Diana Ross - Diana (Deluxe Edition)
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CD Details
Artist: Diana RossEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2003-07-29
Music Label: Motown
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Upside Down
- Tenderness
- Friend To Friend
- I'm Coming Out
- Have Fun (Again)
- My Old Piano
- Now That You're Gone
- Give Up
- Upside Down
- Tenderness
- Friend To Friend
- I'm Coming Out
- Have Fun (Again)
- My Old Piano
- Now That You're Gone
- Give Up
- Love Hangover (Extended Alternate Mix)
- Your Love Is So Good For Me (12-in Mix)
- Top Of The World
- Lovin', Livin' And Givin' (LP Mix)
- What You Gave Me (12-in Mix)
- You Were The One
- Diana Ross & The Supremes Medley Of Hits (12-in Mix)
- No One Gets The Prize/The Boss (12-in Re-Edit)
- I Ain't Been Licked (12-in Mix)
- Fire Don't Burn
- We Can Never Light That Old Flame Again (Alternate Mix)
- You Build Me Up To Tear Me Down
- Sweet Summertime Livin'
Music reviews of Diana (Deluxe Edition)
Music Review: Red Hot , Urban R&B/Soul/Disco: La Ross' Funkiest Solo Album
Rating: 5 Stars
The attractively packaged diana Deluxe Edition is one of, if not THE most, definitive entry in Soul diva Diana Ross' seemingly gigantic back catologue of albums. Released in the summer of 2003, the diana Deluxe Edition also, for the very first time, showcases the original sessions intended for the album, remixed by those two renowned R&B/Disco wizards, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.
Following on from the critically-acclaimed, The Boss (1979) album, Diana Ross turned to two of the hottest R&B producers of the day - Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards for her next highly anticipated project. She wanted to bring her sound up to date and reach a younger generation as she had done with The Boss. The album proved an explosive combination but wasn't without its fair share of troubles behind the scenes......
After hearing the final mix of the album, Diana simply wasn't happy. She felt that her vocals had been pushed too far into the background with the emphasis being on the music rather than the voice. She took the finished results and with the assistance of Russ Terenna, completly remixed the entire album herself, pushing her vocals foward and basically as she quoted "put a little of Diana Ross into the project". Learning of Dianas new re-mixed album, Rogers and Edwards were infuriated that their work had been tampered with. They demanded a public disclaimer but it was too late - diana was out on the streets already and was selling wildly fast. At first they considered taking legal action but then learning how much Diana Ross loved the project and how she had still paid them ample credit on the album, they decided to let it go.
Nile and Bernard considered the Have Fun (Again) to be the albums debut release but instead Motown opted for Upside Down. Diana had apparently asked for a song her children could sing along to and thats exactly what she got with Upside Down! It almost sounds like a nursery rhyme set to hot, compelling Disco/Funk music but was just so undeniably infectious. Her sassy, razor sharp performance is vastly infectious, neatly riding along the divine musical arrrangements. Upside Down rapidly hit the top of the U.S charts whilst hitting No.2 on the U.K charts. An out and out classic!
The albums second release would be the even stronger, I'm Coming Out. The song would be something of a declaration of her newly found independence (and she was also preparing too leave Motown Records). I'm Coming Out also became something of a gay anthem and supported her confirmed status even greater as an icon amongst gay males. This recording captures one of her strongest performances on record, sounding so crystal clear and strong. That fabulous opening is just sensational from the rolling drum beats that leads into the roller coaster musical arrangements. I'm Coming Out became a rapid Top 5 seller in the U.S and hit No.13 on the U.K Singles charts.
In Britain Motown issued a third single with the monster classic, My Old Piano. This exotic sounding number is complimented by a firm and exuberant performance from Diana who whips along the verses and chrous with such conviction. My Old Piano too would become a Top 5 seller in the U.K.
Belatedly released in 1982 was Tenderness (by which time she was at RCA Records enjoying success with her secong Gold selling album for the label, Silk Electric). This rhythmically divine number is just utterly superb but unfortuantley stalled at No.73, probably as there was little promotion for the single.
The album cuts are all top notch. The aching Friend To Friend is remarkably effective in its mere simplicity with Diana delivering a deep throasted, fittingly husky performance. Her precise pronounciations and diction is what makes her such an excellent vocalist and the real beauty and natural soul in her voice simmer out on numbers like Friend To Friend. Incidentally Friend To Friend was considered for being the title of the diana album.
Have Fun (Again) is totally infectious where Diana certainly sounds like shes having fun as she delivers another sassy and sharp performance. The track fades out at the bridge of the song only to come back in again for Diana to once again sing the chrous. Curiousl as to why this was done but it certainly doesn't interupt the musical flow.
The beautiful, sparse production of the haunting ballad Now That You're Gone is delivered with a real gutsy, shimmering performance from its star that merely compliments the atmospheric arrangements.
