I'm always a little surprised [not shocked, not highly judgmental] when Motown fans say they've never listened to any Beatles albums. Not saying it's required listening, but... if we think Motown is amazing and changed the world, why wouldn't we expose ourselves to those who loved Motown and who also influenced to some degrees what those at Motown were also doing? Never would I tell someone that they should be buying Deluxe Editions of the Beatles' albums, but... the music is out there--and free on places like YouTube.
In situations like this, I think about how when I first became a Supremes fan back in 1987 [[after reading "Dreamgirl"), I was only interested in their music from 1960-1969. "Who cares," I thought then, about stuff they did after Flo and Diana had left the group? Well, it took a year or two, but... eventually I started listening to '70s Supremes and it was like a whole next chapter was made available to me. Same thing with listening to the catalogs of other Motown stars...and the less famous Motown artists, too. Sometimes you can be surprised by music you thought you'd never like.
Check out this playlist on YT. The first thirteen tracks are the original Sgt. Pepper's album and the rest on the playlist are "gravy" on the deluxe edition.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis..._Yg_5vRlapHgKq
Lastly, I would never be able to consider any Supremes album as being able to be as influential as Sgt. Pepper was to the world of music fans. NOT saying our girls or their producers weren't entirely capable. I think it just came down to the fact that, in the '60s, Motown's focus was on the singles market. As you can tell by what folks have said in this discussion, side two of the Reflections album was pretty shaky in terms of what was included with some songs just not being the best choices. Part of that came from the fact that Motown producers in the '60s [at least] didn't approach albums as...important. Albums were just another way to get your singles out to the public while including a bunch of necessary filler. Granted, some of that "filler" was actually really good...but some, sadly, wasn't as good. So... it wasn't very likely that we Motown fans were going to get a '60s Motown album that was conceptual and all recorded within a short period of time because that wasn't really how Motown worked. I generally agree with the idea that Reflections side one is strong, but then things kind of go generally sideways on side two. [As much as folks here hate "What The World Needs Now Is Love," I don't see how anyone could take a waltz-tempo song and "reinvent" it--short of kind of ruining it. 4-4 songs you can speed up...slow down... be inventive. A waltz? Not so much. As for me, I always loved that song because Mary and especially Flo were so up front in the mix and you could really hear Flo at the fade...but that's just what makes me happy.] Generally, I think Grant has some of the better ideas about what songs might have improved side two--using more of those psychedelic soul-lite and California-esque breezy songs the group recorded between mid-1967 and early 1968--but...for whatever reason, Motown just didn't dip into those songs. They missed an opportunity, I suppose. Wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last.
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