Customer Reviews

Let the Sunshine in//Cream of the Crop

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To be clear, I am a huge Supremes fan and collector. Their legacy in American pop music is unmatched. However, in the canon of their work, the collection of music here--except for the hits and half a handful of other nice tunes--is a low point. For one thing, the group concept had been shattered at least 3 years prior; thus, there is no notable contribution from the other 2 group members [founding member Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard's replacement, Cindy Birdsong]. Sorry, but, in a vocal group, even one where the "star" has been singled out, I still expect the "other" group members to have the opportunity to contribute something of value. By this point, in many, many cases, the remaining Supremes were replaced by Motown session singers on recordings. Insulting to the group talent, and unfair to the consumer, and especially the fan. Next, Diana's voice sounds thin and tired on some of the non-hit Motown tunes, and uninspired on most of the covers. Thirdly, the group no longer had the attention of one ace songwriting and production team like Holland-Dozier- Holland. Additionally, there is no concept to tie these albums together.

Since you can find the hits on various compilations, you could easily skip this set unless you are a completist. Overall, not very satisfying.

Both these albums come from a period in Motown history that were the matter of some contention regarding Diana Ross and the Supremes, and show a degree of disregard on the part of Motown for their signings and also for their audience. Brian and Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier had jumped ship, Florence Ballard had been sacked from the Supremes, the name of the group had been changed by Berry Gordy to Diana Ross and the Supremes and it was becoming nakedly obvious that Diana Ross was being groomed for a solo career, as Mary Wilson and newcomer Cindy Birdsong were increasingly relegated to the sidelines on the records.

There must have been a lot of hustling behind the scenes as new producers and writers were brought in to plug the gap left by Holland-Dozier-Holland. The Clan, Johnny Bristol, Pam Sawyer and Billie-Jean Brown were just some of the new blood employed on these two records (Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson are noticeably absent), and there were several new directions as a result, though these seemed to pull against each other, sometimes gritty, sometimes saccharine and show-biz. There was no shortage of hits as these albums contained I'm Living In Shame, The Composer, No Matter What Sign You Are, The Young Folks and Someday We'll Be Together, their last single with Diana Ross and a number one in the US. It is now common knowledge that Mary and Cindy did not appear on any of these singles, or on several of the other tracks recorded during 1968 or 1969, their places being taken by session singers, usually the Andantes.

Adding irony to irony, given its title, Someday We'll Be Together had been recorded as a Diana Ross solo record but at the last moment it was decided by Berry Gordy as being not up to par and put out as a Supremes swansong instead, where presumably it didn't matter. It features vocal interjections from producer Johnny Bristol, who had recorded the original of the song as Johnny and Jackey back in 1961 (with Jackey Beavers). On another track, The Beginning Of The End (previously a Chris Clark B-side), Diana Ross is backed by Syreeta Wright, who was being secretly groomed to be her replacement in the Supremes.

At least four of the tracks actually date from 1966, when they were just the Supremes, Flo was still among their ranks, and quality control had for some reason found them wanting. What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted, recorded just as Jimmy Ruffin's original was soaring up the charts, includes the spoken-word intro that had been dropped from his version, and comes from the Supremes A' Go-Go sessions. The same sessions produced With A Child's Heart, a re-make of a recent Stevie Wonder B-side, and Blowin' In The Wind, a rare excursion into Dylan territory. Let The Music Play, a cover of the Drifters, was an outtake from The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland sessions, perhaps because it wasn't by Dozier-Holland-Dozier.

None of this can have been too encouraging for Mary Wilson and, especially, Cindy Birdsong, though they did have a larger role to play in the re-launched Supremes when Jean Terrell joined. Diana Ross's vocals do demonstrate her versatility and fluidity and are on fine form throughout, and I have not intended to suggest that she was personally responsible for any of these circumstances.

Whilst these are not their most consistently strong albums, there are enough highlights to make this an enjoyable collection. A little more honesty as to what we are listening to would not have gone amiss.

The Supremes were going through a period of change around the time of these recordings. Florence had left in 1967, and Diana was about to leave. Also, as another reviewer pointed out, the songwriters who provided so many of their mid-sixties hits also left Motown. This forced Motown to look to others, who did write some good songs, but were not as good overall as Holland-Dozier-Holland had been.

The later recordings were virtually Diana solo albums - you don't hear too much of Cindy (who replaced Florence) or Mary on most of these tracks. There are a few hits here, most notably Some day we'll be together (an interesting title considering the then-imminent departure of Diana), plus one that got away.

