A wonderful compilation of The Supremes' guest appearances on television shows from their break-out year in 1964 to Diana Ross' departure in 1969.
Their first seven singles charted (if at all) in the lower reaches of the Top 100, only WHEN THE LOVELIGHT STARTS SHINING THROUGH HIS EYES reached the Top 30. At the start of 1964, when RUN, RUN, RUN reached a dismal #93, they were earning their Motown nickname The 'no-hit' Supremes.
But that summer WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO soared to #1 followed by another eleven #1 singles over the next six years.
A by-product of their chart success was their frequent appearances on television shows and here you follow their progression from demure and polite in Prom 'formals' to the glamour of sequins and beads as they went global... and as Diana Ross was positioned further apart to highlight her growing star potential.
Shelf or charity shop? A keeper - apart from the glorious hits, it's fascinating to watch the growing positioning by Berry Gordy of Diana Ross for the inevutable solo star status; going from eye-popping jaw-snapping gauchness to sleek Diva. Meanwhile, Mary Wilson smiles, sways and coos as Florence Ballard looks bright and knowing; in 1967, Flo's growing disatisfaction with her reduced position within the group led to an-already planned dismissal and she was replaced with the ever-smiling Cindy Birdsong who, more importantly for Gordy, knew her place. The DVD had an excellent extras section of the original vocal tracks so you can hear them in all their isolated creamy perfection.
100 fantastic minutes spent with Otis Williams, part-founder of Motown legends The Temptations and the last living member of the Classic Five line-up which included David Ruffin, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks.
The Temptations came together when Otis and Franklin (formerly of The Distants) joined forces with Kendricks and Williams (formerly of The Primes) but the group's success really started when they recruited the tempestuous ego of David Ruffin then the hits started coming.
The Classic Five lasted for four years before Ruffin's demands - including wanting their name changed to David Ruffin AND The Temptations - led to his dismissal, replaced by Dennis Edwards; his arrival coinciding with a new direction in sound, this time into a more hard-edged urban sound.
These tv appearances show how The Temps not only were sublime vocally but visually too with their choreographed slides, boogaloos, drops, gestures, claps and fingersnaps.
Shelf or charity shop? Seriously?? MY GIRL, GET READY, AIN'T TOO PROUD TO BEG, YOU'RE MY EVERYTHING, I WISH IT WOULD RAIN, CLOUD NINE, BALL OF CONFUSION, JUST MY IMAGINATION, and PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE are just some of the filmed performances but the real treasures are 15 acapella tracks straight from Motown Studio A which shows off David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards' gruff vocals, Eddie Kendricks' sweet falsetto, Paul Edwards' tenor, Melvin Franklin's bottomless bass and Otis providing the vocal glue to meld them all together,
The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and,
as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast
recording of my life:
First performed: 1972, Imperial Theater, NY
First seen by me: 1998, Bridewell, London
Productions seen: Three
Score: Stephen Schwartz Book: Roger O. Hirson / Bob Fosse
Plot: A strolling band of players invite us to watch them perform their show about Pippin, the restless son of King Charlemagne. Pippin is unloved at court with his distant father and scheming stepmother Fastrada who is pushing her clueless son to become heir. Pippin is caught in an existential quandary - where can he find a purpose? War, sex, revolution, the simple life... Pippin tries them all, but The Leading Player seems to know exactly what Pippin is there for...
Five memorable numbers: MAGIC TO DO, CORNER OF THE SKY, NO TIME AT ALL, SPREAD A LITTLE SUNSHINE, KIND OF WOMAN
Stephen Schwartz had written PIPPIN in the late 1960s while at
university so with the success of 1971's GODSPELL, producers asked if he had any other shows. PIPPIN was dusted off and rewritten but the 1960s echoes through the plot - a young man's
existential crisis - but it's the ghost of Bob Fosse, the original director/choreographer, that haunts subsequent productions. Fosse threw Schwartz and Hirson's concept out and gave it what is
now recognized as the Fosse style - needless to say, the rehearsal period was marked with frequent spats between director and composer.
