"Reflections" original cover

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

Flo was also still under contract to motown until Feb 68. supposedly motown was going to continue to record her as a single artist [[not sure how THAT would have worked) but that would have kept her at the label and avoided any messy PR nightmares.

Perhaps they would say something like "Flo is tired of the relentless pace of DRATS and wishes to have a more private and quiet life. she'll continue to record some with motown while she also enjoys more time with her family" and then they'd have probably never done anything with her.

I often wondered just what that would have sounded like, had Florence remained with Motown. Probably very much like a David Ruffin affair where Florence would have gotten shuttled to the 2nd and even 3rd tier songwriting/production teams. Some songs tepid, some brilliant. Still, I'm sure the material would have been much more gripping than her ABC output [[The Funk Brothers could make just about anything swing). Still, no matter how good the material, no doubt, the albums would be heard by only the most die-hard fans. Even as I'm saying this, it sounds TOTALLY implausible that any recordings would have come out other than a one-off single on V.I.P. [[because it would be absolutely "illegal" by Motown Law to have Florence share the same label as The Supremes!)

[sup_fan]

I often wondered just what that would have sounded like, had Florence remained with Motown. Probably very much like a David Ruffin affair where Florence would have gotten shuttled to the 2nd and even 3rd tier songwriting/production teams. Some songs tepid, some brilliant. Still, I'm sure the material would have been much more gripping than her ABC output [[The Funk Brothers could make just about anything swing). Still, no matter how good the material, no doubt, the albums would be heard by only the most die-hard fans. Even as I'm saying this, it sounds TOTALLY implausible that any recordings would have come out other than a one-off single on V.I.P. [[because it would be absolutely "illegal" by Motown Law to have Florence share the same label as The Supremes!)

plus Tammi Terrell was on the Motown label. And wasn't Chris Clark also on the motown label? they wouldn't have wanted so many female solo artists on that 1 imprint. so i think you're absolutely right. had Flo stayed, she would have been shifted to a small label and then lingered. Maybe they could have placed her on Soul and had a little success.

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

plus Tammi Terrell was on the Motown label. And wasn't Chris Clark also on the motown label? they wouldn't have wanted so many female solo artists on that 1 imprint. so i think you're absolutely right. had Flo stayed, she would have been shifted to a small label and then lingered. Maybe they could have placed her on Soul and had a little success.

Great points about the other female solo artist already on Motown. I really wish she had remained at Motown. Yes, I know they wouldn't have pushed her records, but Motown knew how to make great records. Even the worst Motown record beats many other record companies' music in terms of production. The Motown producer, for the most part, knew how to make an artist sound as good as they possibly could. ABC gave Florence weak productions. If your foundation is shoddy, even the best singer will sound second-rate. Florence may have been frustrated working at Motown, but she definitely would have come out sounding much better than what ABC were giving her. Imagine if she had been given the song "I Got A Feeling" sung by Barbara Randolph. I like Barbara, but she seemed very much like a one-off artist to me. Now turn Florence loose on that one? WOW!

[RanRan79]

Great points about the other female solo artist already on Motown. I really wish she had remained at Motown. Yes, I know they wouldn't have pushed her records, but Motown knew how to make great records. Even the worst Motown record beats many other record companies' music in terms of production. The Motown producer, for the most part, knew how to make an artist sound as good as they possibly could. ABC gave Florence weak productions. If your foundation is shoddy, even the best singer will sound second-rate. Florence may have been frustrated working at Motown, but she definitely would have come out sounding much better than what ABC were giving her. Imagine if she had been given the song "I Got A Feeling" sung by Barbara Randolph. I like Barbara, but she seemed very much like a one-off artist to me. Now turn Florence loose on that one? WOW!

While I agree that if Flo had been allowed to record at Motown, those songs- whenever we eventually heard them- would've been leaps and bounds better than what she did at ABC, I'm glad she didn't take the deal. Flo deserved success and she was not going to get it at Motown. ABC gave her a sliver of a chance, but ultimately it was the wrong label. Atlantic seems like a logical choice, but at this point the label was clearly Aretha's Kingdom, and Flo would have lingered in her shadow. For my money, Stax was the place to be if I had been alive and in position to encourage Florence to shop herself around. I think at Stax Flo could've certainly had support and racked up a number of hits. Cadet and Brunswick also may have allowed Flo better chances at success. Of course all of this disregards the effect her pregnancy, initial management issue, and drinking may have had on her actual post Supremes recording career. Although it's worth mentioning that Florence was not the first singer to deal with an "ill timed" pregnancy, nor mismanagement, and definitely not the first or last with substance abuse issues, the latter of which seemed to fuel the careers of others. ABC just wasn't the right fit.

[RanRan79]

I often wondered just what that would have sounded like, had Florence remained with Motown. Probably very much like a David Ruffin affair where Florence would have gotten shuttled to the 2nd and even 3rd tier songwriting/production teams. Some songs tepid, some brilliant. Still, I'm sure the material would have been much more gripping than her ABC output [[The Funk Brothers could make just about anything swing). Still, no matter how good the material, no doubt, the albums would be heard by only the most die-hard fans. Even as I'm saying this, it sounds TOTALLY implausible that any recordings would have come out other than a one-off single on V.I.P. [[because it would be absolutely "illegal" by Motown Law to have Florence share the same label as The Supremes!)

Florence was smart enough to not take the deal, but I've always said had she taken Motown up on it's offer, if she even made it into the studio, we wouldn't have heard those cuts until the Motown Unreleased series.