Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
that's sort of my overall point here. I'm not sure if it was the girls, the manager, motown overall. or all of the above. i've mentioned it on here a bunch and it still baffles me that there didn't seem to be more coordination between release schedule, tv dates and live shows. it's really almost as if the recording and releases were all in 1 corporate silo and the tour planning and all was a totally different silo.

with NW, Touch, FJ, etc you could have easily revamped the show with new content from the singles and albums, new additional material that was appropriate for the tour and album, sets and costumes, etc.

for instance, with Floy Joy you could have done a marvelous job of some new costumes that aligned with the album art. They often wore 2 or 3 in a show so if you had 6 or 7 sets, you'd be covered. white, reds, pinks. some matching some not.

And what a perfect way to promote the album by incorporating a Smokey medley. I could see opening the show with YWSSL The band is on stage and jamming on the intro. there's a white set backdrop with a center panel with Floy Joy on it in red. Then the panel could open or rotate and there are the girls in white outfits and the white & red patio table set up. They descend a few stairs from that platform to start singing the opening number.
Grant, I absolutely don't disagree with your opinion and great ideas here, but I think the problem was: MONEY. Diana *might* have gotten that kind of budget [including rotating sets], but I would think by 1972 that money for that kind of thing [especially with the singles chart performances starting to slide] just wasn't there. I have to wonder, as well, whether or not in 1972, if/when Diana was on stage, whether or not she had/would've had that kind of presentation. For years, the Supremes generally just skipped on stage after they were announced. I would almost imagine that Diana either did the same during her early solo career or perhaps she entered from the back of the house. Building moveable stagings would've been expensive, as was storing them, transporting them, and having a crew to stage and strike them. As I said above, I would've loved that kind of idea [and similar more creative ways to stage their show for the '70s and incorporate more album material and themed shows], but I think that the bottom line for The Supremes during those years was money. Secondary was exactly what you said--there didn't seem to be any strong connection between Corporate and Group Management/Coordination.