The 70's Anthology

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The Supremes

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This is an amazing, long overdue 2 cd retrospective of The Supremes post Diana Ross. While not as commercially successful as Diana the 70's Supremes recorded some great music from 1970 until their disbandment in 1977. You get a full range of styles from soul, rock, pop, and hard charging disco. And you will meet some amazing vocalists including Jean Terrell, Scherrie Payne, and Susaye Greene along with original Supreme Mary Wilson and longtime mainstay Cindy Birdsong, who at last gets her turn at lead on The Sha-La Bandit. The sound quality is great and there are some unreleased gems on here that make you scratch your head and wonder why Motown never released them--especially the amazing Life Beats and Bend a Little. I highly recommend this 70's Anthology.

Note: There is an error on the track listings--Where Do We Go From Here is on CD 2--We Should Be Closer Together is not repeated twice.

The Supremes, in their most famous incarnation (Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard, later replaced by Cindy Birdsong), were not only the most successful female vocal group of all time, they became cultural icons.

The original group's powerful legacy (12 number one pop hits, barrier-breaking inroads into Vegas, the supper club circuit and network television, etc.), plus Ross' subsequent solo superstardom, has meant that The Supremes' post-1970 work has been relatively underappreciated and, outside of their biggest hits, largely unavailable. "The 70s Anthology" rectifies that situation by offering up 2 discs' worth of the ladies' material--and if the material included is a fine testament to the vocal talents of these latter-day Supremes, it also points up the main reason for the group's eventual demise: a lack of focus.

The 60s group benefitted not only from the instantly recognizable lead vocals of Diana Ross, but also a trademark "sound" courtesy of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who penned and produced 10 of the group's number one records. The first grouping of 70s Supremes (Mary Wilson, Cindy Birdsong, and Ross' replacement, Jean Terrell) seemed to be on the right track: Terrell is not only a highly gifted singer, but also a distinctive one--like Ross, there's no mistaking her for another vocalist. And in Frank Wilson, the JMC-Supremes found a sympathetic producer who seemed to be crafting a trademark sound for this new group.

Wilson's lush yet ethereal production style is evident on the glorious "Up the Ladder to the Roof" and "Stoned Love"--The 70s Supremes' biggest hits (#10 and #7 pop, respectively) and their only Top 10 charters post-Ross. Terrell's vocals (breathy one moment, exultant and powerful the next) are simply magnificent, and Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong's harmonies are lovely.

Frank Wilson remained at the helm for The 70s Supremes' first three albums, plus a scrapped fourth, titled "Promises Kept." Essentially a "pick-up" album comprised of outtakes from 1969/1970 sessions, plus material from various sessions thereafter, the unreleased material included on this anthology is of mild historical interest, but far from The Supremes' finest work.

Frank's final released album with The Supremes was the acclaimed "Touch," from which the hypnotic "Nathan Jones" was culled as a Top 20 hit. The intoxicatingly romantic title track predates the chocolate box soul of Barry White's Love Unlimited by several years, and features Mary Wilson's finest lead vocals. Unfortunately, Frank Wilson departed Motown following this album, and The Supremes were forced to once again redefine their sound.

Smokey Robinson took the reigns for 1972's "Floy Joy" LP, which, while quite successful (the title track went Top 20, and two further singles were issued), seems more a showcase for Robinson's charmingly quirky rhymes and metaphors than for The Supremes' singing. Unfortunately, the album's highlight (the irresistibly funky "Your Wonderful Sweet, Sweet Love") stalled at #57 on the charts, and was a harbinger of things to come.

Cindy Birdsong departed to have her first child shortly after recording the "Floy Joy" sessions, and was replaced by former Stevie Wonder backup singer Lynda Laurence. The Terrell-Wilson-Laurence triumvirate recorded only one album together, the critically-lauded "Produced & Arranged by Jimmy Webb." Despite some fine performances (particularly "5:30 Plane," not included on this anthology), the album was a commercial disaster. It also marked yet another left turn in The Supremes' quest for a trademark sound--Webb augmented the ladies' vocals with additional background session singers.

Hoping to turn the tide, a non-album single, "Bad Weather," was written specifically for the group by Stevie Wonder. The infectious production and the ladies' joyous vocals added up to one of their finest recordings, and it would be nice to think that they went on to record an entire album with Wonder, who became their new signature producer...but it was not to be. The single bombed at #87.

1973 brought yet another personnel change--the third in as many years. Both Terrell and Laurence left, following disputes with both Motown and Mary Wilson. Tiny powerhouse Scherrie Payne (sister of "Band of Gold" hitmaker Freda) was recruited to tend lead duties, while Cindy Birdsong returned to the fold, as well.

Payne is an absolutely dynamic vocalist who, like her sister, has a brassy, jazz-inflected phrasing. She was also a petite, sexy, glamorous addition to the trio. Unfortunately, by this time, The Supremes were adrift without any real musical identity, and the material from the Payne-led years ranges from a handful of true gems to entertaining pap to outright atrocities.

Their self-titled 1975 LP (the group's first in over 2 years) is filled with inocuous pop and disco-lite; none of it even approaches the ribald funkiness that Labelle was turning out, and, more surprisingly, it's not even as slickly entertaining as The Three Degrees' lush Philly soul. The album's two minor hit singles ("He's My Man," "Where Do I Go from Here") are enjoyable but forgettable, and of interest mainly for Payne's excellent vocals.

1976's "High Energy" LP heralded the return of the Holland brothers at the production board, while marking the second (and final) exit of Cindy Birdsong, who was dismissed by Mary Wilson and her then-husband, Pedro Ferrer, who was managing The Supremes' business affairs. "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking" was a major club hit, and easily the finest song that Payne recorded as a Supreme. It also nudged into the pop Top 40, the group's first to do so since 1972.

By this time, Mary Wilson was logging more time as lead vocalist--understandably so, as she was the sole original member, and perhaps wanted to make her voice more recognizable to the public. Unfortunately, although she's certainly serviceable, she's not a particularly gifted vocalist--"Don't Let My Teardrops Bother You," for instance (from "High Energy"), is a decent enough 70s pop ballad, and Wilson handles the belting chorus competently enough (especially with Payne and Birdsong aiding her rather loudly), but on the verses, her phrasing is stilted and clumsy--a problem which plagues most of her solo performances.

Birdsong's replacement, Susaye Greene, was overdubbed on two of the "High Energy" tracks--"Let My Heart Do the Walking" and the title cut, on which she displays an impressive five-octave range. Still, that song suffers from a lack of individuality--whereas one can scarcely imagine "Stop! In the Name of Love" being sung by anyone other than Diana Ross, or "Stoned Love" by someone besides Jean Terrell, "High Energy" (or "Don't Let My Teardrops Bother You," or even "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking") could have been recorded by any one of the faceless studio groups so common during the disco era.

The Supremes' final album ("Mary, Scherrie & Susaye") spawned several club hits, including the fine "Let Yourself Go" (making its CD debut here), and Payne seemed to finally be determined to put her individual stamp on the material and forge something close to a new "Supremes sound"--even within the limitations of the formula disco material. But it was too little, too late, and the group disbanded shortly thereafter.

"The 70s Anthology" fills an important gap in The Supremes', Motown's, and pop music's history, but, considering its relatively short 42-song length, there's an awful lot of filler here. The Supremes never wanted for talent, in any of their groupings, but as time went on, they were often left wanting for distinctive production and material.