589. Supremes Interview
An interview. With the Supremes.
Category Archives: The Supremes
588. The Supremes: “The Only Time I’m Happy”
I like it more than I probably should. I like it more than Back In My Arms Again, anyway; it’s this one I’ve come away whistling. (8)
564. The Supremes: “Whisper You Love Me Boy”
Here, Diana Ross sounds nothing like Mary Wells, and yet somehow she makes it work, exactly like Mary Wells. (8)
563. The Supremes: “Back In My Arms Again”
The theme of Motown in 1965 was reinvention, and what this one shows is that even an act with five Number Ones would have to involve themselves in that process a little bit. In the meantime, this is just about as excellent as treading water can be. Take that any way you like. (7)
547. The Supremes: “I’m In Love Again”
The group’s best B-side since Never Again all those years ago, this is excellent, and it’s no surprise Motown made sure it found a place in history closing out a splendid album. (8)
546. The Supremes: “Stop! In The Name Of Love”
Heartbreaking for us, listening to it all unfold, as uncomfortably as hearing the neighbours having a shouting match and turning up the TV to drown them out. Except you’d never turn up the TV to drown this out, because it sounds absolutely sensational. (10)
496. The Supremes: “Always In My Heart”
This sounds wonderful, as well as being one of the Holland-Dozier-Holland trio’s most beautifully understated and underrated songs, a mediation on loss (or even bereavement) as powerful and dignified as anything pop music had done so far. If this was the sound of Motown “selling out”, I’m all for it. (8)
495. The Supremes: “Come See About Me”
All the ingredients are here, not just that beat, that sound, but the mixture of “up” music and “down” lyrics (sometimes up, sometimes down indeed!), the dichotomy of Diana’s cold, dispassionate steely glare and her broken, begging desperation, and the basic structure of beautiful verse, killer chorus. They’re all here, and – thanks to Nella Dodds – they’re all at Number One. (8)
479. The Supremes: “Ask Any Girl”
We’ll never hear the Supremes do anything like this again, but it’s a gas alright, alternately charming and thrilling even as its faltering structure trips over its own feet. (6)
478. The Supremes: “Baby Love”
This is one of Motown’s most famous singles simply because it’s one of Motown’s best singles. I don’t care how many times it gets played, it’s as much of a thrill the first time as the 350th, and that’s pretty much the definition of magical. (10)
434. The Supremes: “He Means The World To Me”
A reminder that the A-side was made by very mortal human hands – you can see a lot of the joins here, and the Funk Brothers had indeed got a whole lot better in the fifteen months between the two sides of this single being recorded – but I certainly don’t hate it, it’s charming and sweet, and rather successful in its own limited way. (5)
Motown Junkies 