Diana Ross - Diana Ross
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CD Details
Artist: Diana RossEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2011-03-30
Music Label: Motown
Soundtracks:
- Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)
- Now That There's You
- You're All I Need To Get By
- These Things Will Keep Me Loving You
- Ain't No Mountain High Enough
- Something On My Mind
- I Wouldn't Change The Man He Is
- Keep An Eye
- Where There Was Darkness
- Can't It Wait Until Tomorrow
- Dark Side Of The World
- Something On My Mind
- Ain't No Mountain High Enough
- Now That There's You
- These Things Will Keep Me Loving You
- Time And Love
- Stoney End
- The Interim
- Love's Lines, Angles And Rhymes
Music reviews of Diana Ross
Music Review: The Grand Solo Debut
Rating: 5 Stars
On the 15 January, 1970 at the prestigous Las Vegas Frontier Hotel, Diana Ross played her final concert with The Supremes - who remain the worlds biggest female vocal group of all time. At Ross' fawell concert she introduced her replacement Jean Terrell up on stage. The media then inevitably hyped up supposed competition between Diana Ross the solo star and The "New" Supremes. Indeed Ross opened up her first solo engagement with the words "Good evening ladies and gentleman and welcome to the lets see if Diana Ross can make it on her own show". She need not have worried!
Diana Ross' solo career had been initially planned as far back as 1966 and rumours had been circulating in the media for quite some time about her imminent departure from the group.
In 1969, when still offically a supreme, Ross recorded four tracks with Bonie Howes - Time And Love (originally intended as Ross' debut and later re-recorded by the "new" Supremes and then by the legendary Barbara Streisand), Stoney End, The Interim and Love, Lines, Angles And Rhymes. These four startling tracks steered Ross far away from her style and sound with The Supremes - too far as Motown boss Berry Gordy was concerned!
Deciding to play it safe as to not totally alienate Ross' mainstream buying public. Berry Gordy appointed the hot, genius duo Ashford and Simpson to be at the creative helm of Ross' debut solo album.
Simply titled Diana Ross (1970), the first single to be released would be the sappy Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand). The lyrics vastly alternated between social awareness and pure schmaltz though indeed boasted anthemic qualities. It also encapsulated an uncatchy, waltz-like rhythm that completely defected from the swinging Motown sound. Much to Gordys' reluctance, Ross was adament that Reach Out And Touch be her debut single.
Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand) became an admitedly low key start to such a highly anticipated debut. In the U.S it struggled to No.20 whilst stalling at No.33 in the U.K. That may be a respectable showing for a debut but a huge let down when you take into consideration that this was a lady that had topped the charts twelve times in the space of five years as lead vocalist of The Supremes. Making matters even worse was the fact that the "new" Supremes with Jean Terrell on lead vocals first single, Up The Ladder To The Roof, shot straight into the Top 10. Still, Ross continues to perform Reach Out And Touch to this day at her live concerts where she entices the entire audience to hold hands, unite a sway and sing along with her.
What did bring Ross the success she was accustomed to was the rip-roaring, blockbuster soul classic, Ain't No Mountain High Enough. Ashford and Simpson came up with the perfect masterpiece with Diana Ross in mind by completely re-arranging the version Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell had took high into the charts in 1968. Ross talk-sings in that gloriously sensual voice along the verses. The shimmering musical arrangements and powerful gospel backing lead up to an exalting climax where the title is finally sung and Ross' voice surfboards along the tidal wave of musical arrangements after an exhilirating, goose-bump ridden build up. Ain't No Mountain High Enough is really one of Diana Ross' signature tunes. The track is still magical to hear to this day! Ain't No Mountain High Enough raced to the top of the American charts whilst landing in at No.6 in the U.K.
There were surprisingly no other singles issued from the excellent Diana Ross (1970) album but thats certainly not to say that there weren't any other tracks worthy of release as a single. A spine-tingling version of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrells' You're All I Need To Get By was a great experiment for the Diana Ross sound. The depth, character and drama ih her soft, intricate voice pours out on this terrific number. Ross puts in a stellar performance on You're All I Need To Get By and Ross' version even surpasses the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell version.
Now That There's You was another commercially slanted number that remained hidden away on this album. Ultimately a feel-good number, Ross' performance sways from moments of vulnreability to shining self-assurance.
These Things Will Keep Me Loving You had been recorded when Ross was still with The Supremes and originally had been intended as her swan-song with The Supremes (which of course turned out to be the superior Someday We'll Be Together). Instead it finished off being used as an album track for this project but is certainly an abover average one at that. That riviting Motown sound is well under way on These Things Will Keep Me Loving You with brief vocal interludes from Johnny Bristol where as Ross delivers a crisp, niaeve sounding vocal performance.
The second half of Diana Ross (1970) is immersed in a dark, atmospheric mood though begins with a nice, light, mid-tempo number Somethings On My Mind which Ross delivers compellingly whilst she sounds more sassy on the catchy, jazz-flavoured I Wouldn't Change The Man He Is.
Keep An Eye sends shivers down the spine as the mood darkens becoming more sombre and mellow. This stunning track tells the bitter tale of betrayal, paranoya and infidelity. The funk-driven rhythm section is further ignited by Ross' soulful and almost chilly delivery.
Where There Was Darkness is simply beautifully mellow complete with a divine performance from Ross whilst even more dreamy and mellow was the gorgeous Can't It Wait Until Tomorrow featuring a beautiful, understated saxophone interlude at the bridge of the song.
The Diana Ross album then winds down with one last magnificent number on the superb, Dark Side Of The World. Ross becomes totally immersed in the stirring, atmospheric arrangements and this emerges as one of the best of the album tracks along with You're All I Need To Get By, Now That There's You, I Wouldn't Change The Man He Is and Keep An Eye.
All in all, Diana Ross (1970) is a very pleasing effort from the great soul diva and was a fabulous start to Ross' long, illustrious and varied solo career. Infact the album is something of an underated masterpiece (though that front cover is pretty hideous with Ross dressed as a child wearing cut off shorts and t-shirt holding an apple and gazingy astonishingly into the air. According to the photographer of that sesson, Harry Longdon, this was to reflect Ross' upbringings in downtown Detroit!).
many of the tracks captures some of Ross' finest singing of that era and also became a strong seller jumping into the U.K and U.S Album Top 20 charts.
Ian Phillips
Description of Diana Ross
The only surprise in Diana Ross forging a solo career outside the Supremes is how long she waited to do it. Her 1970 debut shrewdly capitalized on her former band's spectacular string of successes at the same time that it carved out a niche for Ross as one of modern pop's most formidable divas. That not inconsiderable task of reinvention fell to the songwriting/production team of Ashford & Simpson, who constructed a musical framework that traded freely on the sheer dynamics and dramatic potential of Ross's voice on tracks like "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand" and the massive No. 1 hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Loose, light, and occasionally neo-spiritual, it's an album that's almost daringly free of Motown history and clichés, right down to its cover imagery. This digitally remastered edition features a wealth of bonus tracks that include four from the album's first (aborted) sessions with producer Bones Howe--including Laura Nyro's "Stoney End," a hit for Streisand shortly thereafter--that give an intriguing glimpse of the somewhat jazzier and even more pop-oriented album that might have been. Also included are alternate mixes of "Ain't No Mountain" and "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You," an alternate vocal take of "Now There's You" that underscores the subtleties of Ross's technique, and a showy, unreleased live version of the album's "Something on My Mind" from one of the diva's first 1970 solo performances. --Jerry McCulleyPop CDs
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