks on side 2, and Mary sounding like her usual bland self on her leads. Hopefully this will lead to more reissues of 70's Supremes albums. Just makes me wonder why they chose this awful album to reissue rather than any of the others? The mind boggles.

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    Quote Originally Posted by detmotownguy View Post
    How is the sound quality?
    I bought it as an archive copy. Keeping it sealed. I’ll listen to it from the TITS boxed set.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Bluebrock View Post
    It is my least played Supremes album too - along with meet The Supremes! It is a dire album with Jean sounding strained on a couple of the tracks on side 2, and Mary sounding like her usual bland self on her leads. Hopefully this will lead to more reissues of 70's Supremes albums. Just makes me wonder why they chose this awful album to reissue rather than any of the others? The mind boggles.
    Hey, there are some fans out there who do indeed love this album! Count me among those fans. I am so glad they reissued this one as a stand alone. It never got a separate CD release in the 90's like the other Jean-lead albums. It is a welcomed addition to my collection.

    I ordered two copies that should be arriving any day now. I can offer a review on the sound quality unless someone here receives and reviews their copy before me

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    there are some elements here that i like and appreciate - the attempt to provide the girls a more mature and relevant 70s sound. I like most of the songs although the production i find fault with. it's just a huge wall of sound with little to no of the nuances of Frank or Smokey's work. every instrument and vocalist is used and when they are singing/playing it's full volume. the only drops and valleys in the sound are when there are simply less instruments playing

    i'd LOVE a 2014 mix of this album with only MJL singing, similar to what Andy and the team did with Funny Girl

    5:30 Plane, Cheap Lovin, Once In the Morning are great tracks and everyone is really "on" on them

    Too bad L and M could have had some group interplay with J and Jimmy on Once In The Morning.

    I Keep It Hid is, i agree, a pretty bland lead vocal from Mary except that glorious ending!! where the hell did that singer come from??!!? her falsetto work is stunning and that alone makes the track wonderful.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bluebrock View Post
    It is a dire album with Jean sounding strained on a couple of the tracks on side 2,.
    i find jean's vocals on Beyond Myself to be among the worst things ever waxed by the Supremes - and i'm including ALL of mary's vocals, all of the out tracks from Meet The Supremes with Diana's whiny vocals.

    I'm shocked ANYONE allowed that to be released. it's hideous. and what's a shame is i find that track haunting and gorgeous otherwise. Wonder if there are other better takes left in the can or if anyone thought to adjust the key or simply cut some of Jean's vocals.

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    See that it just sold out at Dusty Groove. Hope it does well enough to spur on more
    releases. The 'Where Did Our Love Go' CD just sold out, too.

  12. #12
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    I bought it hoping for a relavatory Japanese mix to peak some interest in it for me, but my player is toast until a Thursday. I’m thrilled they keep coming out. I ADORE Meet The Supremes - adnoidal keening and all!

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    Quote Originally Posted by carlo View Post
    Hey, there are some fans out there who do indeed love this album! Count me among those fans. I am so glad they reissued this one as a stand alone. It never got a separate CD release in the 90's like the other Jean-lead albums. It is a welcomed addition to my collection.

    I ordered two copies that should be arriving any day now. I can offer a review on the sound quality unless someone here receives and reviews their copy before me
    Glad you enjoy it. I do revisit the album every so often in the vain hope that i will eventually find something to love on this album, but each time i play it i remain disappointed. I do like IGIMTM , but even that didn't sound like a hit. Different strokes for different folks i guess.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
    i find jean's vocals on Beyond Myself to be among the worst things ever waxed by the Supremes - and i'm including ALL of mary's vocals, all of the out tracks from Meet The Supremes with Diana's whiny vocals.

    I'm shocked ANYONE allowed that to be released. it's hideous. and what's a shame is i find that track haunting and gorgeous otherwise. Wonder if there are other better takes left in the can or if anyone thought to adjust the key or simply cut some of Jean's vocals.
    Totally agree my friend. Jean was well out of her comfort zone and sounded awful. I remain amazed that the whole project was ever sanctioned for release. Whoever thought this awful mess had a chance of being successful?

