Relationship between the original members and the replacements with Diana Ross

[sup_fan]

given the brand of The Supremes and how they had a huge gay following and how disco was born in the gay and in the black clubs, it isn't a huge shock that the group and it's music appealed to the club goers. Problem is motown wasn't into the disco scene. they hadn't gotten much into the practice of issuing 12" singles. Casablanca and their work with Sommer and others were creating lps that the djs could use a whole side or a longer selection of tunes in order to keep the dancing going. you could say that Side 1 of HE fit this. Side 1 of MSS sort of fits but there are pretty noticeable beat per minute differences between Wheel then Dream then LYG then Come. it flows great for an album to listen to but not as easy if you're wanting to line up a series of consecutive dance tunes.

also i don't think motowns PR team was especially integrated with the top djs in the top disco markets like NYC, DC, Boston, San Fran, Miami. the emergence of the Club DJ as a key and pivotal figure in making hit records was relatively new.

[Boogiedown]

I agree ^^ Motown was late [as were most labels] in creating a disco dept. This is why so many small disco labels erupted and as they did well, suddenly the big boys felt very threatened.

also disco was sort of a dirty word for soul radio programmers. Like rock stations they viewed it as an invader in their purest eyes. Disco , unless it was funky, was not welcomed and Motown was aiding the enemy with this glossy Supremes stuff.

[Spreadinglove21]

I'm not a big fan of Let Yourself Go, but if it had been the first single I could see how it could have done well at the clubs. My concern is whether it could cross over to the pop market. That would have depended on MSS performing the song live on TV shows. The lipsynch performances that they did do of the song were fine, but the two live performance clips I've seen of the song are MSS at their worse with all that shouting and competing to sing lead and the live arrangement wasn't helped by them shouting "Go, Go, Go". Such performances on TV did not help them.

[sup_fan]

I'm not a big fan of Let Yourself Go, but if it had been the first single I could see how it could have done well at the clubs. My concern is whether it could cross over to the pop market. That would have depended on MSS performing the song live on TV shows. The lipsynch performances that they did do of the song were fine, but the two live performance clips I've seen of the song are MSS at their worse with all that shouting and competing to sing lead and the live arrangement wasn't helped by them shouting "Go, Go, Go". Such performances on TV did not help them.

Completely agree. The live versions of LYG and Wheel are quite rough. I think the repeated “Go, Go, Go” was meant to mimic the echo effect on the word Go on the record. But I agree. The effect was not probably what they were hoping for. The increased tempo and the nonstop choreography always left the girls breathless and gasping. Which you can hear in their mics. In the MSS act there was too much of all over the place. I know they didn’t want to do two background girls w a lead standing way up front but you do need some rhyme or reason w the staging. Also the girls seemed to always use hand mics and walk all over the place. Too distracting. for live versions they should have cut the choreography down by at least 2/3 and then have M and Susaye standing at mic stands. Scherrie could have a mic stand and the handheld to walk around a little.

[Ollie9]

I'm not a big fan of Let Yourself Go, but if it had been the first single I could see how it could have done well at the clubs. My concern is whether it could cross over to the pop market. That would have depended on MSS performing the song live on TV shows. The lipsynch performances that they did do of the song were fine, but the two live performance clips I've seen of the song are MSS at their worse with all that shouting and competing to sing lead and the live arrangement wasn't helped by them shouting "Go, Go, Go". Such performances on TV did not help them.

In this case, less is most certainly more. The individual voices are great, but as so often happened the performance is way to fast paced and frantic. The slick and sophisticated vibe of the album disappears from the room with performances like this.
In fairness to the group, not the easiest song to replicate in a live performance so might have been better off going with a ballad such as the timeless “Closer Together”. Much the same way as “Don’t Let My Teardrops” was overlooked.

[sup_fan]

makes you wonder maybe if they shouldn't have repeated some of the Diana-era approaches, in terms of tv gigs. on most of the Sullivan appearances, the backing track and background vocals were pre-recorded and only Diana was singing live. and sometimes even she was lip syncing, like on the Fats Waller medley.

maybe more of that would have helped polish it a bit more.

[Ollie9]

makes you wonder maybe if they shouldn't have repeated some of the Diana-era approaches, in terms of tv gigs. on most of the Sullivan appearances, the backing track and background vocals were pre-recorded and only Diana was singing live. and sometimes even she was lip syncing, like on the Fats Waller medley.

maybe more of that would have helped polish it a bit more.

Perhaps for certain songs it might have worked better. Especially for television. I’ve always wondered how Scherrie and Susaye truly felt about the choreography. Mary as we know always tended towards the over exuberant bless her lol.

[sup_fan]

yeah i wonder if that also was part of the angst and conflicts between the women and Pedro. I don't know who specifically was in charge of the decisions regarding the show. years ago on here Susaye [[i think her profile name was lastsupreme or something like that) did share in a discussion regarding the gowns that mary was pretty much determining the outfits with the designer, that it wasn't a group effort.

others have stated on here that during the Jean-era, motown was in charge of the show which as we've heard caused quite a bit of tension when they reverted back to the old DRATS TCB stuff and mostly 60's medleys. but no idea how lead the strategy during the Scherrie years. mary talks about bringing in Geoffrey Holder to revamp the show and that he helped to develop the Dream sequence. Was it Mary and Pedro who selected him? Was it Mary who selected Pat Campano for the gowns? i'm guessing so but i don't know for sure.

So if it was Mary and Pedro determining the stage act and S and S felt they should go in other directions, maybe that added to the problems.

again, just speculating here