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  1. #1
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    Scherrie and Susaye: Partners

    It's pretty impressive when you think that Scherrie and Susaye wrote all of the songs for their post-Supremes album. Funny that Joyce Vincent is on background of many of the songs; other than the cover photo, if things had gone the way they planned, this COULD have been the next Supremes release after MSS.

    While I have grown to love this release over the years [[especially after being released on CD), I think "Leaving Me Was The Best Thing You've Ever Done" was a poor choice for a single. I think "I Found Another Love" is much stronger, and highlights the vocal abilities of both Scherrie and Susaye. I know Suzanne de Passe was Executive Producer on this project; I wonder if she had final say on the single?

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    while i like the songs on Partners, IMO it lacks a cohesiveness. it's almost as if motown asked Scherrie and Susaye - hey guys, grab some of your songs and lets record them and throw them onto an lp

    I wonder about the musical Scherrie composed. what if MSS or SSJ recorded the songs as a set. maybe taking some of the songs from the show and rearranging for variety on the album.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
    while i like the songs on Partners, IMO it lacks a cohesiveness. it's almost as if motown asked Scherrie and Susaye - hey guys, grab some of your songs and lets record them and throw them onto an lp

    I wonder about the musical Scherrie composed. what if MSS or SSJ recorded the songs as a set. maybe taking some of the songs from the show and rearranging for variety on the album.
    I've only played the album a few times: the day I bought a copy in a used record store and again when I bought the cd.

    I remember thinking that it sounded like Scherrie made a solo album, Susaye made a solo album, and they did a couple of duets to fill it out. Would that be accurate?

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    Quote Originally Posted by reese View Post
    I've only played the album a few times: the day I bought a copy in a used record store and again when I bought the cd.

    I remember thinking that it sounded like Scherrie made a solo album, Susaye made a solo album, and they did a couple of duets to fill it out. Would that be accurate?
    That's the way i hear it too Reese. It's a thoroughly decent album, but it does come across as two solo albums cut in half and then added together. I would have preferred more actual duets, but it is a very listenable album that was way way stronger than Mary's solo album.

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    Yes it has that feeling of two album cut and paste together. All the songs are good but Scherrie is missing on some of the Susaye songs and visa versa. Love "I found another love" and think it would have been a good choice for single release. Both are good song writers and wish they had that freedom during their Supremes tenure. Wonder what album they would have come up with.

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    I remember being incredibly disappointed in this album AND Mary's solo album, even though Scherrie is probably my favorite female singer, or close to it. I listened to Partners many times and to his day the only track I found memorable was Leaving Me Was the Best Thing--I thought it was a pretty good single. I much, much preferred all three ex Supremes together. I thought they were great on record. Live, not so much.

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    Funny thing is Mary’s album did chart while this one went ignored.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bluebrock View Post
    That's the way i hear it too Reese. It's a thoroughly decent album, but it does come across as two solo albums cut in half and then added together. I would have preferred more actual duets, but it is a very listenable album that was way way stronger than Mary's solo album.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bluebrock View Post
    That's the way i hear it too Reese. It's a thoroughly decent album, but it does come across as two solo albums cut in half and then added together. I would have preferred more actual duets, but it is a very listenable album that was way way stronger than Mary's solo album.
    I find it an awful album. Bland songs, over sung, screeching.
    I find Mary’s more listenable and melodic but tbh neither album was good enough

    why Motown continued with `S&S on this when they didn’t bother with Supremes and didn’t promote this ...all seems a waste of everyone’s time

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    Quote Originally Posted by blackguy69 View Post
    Funny thing is Mary’s album did chart while this one went ignored.
    That may be true, but someone posted on here a while ago claiming Partners sold more copies over a longer period of time. Not sure how true that is, but what cannot be denied is that both albums greatly underperformed and are generally classed as flops.

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    I always like the Partners album. I always thought Storybook Romance should have been a single, but I guess they needed a song with a shared lead.

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    Yes, this album sounds as if it is two solo albums were strung together. That being said, I liked it then and now. In my opinion, Storybook Romance, Leaving Me Was The Best Thing You've Ever Done, In The Night, You've Been Good To Me could have been good singles. You've Been Good To Me was the closest I found to a "Supremes" sound from the MSS period.

