Originally Posted by
TheMotownManiac
They certainly were slipping, but, they still filled arenas, were in demand globally and could name any show they wanted to be on. They were fizzling out with class, style and the highest possible level of achievement for the presentation they had chosen. JMC looked like fools on Tom Jones in those hideous gold pantsuits matched with hairstyles that were inappropriate for the look, the awful choreography for Stoned Love, the hot mess of irs time to break down on flip - Such a great track and absolutely no focus on it at all visually look with ridiculous choreography and glam pantsuit with distracting fringe flying around. That song is a mood piece and They performed it like it was there’s no business like show business. They had a brilliant singer in Jean Terrell and she’s barely had a close up in order to possibly get the point of the song across while they were doing side steps with kicks. My heart was breaking watching them implode. It never crossed my mind on January 14, 1970 that I would be cringing at them on television.
DR&TS had an ineffective Performance on Ed Sullivan with no matter what sign you are, I doubt very much it sold any records at all from that performance. It was so much movement you couldn’t possibly pay attention to that busy, wordy song. But they didn’t look like rubes. The proof us in the pudding as they went downhill rather quickly while boasting 4 hits in their first 18 months, but albums and tickets were slipping badly. I wish Suzanne de Passe wasn’t working so hard on the Jackson 5 at the time because I think someone with vision and style could’ve saved this group. Motown was wise to get rid of Frank wilson, although I don’t know that smoky was the answer but at least they were trying to change things musically. I just don’t think that was the problem, I think it was the visual presentation isn’t very much interest in the group as a group except for the diehard fans and they were dropping off steadily.
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