"Whisper You Love Me" Number 1 Potential

[TNSUN]

This song reminds me of Mary Wells' monster hit,"My Guy". Could it have been another #1 for The Supremes?

[reese]

When I was a kid, I found the 45 of BACK IN MY ARMS AGAIN / WHISPER YOU LOVE ME BOY. I actually thought WHISPER was the a-side.

I don't know if it would have been a #1 but the vocals are great. Mary and Flo are doing great harmony and Diana sounds her absolute sexiest!

[sup_fan]

i love it that they wiped both Mary Well's lead AND the Andantes backing vocals. and didn't just drop Diana's lead on top of the existing backing vocals.

i think the girls had established too much of an upbeat sound and that was crossing over into the other artists on the label too. what would eventually be dubbed "the motown sound" Whisper is wonderful but too much like Mary Well's "old" sound.

[Motown Eddie]

This song reminds me of Mary Wells' monster hit,"My Guy". Could it have been another #1 for The Supremes?

While The Supremes' version of "Whisper You Love Me Boy" is great, it's too similar to Mary Wells take on the song [which was featured on her My Guy album] to make the top of the charts. The song did make the More Hits and The Supremes Greatest Hits LPs along with the flip side of "Back In My Arms Again" so it did get around a lot.

[Ollie9]

Maybe not a No 1# but certainly top 10#. Terrific version of the song with Diana at her kittenish best with superb backing from Mary and Flo. It’s no surprise it featured on their Greatest Hits album.

[sup_fan]

it would be interesting to learn why the non-hits were selected for Greatest Hits. obviously they were going to pick songs written and produced by HDH.

Ask Any Girl
Whisper
Everything is good about you
standing at the crossroads of love
there's no stopping us now

the one i question most is Standing. it's one of my least favorite songs on WDOLG. Certainly songs like Going Down or Put yourself in my place or He holds his own or He's all i got are stronger candidates.

[lucky2012]

it would be interesting to learn why the non-hits were selected for Greatest Hits. obviously they were going to pick songs written and produced by HDH.

Ask Any Girl
Whisper
Everything is good about you
standing at the crossroads of love
there's no stopping us now

the one i question most is Standing. it's one of my least favorite songs on WDOLG. Certainly songs like Going Down or Put yourself in my place or He holds his own or He's all i got are stronger candidates.

They were all b-sides of hit singles. I assume they were included on Greatest Hits because they may have been popular and had garnered some radio airplay in some markets. I agree about Standing, also my least favorite on WDOLG.

[sup_fan]

They were all b-sides of hit singles. I assume they were included on Greatest Hits because they may have been popular and had garnered some radio airplay in some markets. I agree about Standing, also my least favorite on WDOLG.

i think Standing was even a last minute addition to the package as originally Reflections was to be included. but was then held back to anchor it's own album.

[JohnnyB]

i think Standing was even a last minute addition to the package as originally Reflections was to be included. but was then held back to anchor its own album.

Interesting. The side 4 placement of SATCOL does seem to be a perfect slot for Reflections.

The 8-track version of Greatest Hits [[Vol 1) includes Remove This Doubt and Put Yourself In My Place. Either of these would have been preferred over SATCOL on the LP.

Off topic—I realize the additional songs were needed to fill an 8-track’s constraints of 4 equally-timed channels. I’ve wondered if additional songs were added to Volume 2 or if the time was filled with selections from the first volume.

[sup_fan]

Interesting. The side 4 placement of SATCOL does seem to be a perfect slot for Reflections.

The 8-track version of Greatest Hits [[Vol 1) includes Remove This Doubt and Put Yourself In My Place. Either of these would have been preferred over SATCOL on the LP.

Off topic—I realize the additional songs were needed to fill an 8-track’s constraints of 4 equally-timed channels. I’ve wondered if additional songs were added to Volume 2 or if the time was filled with selections from the first volume.

i'd assume so and i'd assume that's also the thinking with padding the vinyl GH set. They certainly could have gone back and filled in with Your Heart or Let Me Go. but those were done by other producers. and you know have all of their studio lps going Top 10 and A Go Go going #1, everyone assumed the GH package would absolutely go #1. i would also assume that's why they made it a 2-disc set. they knew people would go ahead and spend the money. they could have just used the 10 #1 hits plus 2 from Itching, My World and Nothing. that would have made 12 tunes for the standard album. but hey - let's make more money!!!

so you get all 10 #1, the 3 that didn't quite make it, Run and Lovelight.

if you add Breathtaking and Your Heart, then smokey gets some of the royalties. add in Let Me Go and Berry and others get it.

