Since we're on the subject of lost and found:
I forgot I lost this one:
Thanks for all three! Be nice if they had a cleaned up version of “Movin On”.
actually i think there are a couple of leads of Mary's in the list i posted. obviously if there is an extended mix of EarlyMorning, then that's going to be Mary. But in the early 70s, she just didn't have all that many leads. a handful, and certainly more than she was doing in the DRATS era. but not tons. and certainly not like the volume she did starting in mid 70s.
Mary said back in 1971 that their Frontier engagement, where they introduced a whole new show, was being recorded by Motown for a potential live album. I also came across a little blurp in Billboard Magazine from late 1971 that Motown was going to record several live shows during their UK tour.
I have to wonder if the Central Park show was professionally recorded by Motown. That was a big show for them.
Last edited by bradsupremes; 03-02-2019 at 12:12 PM.
These Cindy led late 70s songs, were not recorded at the time. This was cleared up in the liner notes in the Let Yourself Go boxset. Cindy did them herself in the mid 80s to the old backing tracks iin order to try for a solo recording contract, which she ultimately did with Hi-Hat Records on "Dancing Room".
oh i'd love to hear Mary sing I Feel The Earth! through other fans' posts on here, i believe the verdict on Day By Day was that it didn't really work. not sure if the arrangement was an issue or what. There's a pic of JMC onstage in the gorgeous white bugle bead gowns. and i love the photo shoot JML did in those gowns - fierce!!
Brad - when was the Frontier with the totally new show? i thought they played there in Sept 71 and again in Feb 72.
I'm going to guess at more of the song lineup:
*Stoned Love [[of course)
*Nathan jones
*60s medley?
*Earth move
*Day by Day
*Where you lead
*Exodus - i know they did this in Hawaii in spring 72 but in Mary's book she mentions a show [[i think with the tops) where they did this in 71 as an encore but when they made their "fake" exit the audience started to get up and leave and when the girls returned to the stage for the encore, they had to sort of call people back in.
*Touch maybe - it would have been their latest single or maybe FJ? depending on when they played there
*macarthur park - jean did this as a solo when in England in late 71 so maybe she did it here too
*Love the one you're with - they'd just added this to their repertoire in fall 71
Sup_fan, I believe it was for their February 1972 engagement where they did their new set list. There is audio of them performing "Where You Lead" on the Merv Griffin Show.
Weren't they also doing "Oh Happy Day" around this time too? Later they would add "I'll Take You There" and "Cherry Pie". Seems like more misses than hits.
What I'll never understand post-Diana is why they felt the need to do these showtunesy types of sings at all. That was Berry's big thing. By 1971 they sure had enough of a catalog to stick with their own tunes.
I'm not sure why Gordy didn't create two live shows geared to different audiences going back to the mid-60s. You had them performing in prestigious clubs like the Copa, Blinstrubs, or Vegas shows but then they were performing at college universities in-between engagements. Those are vastly different audiences. The showtunes had a place in the club/hotels, but Gordy should have crafted a "youth/all hits" show for the universities similar to the Hollywood Bowl show without that showtune stuff. The fans loved them regardless, but I'm sure they would have preferred to hear "You Can't Hurry Love" or "Where Did Our Love Go" over a medley of standards. What is surprising is how they stopped changing the show around late 1968. They added "Love Child" and things like "My Man," but they basically kept the same show dating back to the Copa 1967. Their show should have totally been revamped in late 1968/early 1969.
Like you said, Mary, there was no reason for the showtunes in the 70s. I think the February 1972 Frontier show replaced those showtunes with contemporary songs of the time [["Day By Day" was from the Broadway musical Godspell, but it was a big hit on the charts at the time so it made sense to include it). They made big mistake when Gil Askey came back and he brought out a lot of the Farewell charts. By that time Jean was pretty much done with the group. She refused to sing "Love Child" and wouldn't recite the spoken lines in "Love Is Here And Now You're Gone."
Last edited by bradsupremes; 03-10-2019 at 02:11 AM.
I saw The Supremes a dozen times in the 60s, in auditoriums at colleges, at sports arenas and at summer tents in-the-round. It was always their "nightclub" shows.
My first time was in February 1966. Of course I was excited and thrilled but, even at 16, I was surprised that for a college and teenage crowd they did the Copa show. The biggest surprise is that they didn't sing their current release My World Is Empty Without You. [[Of course, later it became a concert staple.)
In the Spring of 1968 for a concert sponsored by a teen-oriented radio station at a sports arena once again it was the nightclub show but it did not include their latest release Forever Came Today.
In 1969 the nightclub show worked well at theaters in-the-round but again I felt cheated at college shows that we didn't get more of the singles or album tracks. As many times as I have seen them I never saw them sing Composer, Shame, Some Things, Nothing But Heartaches, or Forever Came Today. But at least I saw them sing You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You 12 times - sigh - lol!
This was the same for all the Motown acts I saw in the 60s. I guess concert-goers felt that seeing the razzle-dazzle of a nightclub act was the thrill. Of course I loved it but as a fan I felt I wanted more of the Motown music and less of the show-tunes.
This worked for the 60s but I agree that by the 70s they should have tailored their shows for either nightclub or concert-hall venues and audiences.
Last edited by johnjeb; 03-10-2019 at 01:37 PM.
completely agree - they should have had multiple versions of show. and seems like they did. with Hollywood Bowl and even some of the Live in Orient shows. sure they included some MOR but they were typically still doing full versions of 6 - 8 hits. but then seems like once it became DRATS they really stuck with the Vegas show.
I'm baffled as to why the 70s Sups seemed so stuck in the past. was it Mary that was resistant to change? did motown decree that they keep doing things that way? i can't imagine berry would give two shits as to what the 70s Sup's show contained.
I can understand the songs listed .. except Nothing But Heartaches. Some Things featured Nick & Val & likely Josie Jo in the background; the rest, the Andantes. Having Mary & Cindy singing the background live might lead one to a closer listen of the actual single and a puzzlement as to why Mary & Cindy did not sound as they did on the record. Motown was probably playing it safe so as to not draw attention to the substitute background singers in the studio recording.
On tv, with a few exceptions, Mary & Cindy usually lip-synched to the "live" presentation of these singles.
Bookmarks