Originally Posted by
BayouMotownMan
Many of the fans love this album, but I remember being underwhelmed. Motown was stingy, giving us barely 30 minutes of music. Two more tracks could have been added for sure.
In one of Randy's newsletters, and I still have most, an executive at Motown told him that the first album with Scherrie would be a "test" album to see just how much audience the group still had. That is what this album sounds like all these years later...a test. Ten songs, five different producers resulted in an album without direction and somewhat desperation to find a hit sound. The ladies recorded enough material for two albums. Couldn't Cindy have been given at least a line in one song?
He's My Man was clearly the breakout song here and Motown took it's jolly time issuing it as the first single. They were even slower in issuing its follow up. The lp got little promotion and the only positive thing was that the ladies were on television again giving the set the promotion that Motown wasn't.
Brian Holland finally found a cohesive package with the wonderful High Energy set the following year. That album was fresh and elegant. Scherrie was the established new lead singer with Mary only doing the ballads...the way it should be. Having Scherrie and Mary do a duet on This Is Why I Believe In You only served to reveal that Scherrie was the better vocalist...she blows Mary off the song. When I listen to Don't Let My Teardrops Bother You, THAT was the real Mary Wilson, a seductive type of songstress.
Even though the 1975 album didn't go great guns, it did prove to Motown that the ladies had enough audience to warrant more recordings. It would be the inner group dynamic and extremely ineffective indoor management that would finally kill the group.
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