Most people think that What becomes of the broken hearted was a Supremes cover of Jimmy Ruffin's hit. Wrong !!! Diana and the Supremes recorded it first, and it was intended to be a single for them. Jimmy heard it and begged Motown to allow him to record it, as he thought it would be a great song for him. Motown put the Supremes version on hold and allowed Jimmy to record it. They decided to go with Jimmy's version instead and the rest is history.

The overall quality of this album therefore suffers by comparison with some of the Supremes' earlier music, but it's still wonderful music judged by most standards. So, this is not the CD with which to start a collection of Supremes music, but is a fascinating set to have if (like me) you've got most of their earlier music already.

Diana Ross And The Supremes Let The Sunshine In album was released in mid 1969. It had originally been titled No Matter What Sign You Are and posters promoting the album were sent to record stores with that title. For some reason it was hastily re-titled Let The Sunshine In and advertising promotion for the album changed accordingly.

Tamla Motown Records always had a conveyor belt way of recording tracks by Diana Ross and the Supremes (and indeed other Motown artists). Diana Ross and the Supremes had several singles released between 1968-69 and a host of albums including Reflections (1968), Love Child (1968), Diana Ross and the Supremes Join The Temptations (1968), Diana Ross and the Supremes Live At London's Talk Of The Town (1968) to name but a few. Diana Ross and the Supremes had recorded so much material that still remians untouched to this day but what was considered by Motown to be the best of the bunch were dusted off from the vaults and assembled for the Let The Sunshine In (1969) LP.

Let The Sunshine In (1969) opens with a song written and produced by the genius Smokey Robinson. Titled The Composer it all the more surprisingly seemed to lack the immediacy and spark of their previous hit singles though was still curiously catchy in its own way. Hardly one of their best efforts though, The Composer endured only moderate record sales, creeping it's way into the lower reaches of the U.S. Top 40 charts.

I'm Living In Shame, which explored social issues of the day, returned Diana Ross and the Supremes to more solid ground and was a successful follow up to their blockbuster classic Love Child.

Ross' slightly nasal delivery that still proves stunning, really cuts through those driving musical arrangements, provided by, as always, Motown's great unsung heroes, the legendary and absolutely unbeatable Funk Brothers, I'm Living In Shame failed to follow Love Child to pole position in the charts but still swept into the Top 10, peaking at number 9.

The only other hit to be found on Let The Sunshine In (1969) was the totally stunning No Matter What Sign You Are, by far one of Diana Ross and the Supremes most overlooked classics. Ross' purely soulful delivery compliments the electric, tempo-shifting orchestrations. There's not really much to comment on Mary Wilson or Cindy Birdsong as their backing vocals were only used as decorative obligation and these were practically all Diana Ross solo efforts. On numerous tracks between 1968 - 69 neither Mary Wilson or Cindy Bridsong didn't even appear on certian tracks with backing vocal duties provided by the powerful gospel-influenced trio, The Andantes, who certainly injected a grittier edge to the Supremes sound.
(Incidentally Mary Wilson considered The Composer and No Matter What Sign You Are to be the worst ever Supremes recordings).

Amongst the scattering of album tracks there's not much to recommend it apart from the odd above average album track. Their cover version of the frequently covered EveryDay People for instance, sounds rushed, uninspired and a complete watse of opporunity. Their take on Jimmy Ruffin's What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted may come as a surprise to some that it was in fact Diana Ross and the Supremes that had actually recorded it FIRST.

Apparently Jimmy Ruffin loved the song so much he decided to record it as well. Diana Ross and the Supremes version does admittedly pale next to the more famous and now classic Jimmy Ruffin recording.

However Ross really delivers on the striking Medley - Aquarius/Let The sunshine In. Ross packs in a breathless, impressive tour de force performance that arguably even outshines the original whilst certainly proceeding to be one of the major highlights alongside the small ratio of hits to be found on the LP.

Hey Western Union Man and Will This Be The Day are standard Motown fare that are both decidely enjoyable enough even if not particularly memroable.

With A Childs Heart is a rather ghastly, sickly-sweet ballad which had originally been recorded for the slightly disjointed I Hear A Symphony (1965) album though had (sensibly) been canned only to see the light of day on this rather scrappily assembled studio collection. Exactly the same sentiments could be used for another ghastly track, Let The Music Play, a chintzy, cringefully dated showbiz tune.

Discover Me (And You'll Discover Love) was thoroughly excellent for a mere album track and though could never have been a hit was far superior to some of the more mediocre offerings on here with Ross excelling herself vocally with her stirring, beautifully understated performance that sounds at its best on the climax.