The riotously funky Give Up stands up as the one of the very best of the album tracks. Diana just lets her hair down on this number and truly belts this out with all her mighty heart and soul. This captures one of Diana's strongest performance on records!
The diana project became a landmark in her career when released in 1980.It is her biggest solo album to date. Red hot, sassy, riotously funky packed with roller-coaster musical arrangements, this quite possibly is her best studio album yet.
The original seesions of the diana album, as remixed by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, were less polished and improvised with Diana delivering much more relaxed intepretations. These sessions emerge surprsingly as nearly just as enjoyable. Even if they had made their way out on to the final cut of the album they undoubtedly would have enjoyed just as much blockbuster success as the versions we all love and know today.
Also included on the diana Deluxe Edition is another disc devoted to her solo period at Motown between 1976-1979 before diana had exploded into record stores in 1980. I'd love to have seen (being something of an admitedly fanatical Diana Ross fan) some other tracks added on to this disc which deserve a mention here: You're Good My Child, One Love In A Lifetime, Ain't Nothing But A Maybe (all of which appear on the excellent, critically acclaimed, cross-Atlantic Top 5 smash hit album, Diana Ross (1976) ), Gettin' Ready For Love, You Got It, All Night Lover (all featured on another fabulous La Ross studio album, Baby It's Me (1977), Once In The Morning and It's My House (both of which can be found on one of her all-time greatest recording triumphs, The Boss (1979) ). However the tracks that do pop up on disc 2 are certainly nothing to complain about and hosts some great rarities that will please the keen fan of Diana Ross.
The extended alternate version of Love Hangover surprisingly manages to surpass even the dynamic original, which had topped both the Pop and R&B charts in mid 1976 and had revitalised Dianas then somewhat flagging recording career. Black music was steering in different directions and at that time, Dianas recording career had, in some aspects, lost course. That all changed when this innovative, compelling R&B/Disco/Soul classic, that was way ahead of its time, was released and saw Diana gain a whole new generation of fans. Dianas rich and spontaneous performance is thrilling and the alternate version features her complete vocal performance (a lot of which was edited out on the trimmed down commercial release of the single). The slow, sultry throb and Dianas sensual performance at the beginning of the track makes way for an effective shift in direction tempo-wise where it catapults half way through into jamming R&B/Disco music with Diana letting rip with a purely improvised performance. Never had she sounded so adventurous on record before. This alternate version, that clocks in at over ten minutes long is fantastically funky and extremely infectious! A worthwhile inclusion on this disc as it had previoulsy been unreleased commercially.
The red hot Funk-Disco sounds of Your Love Is So Good For Me, which was produced by Richard Perry, is featured on this disc in its original 12 inch version. Your Love Is So Good For Me, which captures a strong, red blooded performance from Diana in definitive disco diva mode, had been released as a single from Baby It's Me (1977) in February 1978. Whilst Your Love Is So Good For Me only got as far as just a disappointing No.49 on the main U.S Pop Charts, it bounced up to No.15 on the Disco Club Play Listings whilst the 12 inch version featured here climbed its way to No.30 on the Disco Club Play listings.
Top Of The World was a vibrant, upbeat, totally feel-good number with Diana delivering an angelic, rather Supremes-like performance. Top Of The World, written by Tom Snow, is a stellar recording that was again taken from the Baby It's Me album of 1977. It was co-listed with Your Love Is So Good For Me which had made its way onto the Disco Club Play listings. It had also been lifted as a single in Britain but surprisingly it flopped.
The startling Lovin' Livin And Givin' was a hypnotic, trancey, spiralling Disco number. Diana breathed fire and soul into this adventurous offering with her unusually earthy delivery. Lovin' Livin And Givin first appeared on the rather hodge-podge production of her 1978 studio album, Ross. It jumped straight up to No.35 on the Disco Club Play listings. In the U.K Lovin' Livin And Givin' stalled at a disappointing No.54 on the Pop charts, most likely down to some questionably poor promotion for the single. An alternate mix of Lovin' Livin' And Givin', which can be found on Diana Ross - The Motown Anthology (2001) was used as part of the soundtrack to the movie, Thank God It's Friday, which starred disco legend, Donna Summer.
The bouncy What You Gave Me lacks the dynamics of Lovin' Livin' And Givin' (which it was co-listed with) though is engaging enough. Written by two of Diana Ross' best collaborators, Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, What You Gave Me is featured here in its full, sparkling 12 inch version. The edited single release failed to make even a mere blip on the U.S Hot 100.
You Were The One, written by Greg Wright, was another slick, polished R&B/Disco number that had also been used as part of the track line up for the Ross (1978) album. More laid back than the other Disco outings on here but it still works well in its own way when judged on its own merits.
