40 Years Ago! August 1979............

**RanRan79** · 08-27-2019, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by sup_fan

and for Partners too. S&S did a Mike Douglas show and that's about all i've ever heard

Is it safe to assume that Mike loved him some Supremes, as a group and as soloists?

**RanRan79** · 08-27-2019, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by benross

Maybe she expected that some similar production tricks would turn the tracks she recorded for her solo album into something akin to her previous work, including the final Supremes' albums; those, also, included some unexceptional material, but much of it came across better than one might have imagined due to the increased production values and the still-important but fading Supremes' name on each record jacket.

Mary's leads on those last two Supremes albums were typically the highlight for me. I think what Mary probably thought about her solo debut album was that it was disco and it was current and thus it would sale. She's said that she didn't care for the disco sound, but there she was attempting to capitalize on it. In addition to the mediocre tracks and the less than ideal fit with Mary's voice, one has to also take into account the disconnect between the material and the singer. How could she effectively sing an album's worth of this stuff if she didn't care for it as a genre? All in all I think Mary was just glad to have her very own Motown album recorded and released. She probably would've happily gone into the studio to record Mary Wilson Sings Sesame Street or Mary Wilson Sings Disco Mother Goose or Mary Wilson Produced and Arranged By Jan Lewan [[the Polka King). I think Mary was one of those people you could dangle something nice and shiny in front of and she was become so enamored with it that she would quickly lose focus on any big picture. The only thing that might- MIGHT- have given her pause is if Motown wanted her to record Mary Wilson Sings Diana Ross.

**marv2** · 08-27-2019, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by reese

She sang RED HOT and PICK UP THE PIECES on the Mike Douglas show. I didn't see any other US appearances at the time.

She performed both on the "Dinah" show. The clip in this thread is from that show.

**detmotownguy** · 08-27-2019, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by marv2

I loved this song from it. It had a similar sound to Teddy Pendergrass' "Close the Door":

Mary does such a great Job on this song, she always puts a smile on my face.

**detmotownguy** · 08-27-2019, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by marv2

Another one of my favorites from the album and small preview of what she'll be doing on "Dancing With the Stars"! LOL!:

The Audience sure liked that performance! Mary is definitely the consummate performer !

**marv2** · 08-28-2019, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by detmotownguy

The Audience sure liked that performance! Mary is definitely the consummate performer !

I thought she looked, sounded and moved great in this performance. The audience had no choice but to love her.....................hehehehehehehe!

**midnightman** · 08-28-2019, 09:04 PM

The album should have more ballads. Imagine if she recorded Spend the Nights with Me.

**carlo** · 08-30-2019, 12:41 PM

I hadn't listened to this album in quite a few years, until this discussion sparked me to go back and re-visit it this week. When I originally got a hold of a vinyl copy in 2004, I immediately loved it and played it several times. Keep in mind I was a young fan at the time. Not having listened to it almost at all since then, and hearing it with more mature ears, I can honestly say I did not love it nearly as much, but did not hate it either. I can definitely agree that the songs were not suited to Mary's voice. The disco production does not really bother me, as I love cheesy disco [[ie. Grace Jones' early albums, which don't feature any spectacular vocals either). I think the issue more lies in the mismatch between the songs and Ms. Wilson. The songs themselves and the vocal delivery could have used a bit more polishing as well. There are way too many screetchy "oww's!" throughout some of the songs, especially Red Hot. In my opinion, the songs would have been better without those vocal moments. I also thought that overall, the material she was given was not only a mismatch for her ballad-oriented voice, but very sub-par. For instance, the chorus of "Warm Summer Nights" has that disco beat that repeats in equal tempo after "on the beach and kiss...", which makes the song really basic and uninspiring instead of being a rhythmic disco song.

However, if it comes out on CD, I will definitely purchase a copy lol. Gotta complete the collection!

**marybrewster** · 08-31-2019, 06:09 PM

Still don't understand why this isn't on CD.

PARTNERS by S&S and INCREDIBLE by SP and IHTFIL by JT have been released, so why not this? You can't tell me any of those sold more than Mary's solo LP.

