Motown Queens Do The Musicals

Just 4 months after presenting an album of the songs of their Motown collaborators Holland-Dozier-Holland, the Supremes had been again in shops on May 22, 1967. This time, in appreciable distinction, they had been visiting the musicals.

Their eleventh studio set, their final earlier than Diana Ross was given “name above the title” billing, was The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart. Produced by Berry Gordy and Gil Askey, it featured a dozen covers of the present tunes of the celebrated writing duo of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

Show tune Supremes

Gordy had lengthy acknowledged the Supremes’ capacity to achieve past their authentic R&B fan base into center America, and maximized it by having the trio play supper golf equipment for white audiences. He noticed this new album because the logical subsequent transfer.

Some followers of their current smash hit singles reminiscent of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and “Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone” could have discovered covers of “The Lady Is A Tramp” and “My Funny Valentine” incongruous. But the ladies had topped the Hot 100 the week earlier than the album’s launch with the distinctly pop-oriented “The Happening.”

That could have been on the expense of a few of their R&B followers, who solely took the tune to No.12 on that chart. But the Supremes had been changing into absolutely conversant with a center of the street viewers.

The album’s tracklisting was gathered mainly from Rodgers & Hart’s already time-honored songbook of the Twenties and 30s. Selections included 1934’s “Blue Moon,” “My Romance” (from the 1935 musical Jumbo) and “Falling In Love With Love,” from 1938’s The Boys From Syracuse. The LP was initially meant as a double disc, for which the group recorded 13 additional songs, all of which emerged on a Complete Recordings model of the album in 2002.