The fun Diana Ross And The Supremes Medley Of Hits contains some of Diana Ross' all-time greatest classics in one long mega mix. The songs included in abbreviated medley form are Stop! In The Name Of Love (U.S No.1), Back In My Arms Again (U.S No.1), Come See About Me (U.S No.1), Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart (U.S No.9), Where Did Our Love Go (U.S No.1) and Baby Love (U.S No.1). These are just a small handful of some of the most terrific and outstanding Pop/Soul songs ever made and were all written and produced by those masterminds of Motown, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, known simply as Holland-Dozier-Holland or H-D-H. This utterly genius trio assisted in helping create and define what was commonly referred to in the 1960's as The Motown Sound - the sound of young America. H-D-H were also instrumental in helping develop a focus, sound and identity for Diana Ross And The Supremes by writing and producing for them some of the most remarkable recordings in the history of Pop and Soul music. In this stomping medley of Supremes hits, a Disco beat is added to give the songs more of a contemporary setting though when listening to this today it does inevitably sound very dated. However it remains a guaranteed dance floor filler.
The rip-roaring 12 inch re-edit combining No One Gets The Prize and The Boss together is a real treasure. No One Gets The Prize had literally blasted on to the Disco scene becoming an instant club hit. Never before had Diana Ross sounded so pure and soulful. Her soft, silky voice brims with total self-assurance, cutting through the hard-driving, pounding musical arrangements. No One Gets The prize is an out and out Disco/R&B classic despite surprisingly never becoming a major chart hit on the mainstream charts.
Anyone who has any qualms about Diana Ross not being a soulful singer or not sounding black enough (what is that supposed to mean anyway?) will eat humble pie on just one listen of her impressively strong, acrobatic performance on the raging Disco masterpiece, The Boss. She begins the song in a breathy, seamless sound and then effectively alters vocal pitch as the second verse builds to the chrous. Diana smartly moves along the sharp grooves and pumping, pulsating rhythms. The Boss, like No One Gets The Prize, enjoyed mammoth club success though disappointingly only reached No.19 on the U.S Hot 100, despite being one of her all-time classics. It actually went all the way to No.1 on the Disco Club Play listings (as did The Boss album of 1979).
Diana the dynamic disco diva gets on down into boogie Wonderland again on the Funk-ridden, sexually charged, I Ain't Been Licked. Her primal vocal delivery shifts direction as she begins the song sounding a little vulnreable but then rises with the exalting musical arrangements to shining self-assurance. Her voice is charged with fire and pure soul on I Ain't Been Licked, dripping with real gutsy emotion. Its incredibly hard to believe this never became an actual hit.
Fire Don't Burn saw Diana reunited with the famous Holland brothers, Brian and Eddie who had, along with Lamont Dozier, written and produced the majority of chart-toppers Diana Ross enjoyed in the 1960's as lead singer of The Supremes, who remain the worlds biggest female vocal group of all time. Sadly they seemed to have been past their artistic prime when they came up with this late 70's Disco number. Fire Don't Burn is certainly very catchy and grows on you after a few listens but this blatant attempt at updating and contemporising her style and sound with The Supremes makes it nothing more than just pleasant filler material, especially as Diana was wanting to progress as a solo artist rather than re-hash a sound she had almost ten years before.
We Can Never Light That Old Flame Again was a more enjoyable collaboration with Brian and Eddie Holland as well as a contribution from Mack David. originally intended for the Ross (1978) album, it was eventually issued as single years later in July of 1982. Rather surprisingly it sank without trace! Even so, We Can Never Light That Old Flame Again is another rhythmically exciting Disco number that has a lot of spark and a tremendous vocal performance from Diana.
You Build Me Up To Tear Me Down was yet another collaboration with Brian and Eddie Holland along with Ron Miller. It's a slow, soft-Funk number that is again pretty standard, routine material though is engaging enough. This was also another recording to have found itself edged out and canned from the Ross (1978) album.
Finally disc 2 draws to a close with the super-funky, Sweet Summertime Lovon' which captures an amazing performance from La Ross who races along the frantic orchestrations to maximum effect, oozing soul. Produced by Hal Davis, Sweet Summertime Lovin' was originally mixed for inclusion on the Ross (1978) album and then was remixed again in 1981 for inclusion on the cancelled Diana Ross album, Revelations. A thoroughly fantastic track that fittingly ends a thoroughly fantastic album.
The diana Deluxe Edition is a double album that you will literally want to play over and over and over again. Instantly memroable, highly contagious, burning with passion and energy with superbly crafted and complex musical arrangements and sassy, streetwise and soulful performances from the divine Diana Ross. diana Deluxe Edition is an essential and definitive Diana Ross album that any lover of urban Soul/R&B/Disco music will lap up!
Ian Phillips
July 2006
Description of Diana (Deluxe Edition)
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