let's say No Matter What Sign [[or some other tune) had been a hit and Diana left the group in mid 69 or so.

the story goes that Berry wanted Someday to be her first solo single. of course it's a great song so i'm pretty sure it would have been a hit. So would Bristol have then produced her first album? the tone/lyric definitely talks about the past and would that have been a good thing, especially given how they were trying to move her forward?

while Reach out and touch wasn't a massive hit, it led to Mountain which became her signature song!