Originally Posted by
RanRan79
Side two is definitely the stronger side. I actually enjoy this album. Of the 12 songs there are only three that don't do anything for me: "Everyday People", "Shame" and "Aquarius". I will, however, let "Aquarius" play through sometime because I do like to hear Diana do "Let the Sunshine In". All the other cuts are good to great for me, my favs being "The Composer", "Western Union", "Discover", "Will This Be the Day", "With a Child's Heart", "Brokenhearted" and "Let the Music Play".
Commercially, the album's downfalls were, perhaps, too many covers, but most certainly the lack of hits. "Shame" was obviously a decent seller, and certainly was a bonafide hit, but if the massiveness of "Love Child" wasn't enough to turn the LC album into the kind of seller that the Flo era singles albums were, relying on "Shame" to sell LTSI was silly. The other two singles didn't wow the public at all, so the album really was going to be dead on arrival.
I don't fault Motown for "Sign". I think this is one that the public "got wrong", not the label. But "The Composer", as much as I love it, didn't have anything about it that anyone should have thought this was the move to make. I like to think that if it were me, I would have gone with both "Discover Me" and "I'm So Glad", both of which would've needed excellent mixed singles. "Discover" has a fresh and exciting vibe to it that would have been interesting to see the public's reaction to. Similarly to the way "Love Child" was a new direction, I think "Discover" takes the group into a direction that made them edgy and relatable. "I'm So Glad" could have been cut by any of the major players at Motown and been a hit, so I think it would've been a no brainer for the group, keeping their sound contemporary. The essence of "The Composer" is honestly one in which the song could've been recorded by the Barbara era Supremes, or the Flo era Supremes. There was nothing about it that moved the group into fresh waters with the public and so there was little interest. LTSI had potential, but Motown took the lazy route.
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