Supremes merry christmas

[daviddh]

Just thinking in regards to this collection.
I do like it but a few songs were just below par to me.
Maybe it's me, joy to the world, and children's Xmas song...are awful.
I think I would replace both
Maybe with Silent Night, Christmas song.

Any thoughts

[sup_fan]

overall i do really like the album and of course always listen to it during the season

but! lol

of course i can play producer here too just like nearly all of the rest of their discography lol


one thing i find at fault with this album is the tempo. many of the songs are just funeral dirge slow. O Little Town Of Bethlehem could literally be the process of the mourners from the hearse to the grave! Although it's super slow, the tempo isn't too much an issue with Silver Bells.

children christmas is hideous and should never have been included. i guess because they were girls they were assumed to be "motherly". Twinkle Twinkle is a decent song but the lyrics "twinkle twinkle little me" are ridiculous lol as idiotic as the noxious jam mama was making in Shame.

Rudolph and Santa are just great. Diana is laying it on pretty thick here. her vocals are rather effected on Rudolph. but you can tell she's just having a ball and everything sounds great.

My Christmas Tree is really quite nice. but again, Diana needed to pull back on her vocals a little. she's just forcing things too much and over enunciating.

Flo's leads are ok but not her best. I think 99% of that was having to sing these songs and nearly half the tempo they SHOULD be at. her biggest issue is intonation and some pronunciations. in Silent Night, she sings the word "virgin" as "veeeerrrrrgin" like she's some hill billy from the back 40. and then on "christ the savoir is born" she hits the N way too hard. borNUH!

the glimpses we have of Mary doing the Christmas song are just stunning. this is one of her best vocals ever! up there with Teardrops and the Gus Dungeon songs. when she hits and holds "Merry" at 1:41 she opens up her voice and is amazing. chills. it's a simple song and a simple message but she is just flawless. they should have completed the recording and included it.

[sup_fan]

so here's my alt list including a few songs i think they should have recorded but didn't

White Christmas
Silver Bells
Santa Baby - flo lead
The Little Drummer Boy
Just a lonely christmas
Little Bright Star

Christmas Song - Mary lead
Born of Mary
Rudolph
My Favorite Things
Silent Night - Flo lead
Santa Claus is Coming

[Starguard4]

so here's my alt list including a few songs i think they should have recorded but didn't

White Christmas
Silver Bells
Santa Baby - flo lead
The Little Drummer Boy
Just a lonely christmas
Little Bright Star

Christmas Song - Mary lead
Born of Mary
Rudolph
My Favorite Things
Silent Night - Flo lead
Santa Claus is Coming

If only !!! I would have had them record some lighter stuff, like...

Winter Wonderland
Jingle Bell Rock
Rocking Around The Xmas Tree

Can just imagine the Funks having some fun with the last one.

[lucky2012]

so here's my alt list including a few songs i think they should have recorded but didn't

White Christmas
Silver Bells
Santa Baby - flo lead
The Little Drummer Boy
Just a lonely christmas
Little Bright Star

Christmas Song - Mary lead
Born of Mary
Rudolph
My Favorite Things
Silent Night - Flo lead
Santa Claus is Coming

I like this. If only there had been a Flo lead on Santa Baby! I think a Mary lead on Christmas Song, lowering the range a little, might have been perfect, too.
I tweaked your list a little bit for my alt list:

White Christmas
Silver Bells
My Favorite Things
Santa Baby [Flo lead]
Little Drummer Boy
My Christmas Tree [an early Jimmy Webb song, and I love Diana's vocal]

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Christmas Song [Mary lead]
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Me [love this cute children's song and Diana's vocal]
Little Bright Star
Silent Night [Flo lead]

[lucky2012]

so here's my alt list including a few songs i think they should have recorded but didn't

White Christmas
Silver Bells
Santa Baby - flo lead
The Little Drummer Boy
Just a lonely christmas
Little Bright Star

Christmas Song - Mary lead
Born of Mary
Rudolph
My Favorite Things
Silent Night - Flo lead
Santa Claus is Coming

