This morning in a moment of serendipity I found this in a pile and put it on. I've always had a soft spot for the streak of hits The Supremes made after Diana Ross left. "Nathan Jones", "Stoned Love", "Floy Joy", "Bad Weather", "Automatically Sunshine" and "Up To The Ladder To The Roof": this would be a recognised as a major pop career if it didn't happen to live in the shadow of the hits made by the original line-up. I love their brisk sexiness, that sense of life in the projects recalled from the back of a limo in "Up The Ladder To The Roof", the arrangement of "Bad Weather" which anticipates what Stevie Wonder was about to unleash and a sound which is little more supper-club than classic Motown. Now I read that Frank Wilson, who produced these and lots more Motown records, died yesterday. He didn't even get his name on the cover of this compilation of his records.
A sad day indeed - I knew of him mainly through "Do I love you", but if that were his only legacy, it would be indeed mighty.
ReplyDeleteDitto everything you said. I have that Supremes album and love it, actually prefer those tracks to the 60s stuff with Diana Ross.
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