Closing the Let The Sunshine In album is the simple, easy-going though surprisingly effective I'm So Glad I Got Someone (Like You Around) with subtle backing vocals from Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong against the breathy, seamless tone of Diana Ross.

But, all in all, Let The Sunshine In is a rather disappointing , patchwork effort though it does also hold some bright spots and for the mainstream Diana Ross and the Supremes fan, this is certainly a recommended album though casual fans will probably not care for the groups reneditions of various hits of the day (What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted , Everyday People etc). Diana Ross and the Supremes were at their peak now and were no longer hitting the charts with as much sure-fire regularity as they once had. The Let The Sunshine In album climbed to a so-so No.24 on the U.S Billboard Album charts whilst failing to chart altogether in the U.K.



Cream Of The Crop (a questionable title) was yet another merely routine exercise by Tamla Motown Records to gather together canned material, B-sides and filler with a few hit singles thrown in and assemble them for an album. It was a cheap, easy and obvious marketing ploy on the part of Motown but indeed as the case with most albums by other of Motowns key artists, they usually contained a handful of really great, worth while tracks.

Like their previous studio album, Let The Sunshine In (1969), Cream Of The Crop (1969) carried many cover versions where some really hit their ultimate potential whilst others seem slightly misguided. The only purpose of these diverse cover versions was to show off what an adept and versatile a vocalist Diana Ross had became. Her solo career was now, of course, waiting in the wings. Ross' performances are rich, passionate and brimming with emotion. Ross' sparkling vocals are often some of the tracks only saving grace. All too often the arrangements are too formulaic, lacking any real adventure or invention compared to their golden years.

The only International hit single to be found scattered on Cream Of The Crop (1969) was Diana Ross And The Supremes touching swan song SomeDay We'll Be Together. Songwriters Jackey Beavers, Johnny Bristol (who provides brief backing vocal interludes on the track) and Harvey Fuqua show off their lyrical finesse whilst lead singer Diana Ross delivers a beautifully understated performance. Her seamless, easy-going performance sounds extremely effective when riding along the smooth and soulful rhythms courtesy of Motowns unsung heros, The Funk Brothers. SomeDay We'll Be Together became Diana Ross And The Supremes twelth and final No.1 smash hit and became a great trailer for the much hyped and eagerly anticipated solo career of Diana Ross, launched in early 1970.

Another hit single (albeit a very minor one) was also added on to the Cream Of The Crop collection - The Young Folks. This much underated recording, featured an impeccable lead from Ross on what was an untypical sound for "the girls" as boss Berry Gordy always referred to them as. The Young Folks had been used as the flip side to their Top 40 hit, No Matter What Sign You Are (another underated gem). After No Matter What Sign You Are was issued to D.J.'s, The Young Folks eventually generated a lot of interest and soon became a hit in its own right, climbing to No.68 on the BillBoard Charts.

Some of the recordings recall The Supremes earlier sound which proves contagious when it comes to riviting tracks like You Gave Me Love and Can't You See It's Me. They are prime examples of the Motown genre and subsequently emerge as the real highlights of the album. Ross is in glorious voice on both You Gave Me Love and Can't You See It's Me with her vocals glowing across the well-crafted orchestrations and cutting through those sharp, pulsating, repetitive arrangements like a sharp knife.

Diana Ross And The supremes lightweight but equally infectious cover version of The Four Top's Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever has a far more group oriented sound in comparison to most other tracks on here that are all practically Diana Ross' solo efforts. The harmonies of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong all blend divinley together.

Their electric cover version of The Beatles famous classic, Hey Jude, is somewhat debatable. On a personal note, I love hearing Ross' exuberant delivery on Hey Jude but it is also decidely out of context to the original and the harshest rock music critic failed to take Ross' renedition very seriously. Still to her credit she holds her own and injects the song with her oqn magical and individual touch.

Diana Ross and the Supremes made more social statements on the earthy, Shadows Of Society, which obviously had taken its cue from the social and political commentary on their chart topping soul classic, Love Child and the gritty I'm Living In Shame. Whilst Shadows Of Society certainly doesn't have the fire and edge of those familiar soul classics, it is still quite compelling within itself. The swirling, pshychedelic sounds zoom in and out of each verse, merely adding to the atmospheric feel.

The Beginning Of The End, i'm convinced, could have been a big hit single and a great swan song for The Supremes had the preferable and far superior SomeDay We'll Be Together not been released. ross' delivery on The Beginning Of The End is both sensitive and sensual and yet at the same time strong and effective. The Beginning Of The End also emerges as one of the albums ultimate highlights.