[Circa 1824]

The cover of the Greatest Hits was Motown at its classiest. Elegant cover portrait of the girls that I still love to look at; I just wish it was larger. Wonder if Motown knew it was going to be a huge number 1 album?

I had never heard the b-sides on the album before, and Crossroads was the only song I always skipped.

[sup_fan]

The cover of the Greatest Hits was Motown at its classiest. Elegant cover portrait of the girls that I still love to look at; I just wish it was larger. Wonder if Motown knew it was going to be a huge number 1 album?

I had never heard the b-sides on the album before, and Crossroads was the only song I always skipped.

here's the US billboard chart rankings of the bigger albums

WDOLG 2
More Hits 6
Symphony 8
A Go Go 1
HDH 6

and some of the others did remarkably well - Copa 12, Liverpool 21, R&H 20.

the girls were coming off of 4 #1s in a row. so I think motown figured there's just no way this album won't top the charts. they tossed in the portraits of each girl just to add a little more excitement with the fans.

the album was on the charts for an amazing 89 weeks. not only did it go #1 but it sat there for 5 weeks. plus was in the top 10 for 24 weeks. and it bulleted to the top. it entered the charts at 94 which is very high. the next week it was already at #15. then 3, then 2 and then 1. EVERYONE was buying this album. it peaked the week of 10/28 which means it was #1 at the start of the holiday shopping season. because of the double album and associated higher costs, it might have been a record that would be a little more challenging for a fan to save up their allowance for. but i bet zillions of parents bought it to place under the Xmas tree.

[floyjoy678]

I wonder why they included Flo in the pictures for this album. She had been out of the group nearly two months when it was released. And they had known she was leaving even longer than that.

[Graham Jarvis]

Love Mary's version, What do you think of Chris Clark's version of "Whisper You Love Me
Boy" Nella Dodds on Wand also recorded "Whisper"

[reese]

I wonder why they included Flo in the pictures for this album. She had been out of the group nearly two months when it was released. And they had known she was leaving even longer than that.

I wondered that myself. Maybe they already had the album already done and printed and didn't want to go to the expense of redoing it. As it was, the liner notes [[mentioning Flo) are supposedly recycled from the FROM BROADWAY TO HOLLYWOOD album.

[sup_fan]

yeah my guess is the lead time to redo all of this. GH was released late August and Flo was still performing with the group through July 1. and as we know, the date of her dismissal occurred rather suddenly.

there could still have been questions of "is she OUT out?" is this final? what if people and fans flip out, will she have to come back?

there was so much money to be earned on the GH set. to pull back the release date for something like accuracy of the group's lineup? lol why bother now? they'd already released a Christmas album with no M or F whatsoever on it so why should they be concerned

[reese]

yeah my guess is the lead time to redo all of this. GH was released late August and Flo was still performing with the group through July 1. and as we know, the date of her dismissal occurred rather suddenly.

there could still have been questions of "is she OUT out?" is this final? what if people and fans flip out, will she have to come back?

there was so much money to be earned on the GH set. to pull back the release date for something like accuracy of the group's lineup? lol why bother now? they'd already released a Christmas album with no M or F whatsoever on it so why should they be concerned

Not to mention, there are still some fans who don't like that the album is called DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES' GREATEST HITS since all of the material included was originally issued under just "The Supremes".

Can you imagine some reaction if Motown had put out the album with the same name and contents, but with paintings of Cindy instead?

[BritishTony]

The Supremes version of “Whisper…” is competent like several tracks on the Sing H-D-H and A’ Go-Go but for me light years away from Mary Wells’ sumptuous, breathy frankly sexy version. Wells’ trademark gentle pillow-talk delivery is delightfully offset by the Andantes’ fiery “WHISPER! WHISPER!” This has been my absolute favourite version since I first heard it on the UK album with that glamourous photo of Mary on that NY street. To me it would have made the perfect follow-up to My Guy.

