This month the Liverpool album turned 57. It's a noteworthy album in the Supremes collection because it's so different from most of the albums the group would release. A few fans seem to love it. Seems like to me more fans dislike it [[if not outright hate it). Personally, I have to be in the mood for it. And even then I usually don't play it from start to finish, and instead skip through to the songs I particularly like/love.

As stated in the C&W album thread, I love both the C&W album and the Sam Cooke album. The main complaint I have about the C&W album is that Flo and Mary didn't have more leads and Diana sometimes sounded weak. But the harmonies were on point, and as a country music fan, the album is easily a favorite of mine. My main complaint with Sam Cooke album is that an LA band was used for the tracks instead of the Funks. But I think the caliber of songs chosen were so great that the Supremes were able to give charming performances throughout and make good on what some other group might have made barely listenable.

I said all of that to say that for me the Liverpool album embodies the best and worst of the other two superior albums. Horrible decision to use anyone other than the Funks on this. The British acts, whom the album is supposed to be paying tribute to, were wild about the Motown Sound, and R&B in general. Those groups took previously recorded R&B songs, including some Motown, and put their own spin on them. In theory the Liverpool album was a dynamite idea. Take the Supremes, the latest ambassadors of the Motown Sound, and pair them with songs recently made popular by British acts. But where the idea should have been to pair the Supremes and the Motown Sound with the British hits, Motown decided to pair the Supremes with this faux Brit sounding band and IMO it wasn't a very interesting match. The song selection wasn't as good as either that of Sing C&W&P or We Remember either. However, the one saving grace of the album for me are the vocals. Once again, as they would do for the specialty albums during the Flo era, the group's harmonies were front and center. I don't ever see the Liverpool album as becoming a favorite of mine. I give the basic idea an A, but a D for execution. The girls get an A for vocals.

But it does have some standout moments. My favorite is probably "Because". What's your favorite? Is this an album that's a favorite of yours? Any special memory attached to it? Is it perfect as is? What would you change?