What remains of Cream Of The Crop then is pretty much standard Motown fare. Some tracks are pedestrian some totally fail to ignite. When It's To The Top (Still I Won't Stop Loving You) for instance is catchy enough with Ross putting another fantastic performance.

Surprisingly more lacklustre was the Smokey Robinson produced Till Johnny Comes where as the detour into Folk Music on their cover of bob Dylans Blowin' In The Wind is an adventurous though failed experiment. Simply injecting soul music with folk music proves to go together like oil and water.

Cream Of The Crop (1969) lacks the consistency of many of Diana Ross And The Supremes classic studio albums such as More Hits By The Supremes (1965), The Supremes A Go Go (1966), The Supremes Sing Holland Dozier Holland (1967) and Love Child (1968), though the inclusion of the gloriously timeless SomeDay We'll Be Together alone justifies buying the album. Fans will be delighted - other wont partcularly care.


Ian Phillips

June 2005

Neither of these albums were actually albums. They gathered mostly material already in the vaults, including two unused cuts from the "I Hear A Symphony" album, "Let the Music Play" and "With a Child's Heart." "Let the Sunshine In" originally was titled "No Matter What Sign You Are" and posters with that title were sent to record shops. "Cream of the Crop" mostly was recorded in two versions, one with Diana Ross on lead and one with Jean Terrell on lead. Ditto, the first Jean Terrell album also was recorded partially with versions with Diana on lead. That's because the plan was to have Diana leave the group only with a number one record, and no one at Motown was sure what record that would be (it's funny how the public looks at great stars as bigger than life while the great stars in real life are always uncertain of what will hit and what won't and never take success for granted...certainly not Miss Ross, the hardest working girl in show business who attended to every last little detail and never counted on anything working out right for sure). If "Someday We'll Be Together" had not made top spot, the company was ready with another single, "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You." Only when the Diana-led Supremes got that number one hit with "Someday" did work proceed on the debut Jean Terrell single, "Up to the Ladder to the Roof," which was completed 24 hours before it debuted on the Ed Sullivan Show and was shipped to stores. What looked so smooth and sure was pure nailbiting stuff! That said, both these albums provide a broad survey of Supremes hits, album tracks and were known at Motown as waste tracks--songs no one had much hope for but were interesting for one reason or another. Diana Ross brings to each and every song toplevel commitment and care, as usual, and the orchestrations are lush, creative and bright. You'll wonder how songs such as "When It's To The Top" ever came to be but you'll like it anyway.

This Motown repackaging of two LPs on one CD combines the last two studio albums by Diana Ross and the Supremes, both released in 1969. "Let the Sunshine In" is an excellent Supremes album, with three hits (the "Love Child" follow-up, "I'm Livin' in Shame," Smokey Robinson masterpiece "The Composer" and underrated "No Matter What Sign You Are"), four surprisingly inspired and spirited covers of then-current hits by Sly and the Family Stone, Jerry Butler, Jimmy Ruffin and The 5th Dimension, and a quintet of engaging pop-soul tracks that are more than mere filler and bear repeated listening. All in all, a solid, sturdy outing from Motown's golden girls. The same cannot be said for the final album by the trio, "Cream of the Crop." Opening with the megahit, "Someday We'll Be Together," the apparent swan song boasts only a couple of decent tracks, the admittedly lightweight "Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever" and "When It's to the Top." The covers of "Hey Jude" and "Blowin' in the Wind" are bathetic and embarrassing; the attempts at social comment circa 1969 in "Shadows of Society" and "The Young Folks" are uninteresting even given the context of the ending era. As one of the few highpoints, a re-make of The Supremes' own "Beginning of the End," notes, there wasn't too much steam left in the once unstoppable girl group. Still worth having for the great "Let the Sunshine In" tracks.

Ok my following review may be perceived as biased, but I adore the Holland Dozier Holland era. There was just such a lot going on on those records that made for an explosive combination and Diana Ross as lead vocalist was just spectacular and highly versatile with her unusual vocal delivery which had prompted Berry Gordy to push her into the spotlight. Whilst Diana Ross has remained a superb vocalist as she equally is on these pair of albums they do pale in comparison to some of their previous studio offerings such as Where Did Our Love Go (1964), More Hits By The Supremes (1965), The Supremes A Go Go (1966), The Supremes Sing Holland Dozier Holland (1967) and Love Child (1968).

