Originally Posted by
benross
If Marv were still with us, he might be persuaded that I'll Set You Free was Diana's salute to him, and that could have turned his whole attitude around. Why? Because at 1:34 Diana sings "I'll set you free, hee hee..." like she was quoting or channeling him. Remember how often that "hee hee" showed up in his posts?
Also, her enunciation as she claims "Can't coo all my emotions..." twice leaves a lot to be desired. It was not cool.
Basically, this song, despite some good moments and strong background support, is pitched slightly too high for Diana, and that, plus the breakneck speed, robs her of the sincerity she generally injected in even the simplest of lyrics, making the songs more endearing than they might have been when delivered by another singer.
At this point, however, she seemed somewhat desperate, or Motown seemed somewhat desperate, as they rushed to push out anything, lost and bereft of ideas and lacking the fabled H-D-H sensitivity and understanding of where and how her voice delivered best. Several of the Love Child songs, including The Evening Of Our Love, and other recordings around this time, like Western Union Man, just didn't come across because her voice evidenced a frayed, over-worked, pressured, strained quality and was terribly unattractive. In my opinion Motown never should have released these cuts, as Diana sounded average or ill; she was presented as a rhinestone, not a diamond. Motown should have taken care to protect its most saleable asset instead of revealing less than perfect, flawed product. By Cream Of The Crop, for the most part Diana's vocals were smooth and polished again and her voice seemed to have recovered. But too many of the Love Child and Let The Sunshine In recordings showed that Motown was too intent on overwhelming us with quantity, not quality, issuing second-rate productions and trusting that the fans would overlook the harsh, grating tones and buy whatever came along. Motown rushed the end of its golden age.
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