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  1. #1
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    Rare Supremes medley - outtake from G.I.T on Broadway?

    I've just discovered this on YouTube. It doesn't sound familiar at all. And I thought I'd heard everything. Does anyone have and info on this rather groovy medley?

    https://youtu.be/y7HAhnXZmFw

  2. #2
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    The only songs i have previously heard are “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and “Summertime”.
    Big surprise that Mary was featured so much in this medley, complete with solo’s. I wonder if that might have been a reason as to why it was cut, along with the number she and Cindy performed with the Temptations?.

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    Given the medley's placement in the show [right before the Tempts' Fiddler on the Roof medley], the producers might have thought two long medleys in a row would bore viewers and edited it down to just the final two songs.

    I know whenever I played the soundtrack album, I couldn't wait for the Tempts' medley to be over.
    Last edited by reese; 11-13-2021 at 10:25 AM.

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    It’s indeed beautiful to hear some unheard supremes [[ good find )

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    @lakedistrictlad1,

    That was really a treat hearing them do some of those songs for the very first time. I really enjoyed it. Also I guess I learned something from the original lyrics that were written for the medley‘s introduction. I never knew that Janis Joplin and Blood Sweat and Tears recorded Broadway show tunes, but I guess they must have!


    I totally agree! Nice find!

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    Just goes to show what else is out there that is unreleased I’m sure Barry Gordy has a ton of stuff and maybe Diana Ross does also

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    When I hear songs and outtakes like this all I can think of is they were really something. I don't think of al the other things people say.

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    the Temps medley is utterly ghastly. if anything should have been cut or revamped, it was that out of tune mess. that has to be one of the most embarrassing things to ever be released by motown - right up there with Jean's shrillness on Beyond Myself. The temps were such good singers, it's hard to imagine how they messed that one up so. 0 intonation.

    as for the sup medley, i'm not overly impressed with it either. the intro and ending are fine enough. but the intro is looooooong. Mad About the Boy is good and Diana's Little Girl Blue is quite nice. I think M and C needed to work more on their harmony for Remember. while not nearly as off pitch as the temps were with Fiddler, the girls don't sound stellar here.

    the Porgy and Bess segment is excellent. far far better than pretty much anything else in the segment except Little Girl Blue.


    again, it's surprising that these were such sloppy segments of the special. perhaps they just didn't want to spend the time and money to polish both medleys up

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    Diana sounds totally exhausted. Figuratively, she almost had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
    M&C sound rough and unpolished.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kenneth View Post
    I never knew that Janis Joplin and Blood Sweat and Tears recorded Broadway show tunes, but I guess they must have!

    Not sure about BS&T, but Janis Joplin recorded "Summertime" with Big Brother & The Holding Company [1968] and "Little Girl Blue" as a solo artist with the Kozmic Blues Band [1969].

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    Quote Originally Posted by dannyboy1968 View Post
    They opened the medley with a really funky/ groovy styled song called "[[Let's quote em') Those Broadway Songs". Which I believe was an original song for the show.
    The lyrics for this are new but the song is Cole Porter's Let's Do It [[Let's Fall In Love).

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    I wonder if the whole thing was filmed? It Ain't necessarily so and Summertime made it to the show, but what about the rest?

    Little Girl Blue sounds nice, but Diana's voice sounds a bit strained. That song fits her like a glove, but I prefer her renditions in the 70s and in the Stolen Moments show.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Spreadinglove21 View Post
    I wonder if the whole thing was filmed? It Ain't necessarily so and Summertime made it to the show, but what about the rest?

    Little Girl Blue sounds nice, but Diana's voice sounds a bit strained. That song fits her like a glove, but I prefer her renditions in the 70s and in the Stolen Moments show.
    I think the whole medley was filmed. If you watch the show, there's a weird edit right before they start singing IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO. There are also photos taken during other songs in the medley where the girls have boas over the dresses.

    Re strain, I think Diana's vocals on the entire G.I.T. ON BROADWAY telecast/album sound strained, probably from being overworked. But I must admit that I like that sound from her at times, such as her recordings of STORMY and HEY WESTERN UNION MAN.
    Last edited by reese; 11-15-2021 at 03:53 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by reese View Post
    I think the whole medley was filmed. If you watch the show, there's a weird edit right before they start singing IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO. There are also photos taken during other songs in the medley where the girls have boas over the dresses.

