Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland compositions, as performed by the Funk Brothers, are a major part of the “Motown Sound” and this song is no exception.
I will just let you listen to all of these renditions by the Motown artists and let you hear for yourself. This is Classic Motown at it’s best IMHO.
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#9 R&B, #50 Pop
First here is the extended version by the very under-rated and so often over -looked Elgins. This 1966 hit is my favorite!
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And this version of “Heaven Must Have Sent You” is the Funk Brothers with The Andantes on vocals. For those of you that don’t know — this is the Motown “House Band” and the “House Backup Singers”
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This Supremes rendition comes from my 2000 Box Set Bonus Disc (Now OOP). Since I have digitized most of my music collection I don’t have the Box Set Booklet at my fingertips, but I will eventually locate it and see if it has a recording date for this tune and update this post accordingly.
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Naturally Bonnie Pointer’s first Motown LP released in 1978, produced by her husband Jeffrey Bowen, had the required Jobete published cover tunes, but this one was given a “Disco” flavor to update it to the then current sound of pop music. It was actually quite successful in 1979.
Now it is time for your opinion readers. Pick you fave and tell us why in the comments section.
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The Supremes – Originally titled “A Breath Taking, First Sight Soul Shaking, One Night” (1963) #75 Pop
This single is from The Supremes” “Where Did Our Love Go” classic album release of 1964 which was the first significant set that brought the group national attention. Their first LP, 1962′s “Meet The Supremes,” was unknown to me and my friends when this second LP was released . Most purchased it as an after thought to complete our collections many many years later.
“WDOLG,” who’s “Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition” was recently released, was basically everyone’s first taste of the hit making Supremes and we loved them as a group with no stand outs! This entire LP was a smash in my neighborhood and all of we tweens and teenagers knew every song, every lyric, every vocal inflection and we all had our favorite Supreme. Some preferred the earthy Flo; some loved the sexy Mary; and others stood by the nasal voice Diane who always had on a wig covering one eye whenever she appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. I recall how this drove my grandmother nuts! (LOL)
I guess you knew I couldn’t close the month out of Motown Female Vocal Groups without an original Supremes song — so I went to my favorite, WDOLG, and took two days to finally decide on “A Breath Taking Guy,” composed by Smokey Robinson. Ironically, I was torn between the two Smokey Robinson songs (which were the only two on the LP). WDOLG also had one Norman Whitfield cut and the rest were all Holland-Dozier-Holland, who as we all know, would take the girls into the hit making stratosphere!
TRIVIA: H-D-H may have taken the girls to the top of the charts, but Mrs. Smokey Robinson had a lot to do with Mr. Robinson not writing very much more than these two tunes and producing more for The Supremes. She was protecting her husband, and rightly so, from the clutches of the “other woman”. This tidbit comes from more than one of the many Motown autobiographies and biographies that I have read over the years. See my “Recommended Reading List” in the sidebar.
Apparently Smokey wrote and arranged for the girls as a real “girl group” and all three ladies were singing into microphones that were turned on and the blend of the three voices was superb. All three ladies participated as a group and there were no divas on board: that is why I love this song and the album as a whole. These were the times of innocence and the innocent beginning of what was to become DRATS.
Hope you have enjoyed this month’s presentations. There are some earlier posts here on OSML about Motown Girl Groups as well. Just use the search function and you will find additional Supremes, Marvelettes and Vandellas music.
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The Supremes – Everybody’s Got The Right To Love (1970) #11 R&B, #21 Pop
Before the worldwide phenom called Diana Ross & The Supremes there was an awesome Motown trio called simply The Supremes. Florence Ballard, Diane Ross and Mary Wilson, three young girls from the Detroit Brewster projects, made beautiful music at Motown by blending their voices in sweet harmonies.
After Diana Ross left DRATS — once again there was an awesome Motown trio called The Supremes. Diane was not replaced but supplanted by Jean Terrell. Terrell’s voice had more maturity and soul than Diane’s. Under the guidance of producer Frank Wilson, The Supremes first album release in 1970, “Right On,” was not only the best Supremes LP since WDOLG , but the best of the decade IMHO!
I vividly recall singing the songs from this LP in high school while in the lunch room, in Home Econ class and in gym class. We all loved this LP. In the student lounge we listened to it while playing Spades. Every single song had all three girls paraticipating and their voices could be heard! The Supremes were back to being an awesome girl group again and they proved it by charting 4 hits in 1970 to Miss Ross’ 2 solo hits that year!
All in all, with an impressive 8 hit singles, these Supremes don’t get much recognition in the Motown history books where it always appears that the group ended when Ross left. But that is oh so not true! These ladies were dynamite.
“EGTRTL,” composed by Lou Stallman, was the second single released from the “Right On” LP after the hit “Up The Ladder To The Roof.”
Get with it Oldies radio -and play these 70s Supremes! There were other personnel changes in the future of the group — but Jean,Mary & Cindy were the best lineup after DRATS!
Please give them a listen and make “Right On” a part of you music collection if it isn’t already. The LP rocks! It went #4 R&B and #25 Pop.
Here are The Supremes are singing their 1965 #1 USA & #7 UK hit single. [Audio clip: view full post to listen] The Supremes — Stop In The Name of Love (Alternate) (1965) And here is an alternate version of the song from my cherished, now oop, Import Supremes Limited Edition Box Set of 200o. [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] The Supremes — I Hear A Symphony (1965) Released as a single in October 1965, “I Hear A Symphony” became The Supremes sixth #1 on the Billboard Top 100. Capitalizing on it’s hit status the song was also included on the LP, of the same name released in [...]
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/812879_fxs5u/20.Contours-DoYouLoveMe.mp3] The Contours – Do You Love Me (1962) The Contours had a number #1 R&B Hit (#3US) in 1962 with this Berry Gordy, Jr. penned song that was meant for the Temptations. As the story goes, when Berry finished creating the hit for the Temptations, who had not had much luck on the [...]