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    I'd have to agree it sounds like two solo albums pasted together. I guess at the time I wanted a "Supremes" album and was disappointed. It never claimed to be anything
    "Supremes"...other than former members doing their own thing. I would have liked
    more actual duets. I guess it's part of the Supremes history and I keep it for that reason. The songs are so-so.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bluebrock View Post
    That may be true, but someone posted on here a while ago claiming Partners sold more copies over a longer period of time. Not sure how true that is, but what cannot be denied is that both albums greatly underperformed and are generally classed as flops.
    Red Hot bubbled on the very bottoms of the Disco Charts and the R&B charts for a week or two. I think it went to 95 on Disco and 85 on R&B. in looking over the charts, i think it actually entered the Disco charts twice! once and it just crept to the lowest ranks, then off. then back on and up a couple more. perhaps that was around the time of Mary's NYNY club debut

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    I wonder how this contract and album came to be? Were they fulfilling a contractual obligation? It seems to me Scherrie and Susaye should have been apprehensive after the way they claim Motown treated them.

    The album is uneven like most have mentioned. I wonder if one side of Scherrie and one side of Susaye each ending with a duet would have brought more cohesiveness to the project?

    While I'm sure there are other examples, I can't think of a lot of two female groups. A Taste of Honey? And would you actually consider S & S a GROUP, or more duet PARTNERS? Maybe I answered my own question, lol.

    And I wonder what a second album would have produced?

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    i bought it like i buy everthing supremes related but if ive played it more than 10 times id be lying. it left me cold and felt like a rush job to fulfill contract obligations.

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    Quote Originally Posted by marybrewster View Post
    I wonder how this contract and album came to be? Were they fulfilling a contractual obligation? It seems to me Scherrie and Susaye should have been apprehensive after the way they claim Motown treated them.

    The album is uneven like most have mentioned. I wonder if one side of Scherrie and one side of Susaye each ending with a duet would have brought more cohesiveness to the project?

    While I'm sure there are other examples, I can't think of a lot of two female groups. A Taste of Honey? And would you actually consider S & S a GROUP, or more duet PARTNERS? Maybe I answered my own question, lol.

    And I wonder what a second album would have produced?
    In the book WOMEN OF MOTOWN: AN ORAL HISTORY by Susan Whitall, Scherrie said that after the group disbanded, she and Susaye both wanted to be solo artists but Motown told them there was no room on the roster.

    They then had a meeting with Berry Gordy where he was going to team them with Syreeta in a supergroup because they were all writers and all of their names began with an 'S'. But Syreeta then had her hit with Billy Preston and that sort of ended that idea.

    Motown then decided to partner Scherrie and Susaye. They never toured but did a few guest spots. After the record didn't sell, they were dropped.


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    reese; thank you so much for answering so many questions!

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    Quote Originally Posted by marybrewster View Post
    reese; thank you so much for answering so many questions!
    You're welcome!

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    Quote Originally Posted by reese View Post
    In the book WOMEN OF MOTOWN: AN ORAL HISTORY by Susan Whitall, Scherrie said that after the group disbanded, she and Susaye both wanted to be solo artists but Motown told them there was no room on the roster.

    They then had a meeting with Berry Gordy where he was going to team them with Syreeta in a supergroup because they were all writers and all of their names began with an 'S'. But Syreeta then had her hit with Billy Preston and that sort of ended that idea.

    Motown then decided to partner Scherrie and Susaye. They never toured but did a few guest spots. After the record didn't sell, they were dropped.

    i have to say that i think Scherrie's memory is a bit off here. Syreeta's hit with Billy wasn't until 1979. around the time Partners came out. of course it's possible that maybe AFTER or around the release of Partners someone thought up the S idea. and then Born Again happened

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    Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
    i have to say that i think Scherrie's memory is a bit off here. Syreeta's hit with Billy wasn't until 1979. around the time Partners came out. of course it's possible that maybe AFTER or around the release of Partners someone thought up the S idea. and then Born Again happened
    I think you are right. Born again was a hit here in the UK even earlier than it was in the USA if my memory serves me correctly, so this seems to be an unlikely story during this timeframe.
    Last edited by Bluebrock; 04-01-2021 at 11:53 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
    i have to say that i think Scherrie's memory is a bit off here. Syreeta's hit with Billy wasn't until 1979. around the time Partners came out. of course it's possible that maybe AFTER or around the release of Partners someone thought up the S idea. and then Born Again happened
    There have been some questions about Scherrie's memory of this before.

    It might very well be that the "S" supergroup idea died without any relation to Syreeta and Billy doing their duets for FASTBREAK.

    Or it could be that Berry decided that instead of the supergroup, Syreeta would team up with Billy for the soundtrack duets. Not knowing the session dates, it is hard to know. But since the second single, WITH YOU I'M BORN AGAIN, was a huge hit, Scherrie might be associating the end of the supergroup with that.

    But the first Syreeta/Billy duet, GO FOR IT, actually came out in the US in April 1979, five months before the PARTNERS project was released.
    Last edited by reese; 04-01-2021 at 12:58 PM.

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    "Another Life From Now" is such a beautiful song. I am really surprised it has never been remade, by Scherrie or others.

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