1972 was the year Fosse won the
three main Director showbiz awards: Academy Award
(CABARET), Emmy Award (LIZA WITH A Z) and the Tony Award for PIPPIN. He even directed a revolutionary TV ad for PIPPIN - a
whole minute of star Ben Vereen as The Leading Player and two chorus
girls doing a quintessential Fosse number 'The Manson Trio' - the voice-over then announced you could see the other 119 minutes
of PIPPIN at the Imperial Theater; a simple idea but it was the first theatre ad to focus on just one song; the show ran for four and a half years! In
London, it famously flopped despite Fosse
recreating his production. That slinky, sexy Fosse style has been lurking in all three productions I have seen - with directors adding their own spin on top of it, throwing concepts on it to divert attention from the skimpy-but-bizarre book. Although amusing enough, it cannot really contain
the weighty themes it raises. The eventual collapse of the
players' make-believe world which leaves Pippin and his lover Catherine facing life with no coloured lights or
music feels more like it just ran out of steam - the idea was better realized in INTO
THE WOODS with fairy-tale characters, having sacrificed their Narrator, suddenly faced with having to create their own ending. I don't think I have seen a fully successful production but what always has me returning to the show is Schwartz's score - his
finest - which, although sometimes at odds with the book, features some dazzling Broadway show tunes: the wonderful seductive opening number "Magic To Do", Pippin's 'I Want' number "Corner
Of The Sky", Berthe's infectious, sing-a-long "No Time At All",
Fastrada's dissembling "Spread A Little Sunshine", the choral loveliness
of "Morning Glow", Catherine's pop-infused "Kind of Woman" and her
break-up ballad "I Guess I'll Miss The Man" are enough to make me
overlook any other flaws - oddly enough the 1972 cast
recording was on Motown Records, which explains why Michael Jackson and
The Supremes covered songs from the score.
There is plenty of video representation of PIPPIN but you cannot improve on the best... here is Ben Vereen in his Tony Award-winning role as the Leading Player seductively enticing us to enter the unsettling word of his troupe of players with MAGIC TO DO, truly one of the best opening numbers ever. This was taken from a 1981 performance that was recorded for Canadian Television but what it does is immortalize Vereen's magnetism and Fosse's choreography, directed here by his PIPPIN dance captain Kathryn Doby who - among other Fosse credits - was one of the Kit Kat girls in his film of CABARET.
So goodbye 2013, an odd year but one that outshone it's shabby, derelict predecessor.
As is the case with each passing year, it was not a good year for lovers of Motown. This year saw a number of Motown's less well-known alumni leaving the stage for the last time.
Liz Lands recorded only a few tracks for Berry Gordy's gospel label and has the odd distinction in sharing a 7" single credit with Martin Luther King! Gordy released some of King's speeches on vinyl and paired them up with Lands' singing a gospel choon. She is best remembered for the track MIDNIGHT JOHNNY *ahem* which also featured the vocals of none other than The Temptations.
Liz Lands died 11th January aged 74. Speaking of The Temps...
School friends Richard Street, Otis Williams, Warren Harris and Melvin Franklin sang together in the group "Otis Williams & The Distants" . When Williams and Franklin left to join the group that would eventually become The Temptations, Street and Harris joined another Motown group called The Monitors. They recorded with Motown from 1964 to 1968 without ever really having a break-though hit but their records are worth tracking down because they had a fabulous sound. One of my favourites is the lovely SAY YOU with Richard Street's yearning lead vocal. Major snaps to tomovox for his excellent video!
Street also married Carolyn Gill of The Velvelettes so it was a real Motown marriage.
Towards the end of the 1960s Richard Street was called upon to help out his old friends in a unique capacity. Temp member Paul Williams (no relation to Otis) was suffering from sickle cell anaemia and drinking to excess so Street was asked to go on tour with them and shadow him - in a scene straight out of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, he would sing behind a curtain as Williams mimed onstage to all the songs other than his one or two solo numbers. If Paul was too incapacitated, Richard would then physically substitute for him too. When in 1971 Paul W. was ruled unable to continue performing by doctors, Street was the natural substitute.