    Re strain, I think Diana's vocals on the entire G.I.T. ON BROADWAY telecast/album sound strained, probably from being overworked. But I must admit that I like that sound from her at times, such as her recordings of STORMY and HEY WESTERN UNION MAN.
    yep - the gowns they're wearing had those great feathers at the bottom. these are really just amazing Bob mackie gowns. but they also had feather stoles/wraps that they could wear around their shoulders, mirroring the feathers at the base of the gown.

    MJC did a couple of photo shoots in these outfits. on the cover of NW, they're in these and are using the feather stoles up around their heads. then there's a second shoot where the pic for the back of Return of Mag 7 was taken

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    Quote Originally Posted by sophisticated_soul View Post
    Not sure about BS&T, but Janis Joplin recorded "Summertime" with Big Brother & The Holding Company [1968] and "Little Girl Blue" as a solo artist with the Kozmic Blues Band [1969].
    Wow, I have to seek those recordings out on YouTube. I had no idea. Thanks Joseph!

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    Quote Originally Posted by lakedistrictlad1 View Post
    I've just discovered this on YouTube. It doesn't sound familiar at all. And I thought I'd heard everything. Does anyone have and info on this rather groovy medley?

    https://youtu.be/y7HAhnXZmFw
    Thank you. This is a great find. Nice that you brought it to our attention.

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    Quote Originally Posted by reese View Post
    Given the medley's placement in the show [right before the Tempts' Fiddler on the Roof medley], the producers might have thought two long medleys in a row would bore viewers and edited it down to just the final two songs.

    I know whenever I played the soundtrack album, I couldn't wait for the Tempts' medley to be over.
    As you mention reese, it was probably just considered to long at the time. I think they made the right decision in featuring the last two songs, just a shame “Little Girl Blue” didn’t make the final cut.
    Mary’s voice is prominent throughout, but i think had Flo still been in the group, her vocals might have added a little more oomph and colour to the background harmonies.

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    It was a simple matter of the show running over and something had to be cut. The Supremes were considered the most dispensable, so... A piece with Mary and Cindy was cut from TCB.

    Mary was given more to do, including a rare solo on the Hollywood Palace to prepare the public that Diana was leaving and Motown was going to give Mary more to do in the new group. By the time this special was taped Jean Terrell was already recording with the group. As it turns out Mary wasn't given that much more to do as Motown felt Jean's sound was closer to what the public was accustomed to. Even after Jean left and Mary tried to up her singing contributions to each new grouping of Supremes, Motown was not supportive of her.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BayouMotownMan View Post
    It was a simple matter of the show running over and something had to be cut. The Supremes were considered the most dispensable, so... A piece with Mary and Cindy was cut from TCB.

    Mary was given more to do, including a rare solo on the Hollywood Palace to prepare the public that Diana was leaving and Motown was going to give Mary more to do in the new group. By the time this special was taped Jean Terrell was already recording with the group. As it turns out Mary wasn't given that much more to do as Motown felt Jean's sound was closer to what the public was accustomed to. Even after Jean left and Mary tried to up her singing contributions to each new grouping of Supremes, Motown was not supportive of her.

    it’s wonderful to hear this Medley, but I disagree that it had anything to do with the Supremes being dispensable. Have you listened to this? The intro/outdo song is banal. I think this is the worst special material that was ever written for the group in the 60s. Poor Cole Porter - arguably the best lyricist in history having his clever composition reduced to THIS: Those awful lyrics to let’s do it????? Diana is not really down on the material at all and neither really are Mary and Cindy for that matter. I think the arrangements are hokey and cheap. I can see why they included it ain’t necessarily so, because that actually works, and summertime is out… Acceptable . I think the rest of it is awful, it sounds slapdash to me.

    TV shows often prepare more material that they’re going to use so that they can get audience reaction to see what to include. Mercifully, for the audience, there wasn’t an audience and somewhere somehow someone realized this didn’t work and wisely omitted it. You can’t put crap into a TV special just because it gives some members more exposure.

    Streisand took weeks to film her television masterpieces. I’m certain GIT was blocked and shot in one afternoon - two at the most.
    There wasn’t anyone at Motown that was feeling Mary should be brought forward. Her voice is an acquired taste, and her forte is ballads. They didn’t have a need for that. It’s not that like there was some sort of personal vendetta against her, they just had no use for her talent as a soloist. They weren’t required to put time and effort behind talent that they did not believe in. If you read the reviews she got for her solo show in New York, they weren’t exactly laudatory. it wasn’t just Motown. It’s a shame because she developed into such an incredible cabaret singer. It takes a lot of years to make a diamond, but they are fabulous when it happens!
    Last edited by TheMotownManiac; 12-29-2021 at 05:51 PM.