I like this. If only there had been a Flo lead on Santa Baby! I think a Mary lead on Christmas Song, lowering the range a little, might have been perfect, too.
I tweaked your list a little bit for my alt list:

White Christmas
Silver Bells
My Favorite Things
Santa Baby [Flo lead]
Little Drummer Boy
My Christmas Tree [an early Jimmy Webb song, and I love Diana's vocal]

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Christmas Song [Mary lead]
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Me [love this cute children's song and Diana's vocal]
Little Bright Star
Silent Night [Flo lead]

Stargard 4:Rocking Around The Xmas Tree

Can just imagine the Funks having some fun with the last one.

Agree with this, too! A real Christmas classic. And you're right about the Funks.

[sup_fan]

If only !!! I would have had them record some lighter stuff, like...

Winter Wonderland
Jingle Bell Rock
Rocking Around The Xmas Tree

Can just imagine the Funks having some fun with the last one.

oh those are great choices!! my mind was just sort of stuck on Santa Baby and Flo.

my guess is that there was effort being made to make the girls "more adult and worldly" and that these more pop holiday tunes might make people say "oh yes they're just another rock and roll outfit"

but i agree - they would have been marvelous on these

[thanxal]

If only !!! I would have had them record some lighter stuff, like...

Winter Wonderland
Jingle Bell Rock
Rocking Around The Xmas Tree

Can just imagine the Funks having some fun with the last one.

It would have been funny for the Supremes to cover the Queen of Covers!!!

[sup_fan]

I like this. If only there had been a Flo lead on Santa Baby! I think a Mary lead on Christmas Song, lowering the range a little, might have been perfect, too.
I tweaked your list a little bit for my alt list:

White Christmas
Silver Bells
My Favorite Things
Santa Baby [Flo lead]
Little Drummer Boy
My Christmas Tree [an early Jimmy Webb song, and I love Diana's vocal]

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Christmas Song [Mary lead]
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Me [love this cute children's song and Diana's vocal]
Little Bright Star
Silent Night [Flo lead]

i like your list too. I thought about My Christmas Tree but in the end i think the lyrics are a little better on Lonely Christmas. i went back and forth though on them

I think Born of Mary is a beautiful tune and for years i assumed it was some sort of traditional holiday song that i just wasn't familiar with. i had no idea it was new.

[sup_fan]

here's another idea. maybe as a follow up album in 66 or 67, they do a Motown album. with the supremes acting as "hosts" to the holiday party. maybe some very, very brief dialog between tunes. The Sups would do about half of the album with a track or two from the Temps, Tops, Vandellas.

just something different to generate more sales in a later year.

[gman]

I prefer White Christmas and Silver Bells w/o backing vocals....the first LP I had these were DR solo's....the 2nd was the Natural Resources issue...which I guess was Stereo tapes and my first copy may have been Mono...it was 1967 so the LP is long gone! and I did not buy the expanded set...just the single CD w a few bonus cuts....

Silver Bells, Born of Mary are great, Drummer Boy, Twinkle Twinkle and My Christmas Tree are nice and all I care to listen to on this LP these days...I am not a fan of holiday music...after Silver Bells and Born of Mary, the only holiday song I ever crave is Heart's version of Blue Christmas...Ann Wilson kills it....I like the song, and I don't have to hear that horrible hooting woman behind Elvis....

[daviddh]

Totally agree.
Think silver Bells or My Favorite Things should have been the single.
Whoever picked children's Xmas song should have been demoted from ever picking any future supremes song.
Don't like the cheesy cover.it grown on me tho

[RanRan79]

I guess I'm in the minority because I'm really not fond of their version of "Silent Night". It's good, but it doesn't really do much for me. I much, much prefer "Oh Holy Night" with the second alternate vocal and mix.

