Originally Posted by
danman869
If they never released the "Funny Girl" album, I think things would have been just fine. It would have been perfectly "ok" for them to sing songs from the show ["People," "Don't Rain On My Parade," "The Music That Makes Me Dance"] and I think it would have satisfied those in the crowd who liked to see Diana sing her Streisand-type/Broadway numbers.
I tried to think for a while about "what kind of concept album could they have done?" and, honestly, I don't think there was anything that would have done much better than FG. They'd already done The Beatles/British Rock 4 years earlier. If they did Bacharach/David, they'd have likely been accused of encroaching on Dionne's territory. They'd already done Rodgers and Hart. I think continuing with other Broadway shows/compilations likely wouldn't have done any better than FG.
Could DRATS have done a few contemporized versions of songs from "Funny Girl" and just included them on their next few albums? Absolutely. Hey, The Tymes recorded a contemporary cover of "People" that was released in August 1968 and reached #39 on the Pop chart. That's a pretty impressive showing for a [soul] group that had peaked on the charts a few years earlier and was now coming back with a cover of a Broadway hit song.
By 1968, I think music was changing so much and DRATS was starting to [for better or worse] present as pretty Vegas, pretty MOR--so, doing a Broadway show wasn't going to draw new fans. Going for, say, heavier rock/pop material or even heavier R&B would've likely drawn critical ire. So... what should they have done?
I think that they should have just not released FG. Continued with prepping and releasing both "Love Chid" and "Join The Temptations" and then lean a little harder on the latter album with joint TV appearances in early 1969 to promote the single released and the next one that was released. And then... continue forward. Similar to folks past comments that The Supremes/Four Tops duet albums were overkill and should have been limited to one album, I think that the DRATS/Temptations duets albums should have been limited to one [[the first), the TCB special, and that should have been it. No "Together" album and DEFINITELY no "GIT on Broadway." In some ways, I wish that things could have been planned out so that the two groups recorded and released "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" just as they were ramping up planning and taping of "TCB." Then, "TCB" could have highlighted a few more songs from the "Join" album and maybe less covers on the show. Then the TCB soundtrack could have come out PLUS the "Join" album [[maybe several weeks before TCB aired?). But, alas, that's not how it all came together.
The "Funny Girl" album just diluted the Supremes. It felt like a vanity project that wasn't really going to advance anything for them. There were no singles that could come from the album. With the group struggling since late 1967, why wouldn't you focus on getting the best SINGLES prepped and released and the best ALBUMS to accompany them? Instead, lots of money was funneled into a project that was destined to be a big bust.
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