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    Having [[what sounds like) the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the background didn't help.

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    ^ exactly! from what i've gathered, the original intent of the lp was to be more relevant and thoughtful. Intelligent lyrics and mature material. then to have this Hallelujah Chorus effect is mind boggling. and what a slap in the face to L and M [[and J) to imply that they couldn't give Jimmy the sound he was looking for. i'm paraphrasing his comments about the album but still. if he was looking to do a choral work or an oratorio then he should have reached out to a choir. not a trio

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    The worst album they ever did. Jean sounds shrill. A choir the size of Rhode Island doing background vocals. Jimmy's worst pick of songs from his catalog and bad production/arrangements.

    I'd prefer Japan release Funny Girl on CD over this.

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    interesting info about another JW album. this is one of his solo albums and was also released in 72. i don't believe it was all that successful on the charts but was quite critically acclaimed.

    on it he performs When Can Brown Begin and Once In the Morning. And Joni mitchell participates doing background vocals on a track called Simile

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter...my_Webb_album)

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    such an odd song line up! Even aside from I Guess I'll Miss

    Jimmy had had HUGE hits with Galveston, By the time i get to phoenix, macarthur park [[which was also already in the Sups' live sets as a jean solo), Up up and away and so many more. yet none of those appear here

    a little over half of the songs are actually JW pieces - 5:30, Beyond Myself, When Can Brown Begin, Once in the morning, I keep it hid, cheap loving. of those i really like 5:30 and i think Once is tons of fun [[although wish M and L were included somehow on it). I Keep it hid is ok but imagine Mary doing By The Time I Get to Phoenix. I can understand why they included Brown but never been a fav. I so want to like Beyond Myself cuz there are some beautiful moments. but good god - jean is so shrill.

    I'd have cut Silent Voices and Paradise. two covers [[Tossin and All I Want) would be sufficient. and replace with macarthur park and Galveston. and then add in Phoenix, possibly replacing Hid

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    I’m with you Carlo. Just love it. Mary is just wonderful on I keep it Hid and Jeans vocals are amazing. A beautiful album.

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    Quote Originally Posted by thanxal View Post
    I bought it as an archive copy. Keeping it sealed. I’ll listen to it from the TITS boxed set.
    Oh thanx, surely it's worth the extra 10 letters to avoid that unintentionally hilarious acronym...

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    Webb's songs are brilliant....his work with the 5th Dimension and Glen Campbell are pop classics. A better selection of his own songs would have definitely helped.... "Silent Voices" was a huge hit on the Euro Continent...perhaps if they kept this version to JML it would be a lot less "barf worthy"...there is too much "speed content" here...a good song like Cheap Lovin', and Tossin' and Turning and All I Want all sound like a race to the finish line....Paradise is so overloaded I think it gets the blue ribbon out of them all.
    I paid $1.49 for my corner luncheonette cut out bin copy. "5.30 Plane" made the purchase worthwhile....I already had the IGIMTM single, which I love and think is one of Jeans best vocals, and 5.30 Plane joins that IMHO as one of Jeans masterpieces.

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    Webb is my favorite songwriter. His catalog is astounding, but the songs he picked for this album are bad. I look at the albums he wrote, produced, and arranged for other artists are brilliant - Richard Harris, Thelma Houston, the 5th Dimension. This was in the middle of that and it's a big dud.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TomatoTom123 View Post
    Oh thanx, surely it's worth the extra 10 letters to avoid that unintentionally hilarious acronym...
    But, but, but Tom I can't be bitchy and crabby about the Jimmy Webb album without it. "TITS" just sums it up. I knew the moment I hit "post thread" that we'd get the usual panoply of haters. "Jean is shrill", "Too many background singers", "where are Mary and Lynda". This forum gets sooo old sometimes.