**Roberta75** · 08-31-2019, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by marybrewster

Still don't understand why this isn't on CD.

PARTNERS by S&S and INCREDIBLE by SP and IHTFIL by JT have been released, so why not this? You can't tell me any of those sold more than Mary's solo LP.

I bought it and loved the front and back of the album cover and Mary Wilson looked real lovely but as for the album itself its filled with boring dreck and not worth listening to imo. Its up there with Working Overtime another real boring album not worth another listen.

**Bluebrock** · 09-01-2019, 02:54 AM

Originally Posted by marybrewster

Still don't understand why this isn't on CD.

PARTNERS by S&S and INCREDIBLE by SP and IHTFIL by JT have been released, so why not this? You can't tell me any of those sold more than Mary's solo LP.

As i have said previously the rights to reissue the album in an expanded form were secured a few years back, but after careful consideration the Company in question decided the album was not deemed to be of sufficient quality to go to the time, trouble and expense of reissuing. Many of these releases sell less than 1000 copies worldwide which hardly makes them a viable proposition to the Record Companies. This album was thought in all likelihood to struggle to sell more than that amount. Therefore it remains unreleased. If you really desire to see it on the streets i suggest you e-mail the likes of real gone music etc etc and put your case forward.

**Ollie9** · 09-01-2019, 04:58 AM

Originally Posted by Roberta75

I bought it and loved the front and back of the album cover and Mary Wilson looked real lovely but as for the album itself its filled with boring dreck and not worth listening to imo. Its up there with Working Overtime another real boring album not worth another listen.

Much like you Roberta, i love the album cover [[front and back) but agree the music is sadly subpar. Workin' Overtime on the other hand has some great mid tempo songs, "Bottom Line" being one and some beautiful classy ballads in "This House" and "Stand Together". I know many fans are not into the WO vibe, but to compare it to being on a par with the MW album is being very harsh indeed.....All imo of course.

**PeaceNHarmony** · 09-01-2019, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by Ollie9

Much like you Roberta, i love the album cover [[front and back) but agree the music is sadly subpar. Workin' Overtime on the other hand has some great mid tempo songs, "Bottom Line" being one and some beautiful classy ballads in "This House" and "Stand Together". I know many fans are not into the WO vibe, but to compare it to being on a par with the MW album is being very harsh indeed.....All imo of course.

I must agree about WO, Ollie, in a rare disagreeance with my friend Ms. Roberta!

**jim aka jtigre99** · 09-01-2019, 09:25 AM

I remember buying Mary Wilson's album in college. I thought it was good, but not what I expected or hoped for. I liked Warm Summer Nights,Light That Guides My Way and Midnight Dancer well enough. It was nice midtempo disco but after her work on the last 3 Supremes albums, I expected more in that vein. When I heard her unreleased songs from her unreleased second album I loved those and thought that was more in keeping of what she should be doing but Motown did not. Red Hot, as I could see years later, was her version of James Brown so I now see where they were going with it. Still, it was not what was expected and even if the result was not what we wanted it was not bad at all. What was bad was Motown not releasing a sophomore LP that would have soared.

**Roberta75** · 09-01-2019, 09:28 AM

Ollie snd PeaceNHarmony, on WO we are going to resorctfuly agree to disagree my dears. LOL

Its the only Diana album I cant listen to.

Fondly.

Roberta

**Bluebrock** · 09-01-2019, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by PeaceNHarmony

I must agree about WO, Ollie, in a rare disagreeance with my friend Ms. Roberta!

Ms Roberta is quite correct. WO is awful from start to finish. In fact if i had to choose between listening to this pair of turkeys i think i might actually side with Mary Wilson. Despite the lousy songs and sub standard vocals the quality of the production is not bad at all, and it does contain 2 or 3 listenable tunes unlike WO which is consistently bad throughout. It is on a par with I Love You for being the career low for the lady. She deserved much better, and so did we.

