supremes / the mis-fires lp cuts

[daviddh]

hello SDF,not sure if we discussed this but i was curious to see what you all thought about my query . before i start my question , i just wanted to say i am not knocking the Supremes or Diana. just wanted your opinions
on most of the supremes lps i think motown did right by the ladies but there are a few choices that left me wondering? what? who let this out?
one of them is the Supremes version of UP UP AND AWAY from Reflections lp. i really like the lp but i cant get past this track. i always thought i would have used THE HAPPENING instead as UP/AWAY seems so weak. just thought this was an odd track,although i love the origianl version by the 5th D.
there is a few tracks on the A GO GO lp that are not obviously recorded with the Funk Brothers. i can only assume that motown wanted a more pop sound on this lp but many years later.....although this lp became one of their best sellers.....i think not using the Funks was a bad idea.
my only other misfire was LET THE SUNSHINE IN. my first complaint is it is named after another 5 D hit instead of the lead single,NO MATTER WHAT SIGN YOU ARE.
the only song i like is LET THE MUSIC PLAY. the rest also seems weak to me.
do u have any misfires? just curious,thanks

[RossHolloway]

Well being a huge Supremes fan, as well as Motown fan in general, I think that on most albums there are going to be some singles that just don't work. There are just some tracks, heck even some singles, that just didn't click with me. On the flip side there are some album cuts that that I play more than the released singles. I've always assumed that the albums producers just wanted their own songs on the album for monetary reasons, regardless of how great the song was. That said I think there are a couple albums by the group that were pretty flawless/seamless: Rogers & Hart and the Supremes Join the Temps album from '68. Non Supreme albums that I also think are near seamless- Mary Wells My Guy and Brenda Holloway's Every Little Bit Hurts.

[Glenpwood]

Thankfully the girls back catalog stands up pretty well some forty odd years later. A lot of the minor misfires ironically for me are some of the unreleased material that's been unearthed, particularly some of the 2 disc Lost And Found stuff. I enjoy them from a historical stand point but it gets pretty apparent fast why some stuff got left in the can.

[Glenpwood]

Daviddh,

Are you sure it's those versions and not maybe the repertoire of the 5th Dimension you dislike since you mention Up Up And Away & Aquarius? Hehe

[daviddh]

lol. i like the 5th D, and i like those songs but the supremes version of Up Up and Away should have been left in the vault. it's to laid back.

[captainjames]

Actually, I am one of the very few folks that hate "The Happening" so, they could have put anything on there besides that for me.

[tomato tom]

I always loved Discover Me from the Let The Sunshine In LP. Diana, obviously tired, and on the umpteenth take while the producer was trying to get what he wanted out of her. Im just amazed that, at that stage in her career, when BG was about to launch her solo, he let this one SOULFUL track out. Diana really proves she can bring a different mix to the table..Paulo XXX