It's telling that the Temps' kept Paul Williams on the payroll and he advised them on dance moves until his tragic death only two years later when he was found shot in an alley, a possible suicide.
Richard Street was part of The Temptations officially from 1971 - 1993 so appeared vocally on such hits as PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE, LAW OF THE LAND, TAKE A LOOK AROUND, SUPERSTAR and TREAT HER LIKE A LADY. He left the group after an argument with his old friend Otis Williams.
Richard Street died February 27th aged 70.
Bobby Rogers was born on the same day in the same hospital as 'Smokey' Robinson and when they were both 15 they finally met. In 1956 Rogers joined Robinson's group The Miracles... and was still performing with them, in his trademark glasses, until he died on March 3rd aged 73. Bobby Rogers also had a Motown Marriage when in the 1963 he married Wanda Young of the Marvelettes, a marriage that lasted for twelve years - and another Motown Marriage occurred when his cousin Claudette married 'Smokey' in 1959. She had actually joined the group in 1957 and she toured with the group until after a shocking seven miscarriages she left the group's touring schedule and sang on their studio tracks until 1972.
Bobby was also a songwriter and co-wrote THE WAY YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO for The Temptations, WHAT LOVE HAS JOINED TOGETHER for Mary Wells and THAT'S WHAT LOVE IS MADE OF and GOIN' TO A GO-GO for The Miracles.
Deke Richards was born Dennis Lussier in Los Angeles and in 1966 he met Berry Gordy when The Supremes played a Hollywood gig. He had previously worked in the back-up band, and written a song for, Debbie Dean who was a young white singer that had been unsuccessfully signed to Motown between 1961-1962 and Gordy signed him up as a songwriter / producer.
In a repeat of the generosity found earlier towards Paul Williams, Richards then contacted Debbie Dean and recruited her to co-write with him at Motown, among their songs was I CAN'T DANCE TO THAT MUSIC YOU'RE PLAYING for Martha Reeves & The Vandellas. With R. Dean Taylor, Pam Sawyer and Frank Wilson he co-wrote the ground-breaking LOVE CHILD for Diana Ross & The Supremes as well as their hit duet with The Temptations WHY (MUST WE FALL IN LOVE). He also wrote CAN I SEE YOU IN THE MORNING for the wondrous Chris Clark.
In 1969 Deke Richards joined Gordy and the songwriting team of Freddie Perrin & Alphonso Mizell (who went on to write the hits for Tavares in the 1970s) as 'The Corporation', the team responsible for writing the songs that were to launch the newly-signed Jackson Five - and did they succeed! They were responsible for I WANT YOU BACK, ABC, THE LOVE YOU SAVE, MAMA'S PEARL, MAYBE TOMORROW and GOIN' BACK TO INDIANA.
However Deke Richards was the sole genius behind the magnificent I'M STILL WAITING for Diana Ross which he also co-produced with Hal Davis in 1971. It was the Jackson 5 who made me like Motown, it was I''M STILL WAITING that made me *love* the label
Deke Richards died on March 24th aged 68.
The final Motown memory is Miss Maxine Powell. You won't find her on any compilation or dusty old 7" single but she was seen as an integral part of the Motown package.
She had opened Detroit's only black finishing school in 1951 which had been attended by Berry Gordy's sisters. In 1964 Berry Gordy invited her to join Motown as part of their Artist Development programme to bring her expertise in deportment to the Motown stable of teenagers and 20-somethings from the tenements of Detroit. While Cholly Atkins showed them how to perform their onstage choreography it was Maxine Powell's job to show them how to perform in between the songs as well as offstage. In classes recalled all-too-well by her pupils she taught them how to behave in public and befitting their roles "as performers for Kings and Queens".
Martha Reeves has said " "We didn't take her seriously when we first met her, but I'll always be indebted to her. The girls who didn't have
Mrs Powell, it shows. They don't know how to stand, they don't know how
to walk, they don't know how to present themselves; they're not
ladylike."
