The Supremes released their first Top 40 hit,.... "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes"!
The Supremes released their first Top 40 hit,.... "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes"!
IT still sounds great. This song opened up the door to the greatest female group in history ever, The Supremes. This song WTLLSSTHE and their next release Where Did Our Love Go? introduced a new era in music,
that is still evolving
Last edited by Zantellor; 10-27-2018 at 07:23 PM.
Last edited by marv2; 10-28-2018 at 03:25 AM.
When the Love... should've been a bigger hit but I understood why: it almost sounded like a MR&TV's track. Don't know what the Hollands were thinking with Run Run Run. I always cite Where Did Our Love Go as the START of the Supremes as we know them.
According to the notes from TCMS-1964, HDH were influenced by the Phil Spector "Wall Of Sound" when they recorded The Supremes' "Run, Run, Run" in 1963. The song was also recorded prior to [[yet released after) "When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" so listeners [[as well as DJs here in the USA) expecting a progression [[or soundalike) from "Lovelight" were thrown off by "Run, Run, Run". And like you do, a lot of fans consider "Where Did Our Love Go" the beginning of The Supremes that we know & love.
Last edited by Motown Eddie; 10-28-2018 at 12:28 PM.
Being very young and living in the UK I was not actually aware of 'RRR' being released between 'Lovelight' & 'WDOLG' until a few years later. I've always liked it and in fact prefer it to 'Baby Love'! Mind you I prefer anything to 'Baby Love'!
The title of the song should have been shortened somehow. Maybe just, “When the Lovelight Starts,” which isn’t much better, but following up that marathon title, “A Breathtaking, First Sight Soul-Shaking, One Night Lovemaking, Next Day Heartbreaking Guy,” they should have known better.
The number would have been much better suited to Martha.
Well I know WHY they did it but I don't understand WHY any one of them thought it was a good idea. It wasn't their sound lol
And it was obvious folks knew it wasn't Motown-esque, which explains why it was a massive flop. Thankfully they finally found the sound for them with WDOLG.
who does the male growl around 1:40?
Listening to it now. They were not kidding around when they recorded this song. They pulled out all of the stops. Flo is really strong on the background. I can make her out first above everyone else, then Mary right along with her. The guys are buried back there and doing the handclaps. A very danceable record for sure.
Good info. RUN RUN RUN does sound like an interruption to their emerging distinct sound , so it makes sense that it's an earlier recorded song. Similarly, learning that Stevie Wonder's YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE was a song written a few years earlier makes sense when you compare its style to the more progressive sound of SUPERSTITION , which wound up getting released before it.
Marv: as a total guess , I'll go with Levi
Last edited by Boogiedown; 10-29-2018 at 12:24 AM.
I don't even think Martha and the girls could've hit any bigger with "Lovelight". The fact that it made it as far as #23 pop is about as much as could've been expected IMO. What surprised me is that "Lovelight" reached #2 on Cashbox's R&B chart. It's my understanding- and someone please correct me if I'm wrong- that where Billboard relied on a combination of factors, Cashbox based it's chartings on record sales [[and I'm assuming reported sales via record stores, as I'm sure Motown wasn't giving anyone an accounting of just how well or not a record was selling). "Lovelight" made it all the way to #20 on the Cashbox pop chart, so between it's #2 and 20 showings sales wise, I think the song was probably more popular than it's #23 Billboard placement would otherwise suggest. It is interesting to ponder how the song would've charted on the Billboard r&b if that chart had not been discontinued at the time.
Last edited by RanRan79; 10-29-2018 at 12:50 PM.
As for "Run, Run, Run", I agree, it seems like such a step backwards. It's a good song, Diana does a great lead on it, although I think the male vocals on the song are unnecessary and take away from the sound. It would've made a great album track or b-side, but it should not have followed up "Lovelight". I would've released a reworked version of "Penny Pincher", which of course is a "Lovelight" soundalike, and we know how Motown liked to follow up a hit with a soundalike. The problem with "Penny" is that there's not enough punch in the instrumentation and Flo and Mary are not on the same page volume wise and they could've benefited from a more harmonious sound, although Flo sounds great "on her own". I think "Penny" being as successful or even more successful would've depended on the changes the producers made in a re-recorded version. As is, I understand why it was passed over for release.