**PeaceNHarmony** · 09-01-2019, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Bluebrock

Ms Roberta is quite correct. WO is awful from start to finish. In fact if i had to choose between listening to this pair of turkeys i think i might actually side with Mary Wilson. Despite the lousy songs and sub standard vocals the quality of the production is not bad at all, and it does contain 2 or 3 listenable tunes unlike WO which is consistently bad throughout. It is on a par with I Love You for being the career low for the lady. She deserved much better, and so did we.

But then why do I like it?

**vgalindo** · 09-01-2019, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by PeaceNHarmony

But then why do I like it?

I like it too. I wore it out when it was first released! Lol

**daviddh** · 09-01-2019, 05:14 PM

I liked Warm Summer Night

**lucky2012** · 09-01-2019, 07:20 PM

I was disappointed by both and have not grown to like either. I probably should try harder but find listening to both difficult. I was hoping Mary Wilson's debut would be as good as the album cover. I was hoping Diana Ross's return to Motown would be triumphant.

**Ollie9** · 09-02-2019, 01:37 AM

Originally Posted by vgalindo

I like it too. I wore it out when it was first released! Lol

And i love it as well.....so that's at least three of us from this forum lol. That's not overlooking the thousands, if not millions of Diana fans or even casual buyers from all corners of the globe who, if online reviews are to be believed also derive much pleasure from listening to this fun album. Musical taste is a very personal thing to each individual. One man's marmite sandwich is another's chocolate sundae.
Same applies to the M.W album i guess.

**Bluebrock** · 09-02-2019, 02:05 AM

Originally Posted by PeaceNHarmony

But then why do I like it?

Heaven only knows! Everyone is allowed the odd lapse in judgement. Just don't make a habit of it my friend.Ha ha.

**Bluebrock** · 09-02-2019, 02:19 AM

Originally Posted by lucky2012

I was disappointed by both and have not grown to like either. I probably should try harder but find listening to both difficult. I was hoping Mary Wilson's debut would be as good as the album cover. I was hoping Diana Ross's return to Motown would be triumphant.

Agree with you on both counts. Mary looked sensational on the cover which initially gave me hope that the contents of the album could be worth a spin. It was like picking up a book with a exciting front cover and finding the contents to be of the standard of The National Enquirer.
WO on the other hand offered no such hope. That ghastly front cover quite frankly scared me, but that was nothing in comparison to the terror level which moved up a few more notches when i actually put the record on the deck and subjected myself to the grooves. It was all the more surreal because just a few weeks later i would have to help in the promotion of the album that i hated here in the UK. Strange days indeed.

**marv2** · 09-16-2019, 01:17 AM

Someone just uploaded the album version of "Midnight Dancer"

**alanconnor_1** · 09-16-2019, 03:43 AM

I think this will eventually see a CD release. If Flo’s album and Partners can make it out, so can this. I expect it will be a no-frills Japanese release eventually. It would easily do 1,000 globally.

Unless a US company picks it up for an expanded edition, I doubt it would get through UK licensing with extra tracks unfortunately as that adds a whole level of complexity to things.

I thought Walk The Line was better personally, with a great title track and re-recording of You Keep Me Hangin’ On, but I wouldn’t even know where to start working out who owns that one to get a re-issue!

Great cover art too - better than the material.

**Bluebrock** · 09-16-2019, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by alanconnor_1

I think this will eventually see a CD release. If Flo’s album and Partners can make it out, so can this. I expect it will be a no-frills Japanese release eventually. It would easily do 1,000 globally.

Unless a US company picks it up for an expanded edition, I doubt it would get through UK licensing with extra tracks unfortunately as that adds a whole level of complexity to things.

I thought Walk The Line was better personally, with a great title track and re-recording of You Keep Me Hangin’ On, but I wouldn’t even know where to start working out who owns that one to get a re-issue!

Great cover art too - better than the material.

She did a remake of You keep me hanging on? I didn't know that.
As regards the Motown album it was very easy to secure the rights a few years ago when we first looked into reissuing it. Not sure if anything has changed in the intervening years.