Let The Sunshine In (1969) comprised vastly of material Diana Ross And The Supremes had recorded some years earlier such as the ghastly Let The Music Play and With A Child's Heart which had origanally been recorded for their rather disjointed, I Hear A Symphony album (which contrarily became a big hit on the album charts). Both are Vegas-style Kitsch, which though proved Diana to be a clearly diverse talent, lose The Supremes own magical sound which has always remained preferable. One of the extracts, The Composer was written by the genius Smokey Robinson but surprisingly this track has no real immediacy in comparison to a lot of their previous output and the track was a moderate seller. However deserving greater success on the singles charts was the fantastic and electric No Matter What Sign You Are where Dianas' delivery is astoundingly strong and assertive. Everyday People is such a wasted opportunity as it could have been so much better than this liquid, rushed and unspired version. Their cover of the Jimmy Ruffin classic, What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted does little to ignite the album but that is compensated for the masterpiece production of I'm Living In Shame, a gritty, raw number in similar vein to Love Child. The Supremes were clearly keeping up with the times and were showing their more mature side on tracks like I'm Living In Shame, as they offered profound social commentary that hit the times perfectly. Dianas delivery is refreshing on a livley, well-crafted cover of Aquarius and Let The Sunshine In which are neatly blended together into an effective medley. Hey Western Union Man and Will This Be The day were flawed and lacking in some way but Discover Me (and You'll Discover Love) and the sensational I'm So Glad I Got Somebody Like You Around have a lot of merits deeming them essential recordings to hear by Diana Ross And The Supremes. But as a whole, Let The Sunshine In doesn't stand the test of time terribly well but is worth a listen regardless as in its favour it holds some excellent tracks.

Cream Of The Crop (1969) was not much better though some tracks managed to encapsulate the magic of their earlier work. Can't You See It's Me is a prime example. That pounding, repetitive beat that became something of the Motown phenomenon coated with a magnificent vocal performance from Diana Ross who neatly surfboarded along Motowns complex musical arrangements. Can't You See It's Me features Diana delivering a gutsy, earthy sounding vocal performance, backed by the sparse and infectious production. You Gave Me Love followed in similar fashion whilst their cover of Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever is fantastic as is their social commentary on the earthy Shadows Of Society. However the rest of the album falls a little flat andtedious though Dianas performance on Hey Jude is surprisingly engaging as also on The Beginning Of The End. However the major highlight of this CD comes up with their beautiful and touching ballad, Someday We'll Be Together which Diana performs with style and verve and its this fantastic classic (one of their all-time best ever recordings) that saves the album.

Let The Sunshine In and Cream Of The Crop are not amongst Diana Ross' most favourable work though they're still worth hearing as there are a sprinkling of superb tracks to be found on each album but what flaws both albums on the whole is the overblown cover versions and lack of origanal material. Listen to them and make your own judgement as many say these are two of The Supremes most enthralling albums (which I would beg to differ with!).

Fans of Diana Ross and/or The Supremes NEED this CD! Most of these songs have long been out-of-print and are underrated. It's good to FINALLY have the original albums on CD instead of endless rehashings by Motown with like, the same hits over and over with maybe one rare goodie thrown in. Diana Ross sounds AMAZING on these albums and the musical styles explored are diverse. My favorites: the ballad "Til Johnny Comes", "Loving You Is Better Than Ever", "Shadows of Society" (SINGLE-WORTHY), "Will This Be The Day", "The Beginning Of The End". Her version of "Hey Jude" is a wee bit daft however. Still, Diana Ross is one of the most gifted pop singers of the 20th century, and can handle any song handed to her with ease. The icing on the cake with this CD is the FANTASTIC packaging!! You'll see what I mean when your copy arrives in the mail.

THE COVER ON THIS ALBUM COMES FROM DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES HOSTING THE HOLLYWOOD PALACE, I WAS A EARLY TEEN AT THAT TIME AND I HAD A POP EYED GIRL FRIEND, I LOVED HER EYES AND THEN,
I SAW DIANA ROSS AND THE LOVE AFFAIR NEVER ENDED, ANYWAY, I SAW THIS SHOW AND AS ALWAYS DIANA ROSS WAS HOT IN THAT GOLD OUTFIT,
SHE WAS ON THE MONEY THAT NIGHT, NOW EARLER I SAID ALBUM, AND I AM NOT GOING TO CHANGE IT, I WAS A 45 NUT AND I MISS THEM, HOWEVER VERBATIM HAS MADE CD-R TO LOOK LIKE A 45 RECORD, SO,

WHEN I RECOURD MY MUSIC ON THIS CD I WILL HAVE THE LONGEST PLAYING 45 IN HISTORY.
IF YOU ARE LIKE ME WITH 45'S STOP BY RADIO AND PICK UP A 10 PACK.
CHOW, BOB