[sup_fan]

I guess I'm in the minority because I'm really not fond of their version of "Silent Night". It's good, but it doesn't really do much for me. I much, much prefer "Oh Holy Night" with the second alternate vocal and mix.

this is another toss up for me. i guess i picked Silent more because its not quite so maddeningly slow-paced as Holy Night.

what i find interesting with both of these tunes and Flo is that the criticism i gave above are specific points of the tune and since we have 2 versions of her leads for each, she doesn't really repeat the "errors" i've mentioned both times. you could actually IMO take her leads for the 2 takes and edit them together into 1 superior version.

again we talk about F and M not having the opportunities to practice, test, experiment, learn, etc. and i think that shows here. in one of the versions of Holy Night, she sings the word "divine" in the most gorgeous and chilling manner. i literally just got chills recalling it here while typing.

[jobeterob]

I guess I'm in the minority because I'm really not fond of their version of "Silent Night". It's good, but it doesn't really do much for me. I much, much prefer "Oh Holy Night" with the second alternate vocal and mix.

I agree with this.

Silent Night is never a favourite by anyone but Flo’s version sounds unfinished, untrained; to me it was only interesting because you got to hear her for once.

[sup_fan]

I agree with this.

Silent Night is never a favourite by anyone but Flo’s version sounds unfinished, untrained; to me it was only interesting because you got to hear her for once.

i agree. and then there's Mary's Christmas Song. when they did the duet version of it for the EE, my assumption is that this really wasn't a fully completed vocal by Mary. maybe she was just doing a demo and so the vocals aren't 100%. if it had been completed, there's no doubt they would have issued the full version on the Expanded Edition.

i don't think we have the exact dates for all the Xmas sessions. there were lead vocals recorded on 9/9 for Silent Night but that was during a session that included lead vocals on many other Xmas tracks [[all of which were Diana leads). so was the 9th Diana recording her lead or was it flo? same on 9/15 with leads on Christmas Song and others. So when did Flo and mary do their leads? did they just stop by one day and sort of randomly do it? Did they actually do a little of the background vocals on a day or two and, since they were already there, they ran through a few leads? don't know

[RanRan79]

i don't think we have the exact dates for all the Xmas sessions. there were lead vocals recorded on 9/9 for Silent Night but that was during a session that included lead vocals on many other Xmas tracks [[all of which were Diana leads). so was the 9th Diana recording her lead or was it flo? same on 9/15 with leads on Christmas Song and others. So when did Flo and mary do their leads? did they just stop by one day and sort of randomly do it? Did they actually do a little of the background vocals on a day or two and, since they were already there, they ran through a few leads? don't know

That's the part that's confusing to me. I also am having a difficult time figuring out if the Andantes are on "Silent Night", or if it's Diana and Mary, or if it's a combo of them all. I'm almost positive I hear the A's, but it also sounds like I can hear Diana. The expanded booklet doesn't give much in the way of information about any of this stuff. Was there any additional information in the Ultimate version released? Admittedly I didn't buy it because I had the EE and didn't see a use for yet another version.

[thanxal]

Was there any additional information in the Ultimate version released?

Unfortunately, no.

[sup_fan]

That's the part that's confusing to me. I also am having a difficult time figuring out if the Andantes are on "Silent Night", or if it's Diana and Mary, or if it's a combo of them all. I'm almost positive I hear the A's, but it also sounds like I can hear Diana. The expanded booklet doesn't give much in the way of information about any of this stuff. Was there any additional information in the Ultimate version released? Admittedly I didn't buy it because I had the EE and didn't see a use for yet another version.

again there isn't a ton of information. we have the recording date of 9/16 for backing vocals on Children Xmas, Little Drummer, Silent Night, My Xmas Tree. my guess is that they're not on it. that it's just the As

for the most part, i'm only hearing the As on this album. i just think that the women happen to do an excellent job of approximating the sound of the supremes. especially mary. it's not like we're hearing the bigger sound like we did on Stop or the various CW&P tunes. like they layered the vocals or had all of them singing together. it just doesn't sound like 5 or so people there. so even though it does sometimes sound like F or M kinda, i'm pretty sure it's not

George does mention in the appendix for Randy's book that M and F did a little recording for this album but perhaps he's just referring to their leads.