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    GIT On Broadway was a bad idea all around. It's not terrible, but coming off the high of TCB, Motown needed to match it or out do it. They did neither. In fact, they did the opposite. I'm surprised Gordy went ahead with this idea. If he wanted to showcases Ross' versatility and abilities there were clearly other ways to do it. GIT needed to be another TCB, but focus in on the group's duets. TCB was filmed before the Join album was completed so there was no way they could do "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" or "I'll Try Something New" for that special. I'm still surprised there was never a TV appearance by the groups together to promote either song. This show should have highlighted those songs along with the group's current hits, and maybe a showtune here or there. Instead we got two poorly written and sometimes cringey sketches, an overblown Diana solo feature, a mediocre Temptations/Fiddler On The Roof medley, and not enough Supremes.
    Last edited by bradsupremes; 12-29-2021 at 08:03 PM.

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    What great album GIT On Broadway I love it they just don’t make music like this anymore so darn good and we are so thankful to have it

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    Only thing I really like on this album is Diana Ross and The Temptations doing Rhythm of Life.


  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by bradsupremes View Post
    GIT On Broadway was a bad idea all around. It's not terrible, but coming off the high of TCB, Motown needed to match it or out do it. They did neither. In fact, they did the opposite. I'm surprised Gordy went ahead with this idea. If he wanted to showcases Ross' versatility and abilities there were clearly other ways to do it. GIT needed to be another TCB, but focus in on the group's duets. TCB was filmed before the Join album was completed so there was no way they could do "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" or "I'll Try Something New" for that special. I'm still surprised there was never a TV appearance by the groups together to promote either song. This show should have highlighted those songs along with the group's current hits, and maybe a showtune here or there. Instead we got two poorly written and sometimes cringey sketches, an overblown Diana solo feature, a mediocre Temptations/Fiddler On The Roof medley, and not enough Supremes.
    the Temps Fiddler medley isn't just mediocre. it's just plain terrible. the men are so out of tune. the harmonies on Sunrise are ghastly.

    the entire design/color scheme for the show is also horrible. the gowns for the girls are some of their most stunning but against that Harvest Gold backdrop, everything is so washed out.

    I don't hate the idea of saluting some of broadway. but the execution was very poor. I think it might have been fun to do some sort of historical overview - maybe something a little like Diana's future RHR&B. they could pay tribute to some legends before them, a cute segment where they're the Primes & Primettes, maybe a brief segment on broadway/MOR and then finish with some of the duets to bring it all up to date.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TheMotownManiac View Post
    it’s wonderful to hear this Medley, but I disagree that it had anything to do with the Supremes being dispensable. Have you listened to this? The intro/outdo song is banal. I think this is the worst special material that was ever written for the group in the 60s. Poor Cole Porter - arguably the best lyricist in history having his clever composition reduced to THIS: Those awful lyrics to let’s do it????? Diana is not really down on the material at all and neither really are Mary and Cindy for that matter. I think the arrangements are hokey and cheap. I can see why they included it ain’t necessarily so, because that actually works, and summertime is out… Acceptable . I think the rest of it is awful, it sounds slapdash to me.

    TV shows often prepare more material that they’re going to use so that they can get audience reaction to see what to include. Mercifully, for the audience, there wasn’t an audience and somewhere somehow someone realized this didn’t work and wisely omitted it. You can’t put crap into a TV special just because it gives some members more exposure.

    Streisand took weeks to film her television masterpieces. I’m certain GIT was blocked and shot in one afternoon - two at the most.
    There wasn’t anyone at Motown that was feeling Mary should be brought forward. Her voice is an acquired taste, and her forte is ballads. They didn’t have a need for that. It’s not that like there was some sort of personal vendetta against her, they just had no use for her talent as a soloist. They weren’t required to put time and effort behind talent that they did not believe in. If you read the reviews she got for her solo show in New York, they weren’t exactly laudatory. it wasn’t just Motown. It’s a shame because she developed into such an incredible cabaret singer. It takes a lot of years to make a diamond, but they are fabulous when it happens!
    i agree that, while it was fascinating to hear the full medley, the execution of it was poor. not as bad as the Temps Fiddler one but this was not a good medley nor was it sung well. M and C often have intonation problems on Remember, the lyrics in the opening/closing are simplistic and cheesy. Porgy and Bess really was the best part and it's an excellent snippet. Plus that amazing STRUT and the girls do up the ramp and set to meet at the platform!! damn!

    I do agree though with Bayou that the Sup content would have been considered the most expendable. Diana of course would be everywhere. The temps were needed to draw more black viewers

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