Customer Reviews

THE SUPREMES Produced & Arranged By JIMMY WEBB

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have this LP somewhere at home, though I haven't heard it in years. (I don't even own a turntable anymore!) There's no reason on earth (except that Diana Ross had left the group) that this shouldn't have been successful when initially released. The opening track (the only one not produced by Jimmy Webb, as I recall), "I Guess I'll Miss the Man" from the musical PIPPIN, is absolutely beautiful and well worth the price of admission. With all the crap available out there on CD, why isn't this gem given equal treatment?

In a perfect world, this would be released on CD and it would be a huge hit. It's not released yet, it was not a huge or even small hit when initally released in 1972. Jimmy Webb, in a creative storm, masterminded this with Lynda Laurence, Jean Terrel and Mary Wilson. He produced, arranged, wrote and played keyboards on such magnificent collaborations as: "5:30 Plane", "When Can Brown Begin" (also a great version by Scott Walker) and "I Keep It Hid". There are spectacular versions of Harry Nilsson's "Paradise"(equal in greatness to Bette Midler's Phil Spector's Wall of Sound version), Joni Mitchell's "All I Want", Elio Isola's "Il Voce De Silenzio (Silent Voices)" and Bobby Lewis's "Tossin and Turnin'". Although he's uncredited, there's a wonderful duet between Jimmy Webb and the Supremes on "Once In the Morning". Capturing all this magic in the studio was engineer supreme, Henry Lewy.

My hats off to Berry Gordy for ok-ing this project. I surely doubt that the 21st century Motown would give the green light to this, or even the recently revived Stax label, but hey, probably no label would see the commercial viability of something like this.

The Supremes had never sounded quite like this, or ever did again and for that, I treasure this. It must be what the angels sound like.
July, 2010: thank goodness, this album is now available on cd, BUT only as a part of the 3 cd, "This Is The Story" on the Hip-O Select label, which is well worth it's wait. It is somewhat pricy, though!

Jimmy Webb and the The Supremes made an album which show cased exactly what these women could do as a Vocal Group and NOT as a Star Vehicle. These women tear the roof off of standards and raise Mr. Webb's own material to new heights. 'Silent Voices' nails it and why is this material sitting on a shelf, in the dark unheard? It's a shame.

this is an amazing under rated album; truly breath taking performances by Jean Terrell, who became the group's lead singer in 1970, when Diana Ross went solo