[mowest]

Love Mary's version, What do you think of Chris Clark's version of "Whisper You Love Me
Boy" Nella Dodds on Wand also recorded "Whisper"

Holland-Dozier had the smarts to change up the arrangement for Chris Clark. It suits her jazzy style very well. Nella Dodds’ vocals were pretty good on her version but the instrumentation doesn’t come close to the Funks and the background vocals sound as if they were recorded in a tunnel and are annoying.

[sup_fan]

i like Chris Clark's version of Whisper but i think the Sups and Mary Wells' versions and the original style is best

still it makes for a fun idea - what if the girls did an album of redos/remixes of their own songs?

you keep me hangin on - redo like Vanilla Fudge
my world - redo like the slow burn version Jean and Scherrie would later do onstage
Whisper - a funky groove like Chris Clark's
Breathtaking - upbeat like the Marvelettes

[RanRan79]

I wonder why they included Flo in the pictures for this album. She had been out of the group nearly two months when it was released. And they had known she was leaving even longer than that.

I always figured it was one of the few times Motown decided not to be shady. Lets be real, Flo was well known and loved. To have the GH set produced with pictures of Cindy and Cindy's name in place of Flo's in the liner notes...I'm not suggesting that any of that would have prevented the album from being the blockbuster it became, but it would not have been a good look. Motown may have just been staying true to the actual history of the Supremes' GH years, with Florence, not her replacement.

It's also possible that because Flo's dismissal wasn't finalized until February of the following year, and perhaps- PERHAPS- the option was still on the table for Flo to come back [[meaning Gordy hadn't completely 1000 percent removed the option from his mind, even if he was still willing to go forward with Flo's complete exit on paper), it made sense to use Flo's image on the GH set and the picture sleeves for "Reflections", and believe it or not, "In and Out of Love", even though "In and Out" was an even later release than the GH set. Interestingly, "Forever Came Today" doesn't appear to have a picture sleeve for US releases.

[RanRan79]

Not to mention, there are still some fans who don't like that the album is called DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES' GREATEST HITS since all of the material included was originally issued under just "The Supremes".

Can you imagine some reaction if Motown had put out the album with the same name and contents, but with paintings of Cindy instead?

Yeah, I'm one of those fans. The group was simply the Supremes when all those songs were cut and released and the album of their hits should have reflected the title. On the other hand, what better way to get the public used to DIANA ROSS than to splash her name on such a successful album. Cindy on the cover would not have gone over well at all.

[RanRan79]

Love Mary's version, What do you think of Chris Clark's version of "Whisper You Love Me
Boy" Nella Dodds on Wand also recorded "Whisper"

For me? Nope. Just nope. But then I've never really been into anything Chris Clark recorded, minus a few exceptions. But I don't care for this arrangement at all.

[RanRan79]

I love "Whisper" but I don't think it had hit potential at all. It's just a fantastic album cut, which I loved from the first time I heard it. Perfect lead vocal from Diana, perfect backing vocals from Flo and Mary, perfect instrumentation. It's just a perfect song IMO, but perfection doesn't necessarily mean hit material, and I just don't hear "hit" when I listen to this song.

[BayouMotownMan]

I love the Supremes version of this and of He Holds His Own, but to me Mary Wells owns these two songs. Her delivery was more soulful on Whisper with finger snaps and some howling Andantes behind her. Likewise for He Holds His Own. You can actually hear Eddie Holland on the latter during the chorus. Diana's reading is sublime and more romantic and they were good lp cuts, but Motown was going to follow My Guy with Whisper. Then Mary Wells abruptly jumped ship to 20the Century Fox

[sup_fan]

I love the Supremes version of this and of He Holds His Own, but to me Mary Wells owns these two songs. Her delivery was more soulful on Whisper with finger snaps and some howling Andantes behind her. Likewise for He Holds His Own. You can actually hear Eddie Holland on the latter during the chorus. Diana's reading is sublime and more romantic and they were good lp cuts, but Motown was going to follow My Guy with Whisper. Then Mary Wells abruptly jumped ship to 20the Century Fox

talk about one of the greatest "what ifs!" if Mary had stayed with Motown, I don't think it would have eliminated the Supremes or Diana from hitting it big. WDOLG was a hit while mary was, technically, still on the label.

wonder if Mary Wells would have found herself pushed down to Martha Reeves tier once the Sups hit it big. I don't know a ton about her but i don't know that, at the time, Mary Wells had some of the personal and drug issues that Martha got herself into. wonder if they would have used both MW and the Sups as the pushed into the nightclub circuit