Quote Originally Posted by jobucats View Post
First of all, I do love both versions of "Funny Girl" with just the three ladies, and with the additional background vocals. Revisiting the expanded version and the booklet has angered me; yet has made me see the reason there are those folk with animosity toward Berry Gordy's obsession with Diana and her willingly going along with his antics.

Even Jule Styne, who wrote the music, worked in studio with the ladies, and wrote the liner notes was bothered that additional background vocals were added to the production before it's release. Seriously, this was a slap in Mary and Cindy's face. I wonder if they were given a copy of the tape with just their contribution? What it must have felt like to listen to it the first time to discover your vocals have been either deleted or cushioned with other background voices? Was the production any better with those additional background voices? Not to my ears.

This was way too obvious that this was a Diana Ross project and was released way too soon before her eventual exit.
I love having both versions, too. Thank you, George Solomon & company! I will need to listen to the EE to see if I have a preference. Do you?

I love that Jule Styne worked with the group in the studio. As I'm reading Barbra Streisand's autobiography, I have a greater appreciation for the composer. It is very significant to me how he felt about not using Mary and Cindy. I think Berry Gordy/Motown wanted a more "polished" mainstream sound, but Jule Styne, the esteemed Broadway composer himself, felt Mary and Cindy were just fine.

Revisiting the expanded version and the booklet has angered me... has made me see the reason there are those folk with animosity toward Berry Gordy's obsession with Diana and her willingly going along with his antics.
Reading this thread and others, I've come to realize how many here have really resented Berry Gordy's obsession with Diana. And I've come to understand why.

As a preteen fan, I loved the Supremes, as a group. I loved their music and their image. I also fell in love with Diana's voice. I have several favorite singers/vocalists, female and male, but none come close to Diana Ross. [Well, maybe Barbra, Aretha, Dionne, Dusty & Marvin come fairly close. ]

I was surprised, like everyone else, with the name change in 1967. But I had long thought that Diana's voice was not sufficiently recognized as the group's lead singer, and even among female vocalists in general. I guess for many, Berry Gordy's/Motown's ambitions and plans and the way they were executed, and Diana's complicitness, were excessive and outrageous [to say the least]. I was too young at the time to comprehend and understand.

Anyway, finally, I really appreciate this forum.