Partners

[sup_fan]

was on a flight recently and figured i hadn't listened to Partners in a long while. so had the headphones on and enjoyed the album

i had it on shuffle as i listened. frankly i think that's the problem with the album. it is too disjointed. it's really 2 or 3 project shoe horned together. and the women really never duet on the music. it feels more like it's either a scherrie song, a susaye song or a scherrie song with susaye doing a few backing vocals or embellishments.

i have to say i enjoy the funkier tracks. Luvbug is quite interesting and love the duet with Ray. In The Night is solid too and Your Sweet Love is one of the strongest songs on the album. these were also written and produced by Susaye. I enjoy hearing some of Susaye's broader singing approach. while she still does her whistle tones, she also had more opportunity to display her talents.

so it would have been interesting if the girls could have had, within the framework of the Supremes, an opportunity to write and produce. I don't know that any of the songs except maybe Your Sweet Love really sound like a hit. the more traditional disco dance songs are too generic.

[thanxal]

I agree the album is not consistent. But with support and direction Scherrie and Susaye, together or separately, could have done so much more. There was no vision for them at the time. But I still do love our dearly departed John Perrone's [Mosogotam] remix of "Leaving Me was the Best Thing You've Ever Done". I've searched and searched and can't find it on his old Youtube page, but I hope it's still there.

[lakeside]

I had the original LP and then CD. I think I've listened to it about 3 times. It left me pretty cold. No duets, really. Disjointed is a good description. It seems all over the place [[to me). I agree that there was no vision for them at that time. Lots of talent, though. Not sure female 'duos' were very marketable at that time...or ever?

[thanxal]

I had the original LP and then CD. I think I've listened to it about 3 times. It left me pretty cold. No duets, really. Disjointed is a good description. It seems all over the place [[to me). I agree that there was no vision for them at that time. Lots of talent, though. Not sure female 'duos' were very marketable at that time...or ever?

If we're being honest, Partners was a contract killer for Motown to get Scherrie and Susaye off the payroll, much like Mary's solo album. None of this means the three couldn't sing. We know their talent surpassed any business decisions of the day.

[marybrewster]

I've always been fond of "I Found Another Love".

Question: were the duets recorded by Scherrie and Susaye in the studio together, or were their parts recorded separately?

[Spreadinglove21]

Nice enough album. I prefer Scherrie's songs to Susaye's on this. Another Life from Now is my favorite.

[BobbyC]

For me, Partners sounded like three or four albums all stuck together. While I love Scherrie's voice, the songs here, aside from the single, just weren't very memorable. I couldn't hum any of them today. I found the songs on High Energy and MSS much more memorable if I'm being honest.

[Spreadinglove21]

[sup_fan]

For me, Partners sounded like three or four albums all stuck together. While I love Scherrie's voice, the songs here, aside from the single, just weren't very memorable. I couldn't hum any of them today. I found the songs on High Energy and MSS much more memorable if I'm being honest.

i agree. the dance tracks on here just aren't interesting enough. but the Susaye written and produced ones are at least interesting. maybe not single-ready but i find them enjoyable and make for a fun album.

i believe Another Life From Now was part of the songs from the musical Scherrie wrote. called Ten Good Years. would be interesting to hear more of the music from it

[BobbyC]

Sup_fan--I stand corrected! I forgot that Another Life From Now was on that album! i really liked that song and Scherrie's terrific lead even though the lyrics were really pretty bad.

[khansperac]

Susaye Is absolutely adorable in this video.

[soren1974]

It was an odd, unmemorable album and a textbook example of why it is not always the greatest idea to let the singers be in charge of everything.

[jim aka jtigre99]

Both Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene are amazing singers and songwriters. If Partners was released as a way to fulfill contract obligations than it is Motown once again being shortsighted. They turned down Mary Wilson's excellent Gus Dudgeon tracks after she released a disco album that was not her forte. Scherrie & Susaye wrote songs for themselves and the overall result made the LP feel somewhat disjointed even though the songs were good. Still, they are now both still out there as the FLOs. Just like Mary Wilson, Motown's handling of things makes fans wonder what could have been in retrospect.

[marybrewster]

Motown was very much a male dominated company, so I question how much room there was for a woman - or women - who wanted to write, produce, AS WELL as perform. Yes, I know there were women writers, but not the whole enchilada.

One question: if "Partners" was the direction S and S were going in, would it have made any difference if it HAD been released as a Supremes album, with Joyce, versus just Scherrie and Susaye?

[thanxal]

One question: if "Partners" was the direction S and S were going in, would it have made any difference if it HAD been released as a Supremes album, with Joyce, versus just Scherrie and Susaye?

Nothing I've read indicates it was an intentional direction. Partners was more about contract obligations, e.g. Motown fulfilling their contractual obligations, and nothing more. Same with Mary and her self titled solo album.

[sup_fan]

Both Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene are amazing singers and songwriters. If Partners was released as a way to fulfill contract obligations than it is Motown once again being shortsighted. They turned down Mary Wilson's excellent Gus Dudgeon tracks after she released a disco album that was not her forte. Scherrie & Susaye wrote songs for themselves and the overall result made the LP feel somewhat disjointed even though the songs were good. Still, they are now both still out there as the FLOs. Just like Mary Wilson, Motown's handling of things makes fans wonder what could have been in retrospect.

there's a difference though. S and S were greenlighted with the production and songwriting tasks. no whether or not motown had any intentions of doing or promoting this project, who knows. and i believe both S and S have discussed that a duet act was not really what they initially intended. after the Supremes were cancelled, they sort of thought they would do solo acts but motown said they had enough solo artists on the roster so that wasn't an option. hence the odd merging of the two and the disjointed quality to the album. still though, the idea of their producing and handling the music was already given the green light

for mary, after she signed her contract, she was assigned to work with Hal. this wasn't mary sitting down and exploring different producers and ideas. she was told - here, sing hal's stuff. the question comes up as to who arranged the session work with Gus and [[more importantly) who paid for it. i'm not aware of Gus have any production contractual agreements with motown. motown has on occasion brought in a producer - like Jimmy Webb. they had even brought the Hollands back into the fold, even after all of the legal mess. but it was the label deciding to bring these producers in. it wasn't the artist. so did Mary just go off and record these songs with Gus? if so, did she pay for the sessions? or assume motown would? did she assume - hey if these are hot motown will just have to pay for the sessions, even begrudgingly, because they'll be a hit.

this could also be an explanation of why mary was given the masters.

[Spreadinglove21]

Motown was very much a male dominated company, so I question how much room there was for a woman - or women - who wanted to write, produce, AS WELL as perform. Yes, I know there were women writers, but not the whole enchilada.

One question: if "Partners" was the direction S and S were going in, would it have made any difference if it HAD been released as a Supremes album, with Joyce, versus just Scherrie and Susaye?

Didn't Joyce sing background on a few of the Partners songs?

[thommg]

If we're being honest, Partners was a contract killer for Motown to get Scherrie and Susaye off the payroll, much like Mary's solo album. None of this means the three couldn't sing. We know their talent surpassed any business decisions of the day.

Susaye has said that this was not a contract killer for either of them. I believe she said that she was offered a contract after this but decided not to take it. Perhaps she will weigh in and offer any correction of this.