The Supremes Album: “Anthology [1986]”

Don't let my rating and my title confuse you. The CD is great -- everything for a Diana/Supremes fan. Why I'm disappointed is that I took these reviews to heart and expected to hear vast differences in songs like "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart" or "You Keep Me Hangin' On". More of Flo and Mary and with some extended versions. Duh? Color me crazy but an extra five seconds on "YKMHO" is not an "extension" in my book. Nor do I understand how these people are hearing more background when the backing track is actually REMOVED from the end of this song. The girls appear in the very last verse, which is part of that extended 5 seconds, doing nothing more than what you hear in all previous versions: "Oooh, oooh, oooh". As for the 'new and improved' "LILAIIMH" --- yeah, I'm still waiting.

Don't get me wrong. As I said, the CD is great. The music is wonderful and the sound quality is first rate. But, if you want to hear some different versions of these songs, check out the instrumentals by The Funk Brothers on the "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown" soundtrack.

I would like to commend Motown for this CD. At last you have an Anthology that features leads by all original Supremes. Mary Wilson does lead on "The Tears" and "Can't Take My Eyes off You". The Fabulous Florence Ballard does the lead on "Buttered Popcorn" (their 2nd single) and Ain't That Good News" ( one of the best songs on the this collection). On this version of "Good News" the fade out is much longer and she really blows on this one as only she could. "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart" is wonderful, in fact this version With more Flo and Mary on the fade out would have charted higher. Again Miss Flo rips into "You Keep Me Hangin On". Lastly this version of Diana's "Someday We'll Be Together" is the best. The sound quality is excellent. I am satisfied. A real Supremes Anthology, which showcases them as they should be as a UNIT as a TEAM. THE SUPREMES.

Diana Ross And The Supremes reign as the biggest girl-group in history. Yet their remarkable and unparalled achievements have always been considerably overlooked.

All three Supremes each had potential as lead singer of the group. The groups founder, Florence Ballard had a raw, earthy sound in her voice, whilst Mary Wilsons breathy, seamless voice complimented any ballad she sang on. But whether anyone wants to admit it or not, Diana Ross had the most unique, distinct sound, which had strong commercial appeal to both blacks and whites alike. What Diana Ross bought to the group was an almost regal presence and set them instantly apart from other Motown acts. Diana's soft, sensual voice that oozed heavy emotion and neatly surf-boarded along Motowns complex musical arrangements, had soulful qualities that displayed raw emotions of vulnreability. Their first single, I Want A Guy featured Diana giving a somewhat piercing vocal performance whilst the raucious, driving R&B number Buttered Popcorn featured Florence Ballard as lead vocalist and was far better yet the single sank without trace. These two tracks open this updated Anthology set and also contains some rare material such as The Tears, He and Things Are Changing. Amongst their string of early minor hits include the soft, sensual ballads Your Heart Belongs To Me, the Smokey Robinson produced A Breath Taking Guy and the infectious, upbeat Let Me Go The Right Way. Their first major chart breakthrough, When The LoveLight Starts Shining Through His Eyes is also deservedly featured and is an absolutley fantastic affair, containing a conga beat and generally having all the emphasis of that classic Motown sound. Of course all the famous hits are here with their most soulful outputs being (in my eyes at least), Back In My Arms Again, I Hear A Symphony, My World Is Empty WithOut You, Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart, You Can't Hurry Love, You Keep Me Hanging On, Love Is Here And Now You're Gone, The Happening, the adventurous and experimental Reflections containing elements of the swirling psychedelic sound, Forever Came Today, their social commentary on possibly their finest ever recording Love Child, the gritty I'm Living In Shame and their touching swan song SomeDay We'll Be Together. Beyond that are some more rarities including a sassy take on The Nitty Gritty, Sweet Thing which is perharps no more than typical Motown fare whilst lesser known hits like the electric No Matter What Sign You are and I'll Try Something New (With The Temptations) also get an airing. Other than that the album falls a little on the bland side but are still curiously worth hearing - they woo and coo their way through The Beatles A Hard Days Night (one of Berry Gordys plans to establish the group as all-round entertainers for both blacks and whites), and Mary Wilson takes lead vocal duties on a bland version of Can't Take My Eyes For You. If anything I hold my hands up and admit that this is most probably me being biased when I say this but as a die hard Soul/R&B/Motown fan, its these elements of styles that truly captures their own magical sound. There is about as much pop as there is soul in a lot of their earlier hits like the sassy Come See About Me, and the cutesy girly tone of Baby Love but there work remains a milestone in musical history. Each of The Supremes deserve credit and have their own individual appealing qualities in their vocal deliverys but Diana Ross was ultimatley the star and I strongly rate her as an excellent vocalist. She may not have the volume or power of Martha Reeves or even the groups founder Florence Ballard, but she certainly knows how to use her voice and express genuine feeling and emotion which is why this work remains so timeless. This compilation perharps is their defintive collection. Recommended!

This 2001 Anthology is an excellent overview of the works of Diana Ross & The Supremes. Every hit is included, as well as a fine assortment of album tracks and rarities such as the previously unreleased extended version of "Itching..." featuring a much longer fade-out, and an alternate version of "You Keep Me Hangin' On".

In addition, according to this compilation's liner notes, we can also (hopefully soon) look forward to "The Supremes 1970's Anthology" which personally I'm hoping will be a proper, multi-disc anthology, which has been seriously lacking for the rather underrated, yet utterly sublime 1970's Supremes.

There are so many Diana Ross Anthologies out there, that one could get very confused about what to buy. Also, many of them seem to repackage the same songs over and over again. This is, apprently, one of the earlier ones and though I am sure the sound quality isn't that good like the one reviewer said (I'm not much of an audiophile), it is still worth it to pick up for some hard to find songs. I found my copy for $12 & considered that a bargain.

First of all, I am a fairweather Ross fan. Loved her Supremes stuff, but have found her 35 year long solo career to be very patchy. Of course, some of my favorites are on this CD like her great, slow remake of "Reach Out I'll Be There" along with "Surrender" and "Remember Me".

I was never a fan of "Last Time I Saw Him" or "Theme from Mahagony" (don't get me started on the movie which I hated! sorry sports fans!) I thought that Motown tried too hard to make Ross into a black Helen Reddy rather than tap into her Pop/Soul/Jazz stylings.

My main reason for picking this collection up was for the generous portion of tracks from her hard to find "Baby It's Me" album which I have on tape & vinyl. Especially nice is her remake of Stevie Wonder's "Too Shy To Say". Also, another favorite is the jazzy, uptempo "Getting Ready for Love". Also, the song "Top Of the World" (not that awful Carpenters' song!) is one of her best performances of all time in my opinion.

I wish they had put a few more selections from her "The Boss" album on this collection like maybe some of the ballads, but it is nice to hear the title track again, along with "It's My House". I hated "Love Hangover" when it came out but the song has slowly grown on me. Also, I like her version of "What You Gave Me" along with "Lovin, Livin, Givin".

So, though I do skip around certain tracks on this collection, I'm glad I own it.