  25. #25
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    i have tried to like this album, i cant yet
    i did like Marys solo I Keep It Hid and When Can Brown Begin. the album sound sgloomy to me.almost depressing. i do like Sient Voices. the album didnt need those other singers.
    in my opinion,the album needed a remix.glad others like it but,i would have never released it

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    Is the standalone Japanese CD just a clone of the mastering from the box set This Is the Story? Same DR values etc.?

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    Quote Originally Posted by bradsupremes View Post
    Webb is my favorite songwriter. His catalog is astounding, but the songs he picked for this album are bad. I look at the albums he wrote, produced, and arranged for other artists are brilliant - Richard Harris, Thelma Houston, the 5th Dimension. This was in the middle of that and it's a big dud.
    I've mentioned before, whenever this album is discussed, that in a Goldmine Magazine interview, from the 80s or 90s [[I never saved it nor can I find it on the internet), Jimmy Webb said that if he could do this album over again he would do it differently. I don't recall that he gave any details.

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    I would have gotten it if it had a stripped down mix / alternate versions eliminating the non Supreme vocals....and considering Webb's output, there surely must be some unused tracks somewhere.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
    i find jean's vocals on Beyond Myself to be among the worst things ever waxed by the Supremes - and i'm including ALL of mary's vocals, all of the out tracks from Meet The Supremes with Diana's whiny vocals.

    I'm shocked ANYONE allowed that to be released. it's hideous. and what's a shame is i find that track haunting and gorgeous otherwise. Wonder if there are other better takes left in the can or if anyone thought to adjust the key or simply cut some of Jean's vocals.
    I dont agree that is s beautiful track yes there are one or two rough or strained vocal moments but it does not make t performance txworst supremes track i can think of a half dozen worst tracks such as never again. Aquarius let the sunshine talk about straining. Ross version of people on fg . The wisdom of time. I guess ill miss the man. The boy that got away.

  30. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by smallworld View Post
    Is the standalone Japanese CD just a clone of the mastering from the box set This Is the Story? Same DR values etc.?
    smallworld, I just did a DR comparison between the two and they're 99% identical. Extremely little difference, so I believe this new release is a sonic clone of the tracks from the box set. I've uploaded my log here:

    http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/160925
    Last edited by carlo; 03-31-2019 at 10:49 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by carlo View Post
    smallworld, I just did a DR comparison between the two and they're 99% identical. Extremely little difference, so I believe this new release is a sonic clone of the tracks from the box set. I've uploaded my log here:

    http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/160925
    Thanks for doing the comparision and posting your findings. Did you compare any of the waveforms in an audio program like Audacity?

  32. #32
    My pleasure, smallworld. I'm glad you mentioned it because I was quite curious myself about whether there was any difference in sound. I had never used DR analysis software until today and it's pretty interesting. I also did a comparison of the Right On CD reissue from 1989 [[?) vs the tracks on the box set. Unsurprisingly, the Right On CD scored much higher in regards to the dynamic range, which I expected since it was a straight transfer from the tapes with no added compression.

    I will take a look later at the waveforms via Audacity to see if it also confirms identical sources and/or compression. I'm guessing it will reveal both.

  33. #33
    Smallworld, the wave forms do not look all that compressed compared to other samples I've seen in the past, however the wave forms also confirm that the new Japanese CD and the Jean Years box are identical. No new mastering here, which I figured would be the case when I purchased this new release. It was more for the fact that it had never come out as a stand-alone CD.

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    Quote Originally Posted by franjoy56 View Post
    I dont agree that is s beautiful track yes there are one or two rough or strained vocal moments but it does not make t performance txworst supremes track i can think of a half dozen worst tracks such as never again. Aquarius let the sunshine talk about straining. Ross version of people on fg . The wisdom of time. I guess ill miss the man. The boy that got away.
    now there might be songs i dislike more than Beyond Myself - I think Living In Shame and Where Is It I Belong are completely ridiculous. however the technical performances by the musicians are at least acceptable. the lyrics are dumb in both

    And there are parts of Beyond Myself that are soft and lovely. but that wild, strained slide Jean does on the word "understanding" is IMO one of the worst released moments of the Supremes on vinyl

    I do think there are moments of Diana strain which come close - her Somewhere on TCB is questionable IMO. Often singers will start a note under the pitch and then brighten it up with vibrato and tune it. She lingers a LONG time under the pitch and it becomes simply borderline flat.

