Originally Posted by
RanRan79
I wonder if "Kewpie Doll" was intended for a Smokey produced Diana album and that's why it didn't make the TMITM album. Something should have been done with it. Admittedly the production on "Kewpie" sounds more top notch than what Smokey did with the Floy Joy set. I don't know why a Smokey produced album didn't become the next lp after TMITM. That made better sense than LTISH.
As for Blue, as great of an album as the released version is that we finally got, I think it was too much of a continuation of Lady Sings. After the explosion that was Lady, Motown had to decide who Diana Ross, vocalist, was going to be. Blue's release would've suggested that she was going into jazz and blues, and surely she would have continued to release great and successful albums in that vein, but she would never have had another hit single. To The Baby was Diana in love with motherhood and IMO it was clouding her judgement. While the album would've turned out great, I don't believe the average person would've wanted an album of Diana singing songs about motherhood and children. TMITM ultimately ended up being the compromise to it all. We get Diana continuing some of the jazzy direction, while also including songs that spoke to where she was at in her life at the time, and some good pop/R&B thrown in for good measure. So as good as Blue is, I think it was a good idea shelving it, same as To the Baby.
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