It's true, I have seen Martha onstage and each song, no matter how fabulously frentic and driving, is always rounded off with a very demure curtsy. Class shows.
7) Is there a song by The
Supremes that makes you sad? 5:30 TRAIN
8) What is your favourite
album by Bjork? HOMOGENIC
9) What is your favourite
song by Bessie Smith? OUTSIDE OF THAT
10) Is there a song by
Blondie that makes you happy? HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE
11) What is your favourite
album by Suzanne Vega? TRIED AND TRUE
12) What is your favourite
song by Beverley Knight? GREATEST DAY
13) What is a good memory you
have involving Marvin Gaye? The first time I heard AIN'T
NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH on THE MOTOWN STORY box set with Marvin
introducing it
14) What is your favourite
song by Morrissey? THE MORE YOU IGNORE ME, THE
CLOSER I GET
15) Is there a song by Shelby
Lynne that makes you happy? KILLIN' KIND
16) How many times have you
seen David McAlmont live? Twice as McAlmont &
Butler, twice as a guest vocalist, four times on his own
17) What is the first song
you ever heard by Dusty Springfield? Probably I ONLY WANT TO BE
WITH YOU
18) What is your favourite
album by Diana Ross & The Supremes? THE SUPREMES SING MOTOWN
19) Who is a favourite member
of Pet Shop Boys? Sorry Chris, it's got to be
Neil Tennant
20) Have you ever seen Alicia
Keys live? Never felt the urge...
21) What is a good memory
involving The Smiths? The first time I heard THIS
CHARMING MAN
22) What is your favourite
song by Culture Club? TIME (CLOCK OF THE HEART)
23) What is the first song
you ever heard by Mary Wells? MY GUY
24) What is your favourite
album by Aretha Franklin? WHO'S ZOOMIN' WHO?
25) What is your favourite
song by Sugababes? ABOUT YOU NOW
26) What is the first song
you ever heard by Madonna? HOLIDAY
27) What is your favourite
album by Angie Stone? MAHOGANY SOUL
28) What is your favourite
song by Alphabeat? More than one but I will pick BOYFRIEND
29) What was the first song
you ever heard by Grace Jones? I NEED A MAN
30) What is your favourite
song by Barbara Cook?
ERROL FLYNN
31) How many times have you
seen Boy George live? 9, I think... and twice in TABOO as Leigh Bowery
32) Is there a song by Mary
J. Blige that makes you happy? JUST FINE
33) What is your favourite
album by David Bowie? STATION TO STATION (maybe)
34) What is the worst song by
Tom Tom Club? Maybe DOGS IN THE TRASH
35) What was the first song
you ever heard by Little Jackie? THE WORLD SHOULD REVOLVE
AROUND ME
36) What is your favourite
album by Peggy Lee? JUMP FOR JOY
37) How many times have you
seen The Temptations live? Never have...
38) What is your favourite
song by Linda Lewis? THE MOON AND I
39) What was the first song
you ever heard by Prince? I WANNA BE YOUR LOVER
40) What is your favourite
album by Carole King? TAPESTRY
41) Is there a song by Kirsty
MacColl that makes you happy?
LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN
42) What is your favourite
album by Lulu?
SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT
43) What is your favourite
song by Cher?
HALF-BREED
44) What is a good memory you
have involving Martha Reeves & The Vandellas? Singing MY BABY LOVES ME
along with Martha Reeves as she was signing an autograph for me!
45) What is your favourite
song by The Marvelettes?
DON'T MAKE HURTING ME A HABIT
46) Is there a song by Laura
Nyro that makes you happy? WEDDING BELL BLUES
47) What is your favourite
album by Amanda Palmer?
AMANDA PALMER GOES DOWN UNDER
48) What is your favourite
song by Macy Gray?
I TRY
49) What is the first song
you ever heard by Gladys Knight & The Pips? I HEARD IT THROUGH THE
GRAPEVINE
50) How many albums do you
own by Brenda Holloway?
Two – THE MOTOWN ANTHOLOGY
and GREATEST HITS AND RARE CLASSICS
Come back in 4 years time and see who has dropped out of my Top 50!