    And i can give a "pass" to much of the work on Meet due to the recording techniques available at the time, the age, experience and maturity of the singers, etc. It needs to be taken in context.

    Beyond Myself [[and appropriately it's initials are BM lololol) is simply bad.

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    I am surprised they didn't add My Christmas Tree as a bonus cut....it was one of Webbs earliest accomplishments. Perhaps he should have had Jean cut that. With the New Supremes LPs issued in '71 I am surprised a holiday LP wasn't considered [[not even "Merry Christmas from the Magnficent 7"?) IMHO, Meet The Supremes has at least 2 excellent moments...I love the commonly used early Motown cha-cha rhythm stuff...Your Heart Belongs To Me is one of the best...and Let Me Go The Right Way finally got widespread exposure and was introduced to most when it opened the big 3 LP Anthology set back in '74.

    I had the 5 LP Motown Story set from '71...but those ANTHOLOGY sets were my other than top 10 hit Motown textbook...I added Martha & The Vandella's, Marvellettes, Marvin and the Tempts very quickly...they were well worth my available HS freshman / sophomore year $
    Last edited by gman; 04-02-2019 at 06:41 PM.

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    Music is significant in how it makes you feel. Jean and the backgrounds on Beyond Myself takes me and others I know to heaven and beyond. Thrilling!

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    Quote Originally Posted by luke View Post
    Music is significant in how it makes you feel. Jean and the backgrounds on Beyond Myself takes me and others I know to heaven and beyond. Thrilling!
    "Beyond Myself" is my favorite song on that album. "I Keep it Hid" is a close second.

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    Totally agree. You have good taste Marv!

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    Quote Originally Posted by luke View Post
    Totally agree. You have good taste Marv!
    Thanks Luke! It is a very deep song. Something I would not have expected to hear from the Supremes. It was spiritual.

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    ^i do think there are some perfect moments on the song. like when Jean sings "I love you, but beyond myself..."

    I think that's what makes me so upset about this song. GORGEOUS potential. the strings are lovely on it, the lyric impressive and interesting, the melody. But then it's ruined IMO by that strained Jean vocal and the 300-person choir bellowing away.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
    ^i do think there are some perfect moments on the song. like when Jean sings "I love you, but beyond myself..."

    I think that's what makes me so upset about this song. GORGEOUS potential. the strings are lovely on it, the lyric impressive and interesting, the melody. But then it's ruined IMO by that strained Jean vocal and the 300-person choir bellowing away.
    Totally agree. I love Jean, but she is unlistenable on this. The undoubted low point in her Supremes career.

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    I imagine the group was initially happy to be doing this LP....I wonder if the enthusiasm faded once the final song selections were made? I wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall when they heard the final product...perhaps they had enough faith in the non project single to soften it. I Guess I'll Miss The Man is a Terrell masterpiece.

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    unfortunately the girls seemed [[for years) to be far removed from the work and involvement around their releases. what songs, the mixes, the packaging of lps, photo shoot direction, PR image selection, etc.

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    "Funny Girl" is the Supremes album I care less about [[although I like one song, "Cornet Man"), and all the albums after "Love Child" up to "Cream of the Crop" [[included) are only passable. I like all the 1970s albums, including the Jimmy Webb project. As many of you, I do not like "Paradise", "Beyond Myself" and "Silent Voices", but the remaining eight tracks are O.K to me, and a few are among my favorites: "5:30 Plane", "All I Want", "Tossin' and Turnin'", "I Guess I'll Miss the Man" as well as the Jean-Jimmy duet. I remember it had a couple of positive reviews in 1972, in spite of the objections some of us here have. I would also love to own a new mix with only Mary, Jean, Lynda, Webb and the band.

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