Anthology

by

Various Artists

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Don't let my rating and my title confuse you. The CD is great -- everything for a Diana/Supremes fan. Why I'm disappointed is that I took these reviews to heart and expected to hear vast differences in songs like "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart" or "You Keep Me Hangin' On". More of Flo and Mary and with some extended versions. Duh? Color me crazy but an extra five seconds on "YKMHO" is not an "extension" in my book. Nor do I understand how these people are hearing more background when the backing track is actually REMOVED from the end of this song. The girls appear in the very last verse, which is part of that extended 5 seconds, doing nothing more than what you hear in all previous versions: "Oooh, oooh, oooh". As for the 'new and improved' "LILAIIMH" --- yeah, I'm still waiting.

Don't get me wrong. As I said, the CD is great. The music is wonderful and the sound quality is first rate. But, if you want to hear some different versions of these songs, check out the instrumentals by The Funk Brothers on the "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown" soundtrack.

Mr. Scott Brown (below) is exactly right. This 1986 release was the first substantially sized Supremes set put out in the CD-era. It exactly duplicated the 3-LP set of the same name from 1974 and, to take advantage of added room, it reached back further for "Your Heart Belongs to Me," then included a dozen obvious selections from the post-Diana Ross era. Certainly the '74 vinyl issuing was a big deal, but by '86 this was considerably less exciting. Some substitutions might have livened things: from "A Bit Liverpool," their sassy reading of "You Can't Do That" over "A Hard Day's Night," "Cupid" over "You Send Me" from "We Remember Sam Cooke," and the comic "Sadie Sadie" or "If a Girl Isn't Pretty" over "Greatest Star" from the "Funny Girl" album.

This set was subsequently reworked in 1995 and 2001 and, in my opinion the September 1995 version, if you can find it, is the best of the three CD versions. The 'outside' material was dropped for LP and B-side rarities: "Mother Dear," "He's All I Got," "Remove This Doubt," "Long Gone Lover" and the Phil Spector-produced "Things Are Changing," among them. Best of all, it was in mono and, for us 50-ish types, this took us back to the way we remember Supremes stuff when it was REALLY new. But I also bought the 2001 version even though it went back to stereo and restored the show tunes, because it also reached all the way backward to "I Want A Guy," and finally included "Whisper You Love Me Boy." Motown ain't stupid, and each re-working has included one or two new must-haves, so you shell out the money even though you've got 90% of the stuff already. (You bet, before it was a month old, the five-disc, crushed red velvet box set of 2000 got bought too, and "70s Anthology" awaits). Such is the lot of hard-core Supremes fans.

Classy guy that he is, Mr. Brown chooses understatement when referring to the included booklet. It's downright laughable to read contemporary Motown releases stubbornly perpetuating the party line that, in 1967, Florence Ballard "wearied of the groups hectic schedule and traveling, and bowed out to spend more time with her family." As if anyone, not yet even 25, would CHOOSE obscurity over placement in the number one female entertainment act of the time. Give it up already!