I know the idea is that once HDH locked in on a formula for the group that the Supremes belonged to them, but I think Weatherspoon and Stevenson's "Don't Take It Away" would have made a worthy follow up also. It certainly would've done better than "Run" IMO.
i've always liked Lovelight but agree it's a bit of an anomaly for the Sups. it's clearly more of an r&b record, similar to what MRATV had been doing with Heatwave. and what's more is Berry was dying to find that elusive female artist/group that could really bridge black r&b music with white pop music. Lovelight is a very r&b approach and while its lots of fun, it doesn't seem to really capture the mission that Berry was after.
Run Run Run IMO is a predecessor to the Jimmy Webb fiasco lol. it's an overproduced song with too much going on and not enough nuance between the various instrumental lines. every instrument an vocalist is singing at full volume for 100% of the recording. it's doesn't built to a crescendo. Even many of the Phil Spector works layered in things as the song went on. or dropped at times so that the listener had a little bit of a break. Run [[and many of the Webb songs like Paradise, Silent Voices) are just too much and too heavy.
In comparison look at Stoned Love. now that certainly has a ton of things going on. massive orchestral track, vocals, etc. But the strings aren't all playing at full volume through every measure of the song. same with the sax, the brass, the vocals, etc. things swirl in and out and it builds to a monumental ending.
Not sure how to articulate this but "Lovelight" sounded more current of the time, where "Run" seemed like a step back to the doo-wop days. Not a smooth progression.
While I was getting ready for Trick or Treating, the kids on Bandstand were dancing to "When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" here beginning at 3:40 in this video clip:
Loving this clip
Last edited by Motown Eddie; 10-30-2018 at 04:56 AM.
exactly right. in hindsight we can see how musical trends came and went, what had staying power, what changes evolved over time. but back in 63 there was no way to predict that the girl group sound would decline, that Spector would sort of burn out, the rise of the British.
Plus between 59 and early 64, motown as just another label IMO. it wasn't until WDOLG and the subsequent songs of Baby Love, Dancing in the streets, My guy, My girl, Baby i need your loving, etc that the MOTOWN SOUND really started to evolve. sure there were great songs in the early years and hits too. but it was a more experimental era and sometimes they were copying others. once the MOTOWN SOUND was a hit, they were the trend setters, not the followers.
And the assistant choreographer [[not seen in the film) was Toni Basil who later had the #1 hit "Mickey".
The booklet states the concert took place October 28 & 29, 1964. Baby Love would reach #1 two days later in the Billboard issue dated October 31, 1964. This explains why Come See About Me wasn't performed. CSAM entered the Billboard chart, at #66, in issue November 14, 1964.
Last edited by johnjeb; 10-31-2018 at 10:44 AM.
Yes, that is what I had heard and read, also.
Here is a quote taken from Joel Whitburn's book "Top R&B Singles 1942-1999"
HIATUS: 11/30/63 - 1/23/65
Billboard did not publish an R&B singles chart from November 30, 1963 through January 23, 1965. It is our understanding that there was so much crossover of titles between the R&B and pop singles [[Hot 100) charts that Billboard considered the charts to be too similar. This does not mean that R&B artists stopped turning out hits. After all, it was during this 14-month period that Motown established itself as an R&B institution.
Any errors in the above statement are my typos.
I have a few chart books [[most dated only through 2000, approximately) and none mention why the R&B chart was resumed. I guess one can assume that it was due to demand or maybe even Motown's influence.
Last edited by johnjeb; 10-30-2018 at 02:34 PM.
That was 1964. Coincidentally, 24 years later in 1988 several of those artists would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the same day! The Beach Boys, the Supremes and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones would induct the Beatles at the January 1988 ceremony. Several of the folks in the T.A.M.I. Show would be onstage together at the Waldorf in 1988 for a jam session.
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