Motown house band the Funk Brothers totally cook on the backing track, Diana Ross actually sings it very well, and still everything about this is totally, weirdly wrong.
Have a great weekend, all!!!
Friday, October 16, 2015
Number One Hits in an Alternate Universe (An Occasional Series)
The 1965 Supremes cover the 1965 Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself."
Motown house band the Funk Brothers totally cook on the backing track, Diana Ross actually sings it very well, and still everything about this is totally, weirdly wrong.
Have a great weekend, all!!!
Motown house band the Funk Brothers totally cook on the backing track, Diana Ross actually sings it very well, and still everything about this is totally, weirdly wrong.
Have a great weekend, all!!!
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12 comments:
Wrong how? As you mention, Ms. Ross does a decent job of singing the tune, I prefer the Tops version.
I can't put my finger on it, but something about it creeps me out.
It has no soul.
Well, there's that too.
:-)
There's a duet she did with Marvin Gaye (Ain't No Mountain High Enough?) where it's obvious he's trying really hard to not outsing her. Outsings her anyway. The Shaggs could outsing her.
There is no shame in not being as good a singer as Aretha Franklin, Gladys Horton (of the Marvelettes), or Darlene Love. Diana Ross was often a formidable singer (listen to her as an 18-year-old https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsMOMNrAkgE). The Supremes, as a vocal group were vocally TIGHT live in the early- and mid-1960s in a way Martha & the Vandellas and the Miracles were not.
Great backing track, sturdy tune, competently sung. That's all I got.
It's the production. The drums are too hot for the soft backing vocals. It seems rushed and thrown together production wise. A mess. I love the song. I love Diana's voice. I like the beat. But it doesn't gel somehow.
DannyGuam
I think this is an alternate version. Nevertheless, even on the original "A Go-Go" version, the Supremes can't touch the Tops. You need a thick, sizable Stubb in your Levis to tackle this one.
Saw the Supremes once long ago kinda unintentionally. It was only because they were on the same bill with the Springfield and the Seeds. The Supremes were the headliners. Post-Whisky A Go-Go Johnny Rivers, who never disappoints, was second bill. The Supremes pretty much phoned it in. I felt no emotional commitment from them. The arrangements were hokey, cheesy and hackneyed. Diana's banter was contrived and scripted. They medley-ized way too many of their hits. And does anybody need to hear lounge singer stuff like "More" and meaningless covers of the Beatles' "Yesterday" and "Michelle"? I thought they would be better.
Rivers had three black girls singing with him that blew the Supremes away. A couple of them later formed Honey Cone. Knechtel was on bass and Eddie Rubin on drums. Jimmy Webb was the bandleader. Few knew who he was.
Gotta go. Shake it like a bowl of soup and make your body loop-de-loop. Put your hands on your hips and let your backbone slip. Move your body like a whip. And just shake!
VR - Anybody out here see Alejandro this past week?
wait...no menage a cinq with johnny and the girls? or backstage blow with steve and sky? now who's phoning it in?
Anonymous, you cracked me up.
Yeah, Vickie, where did our love go?
The strings and horns are dreadful, especially the horn fills during the verses.
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