Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
i think they pulled together an amazing set of songs here. the Hollands really seemed to be on the right track with a very polished and they were experimenting with different intriguing ideas.

IMO the reason it bombed was:

1. the very strained group dynamics. we've all talked about the Pedro and Mary problems and i think things were coming to a head here.
2. the decline of returning the group to motown management - according to Mary's book, berry wanted the group to be managed by motown again. My guess is the strong performance [[especially in the dance clubs) of Walking opened motown's eyes to the idea of the Supremes being the company's primary disco act. but to do so would mean they needed to ditch Pedro and get their act in gear [[both figuratively and literally). when mary didn't opt to do this, i think motown really washed their hands of the group and started to look elsewhere, like High Inergy
3. wrong lead single - Let Yourself Go should have been the lead as, from a sound perspective, builds closely on the sound of Walking. similar dynamics, mood and style.
4. mary's decision to leave the group - the lp was only out a month or so before mary announced her departure. that would have killed any promotion
The timing of the announcement of Mary’s departure did her and the album no favours.
She would have done well to wait and see if the MS&S album proved successful.
Perhaps if “”You Are The Heart Of Me” had been the first or even second single and charted reasonably well, we might have been spared that rather lame disco album.