Released: February 18, 1966
Runtime: 33:43
After back-to-back blockbuster albums, the Supremes return with I Hear A Symphony. It’s a largely subdued affair. It’s also kind of Janus-faced. One half of it is top-notch Motown Sound. The other half, indicated by the title, is atypical orchestral fare. Sometimes that orchestral fare works, sometimes it don’t.
On the album charts it hit #1 R&B and #8 pop, so another success for the Supremes. Additionally the title track was #2 R&B and #1 pop while a second single, “My World Is Empty Without You”, raced to #10 R&B and #5 pop.
SIDE 1
The production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland quite clearly tried to break out of their “Where Did Our Love Go” mold. Oh sure it had delivered the Supremes five #1 pop singles and another top 20 hit in less than 18 months, but they wanted something fresh, something exciting.
“I Hear A Symphony” does that. It marries the “baby baby” beat of the previous hits with a sweeping, expansive orchestration. It’s pretty ridiculous what this song is able to accomplish in under three minutes. Motown songs from H-D-H were usually complex, at least the stuff that got put out as singles, but this took things to another level. Like they were knowingly trying to match and outdo what Phil Spector was doing with the Wall of Sound.
Sadly the rest of the first side fails to reach the heights of “Symphony”. None of the other songs are offensive, but they also don’t really grab the attention. Probably cuz they’re all covers. (Hooray, another cover of “Yesterday” PRAISE THE LORD, we really needed that). Perhaps a sign that H-D-H were being overworked given their duties as primary producers for the Supremes, the Four Tops, and Martha & the Vandellas plus ancillary work for other Motown artists.
Again none of the other songs are bad, they just run together in a haze. “I Hear A Symphony” was a delight. These songs are background music. I’m not even gonna bother describing them one by one. It’s not worth the effort.
SONG SCORES
Stranger In Paradise: 5.5/10
Yesterday: 5/10
I Hear A Symphony: 10/10
Unchained Melody: 5.5/10
With a Song In My Heart: 4.5/10
Without A Song: 4/10
SIDE 2
This side ain’t entirely all originals, but it’s definitely more Motown in sound whether a cover or not.
This kicks off with the haunting, organ-laden “My World Is Empty Without You”. If you love baritone sax like me, you’ll get a kick outta this one. It’s workin’ hard for the money on this one.
“A Lover’s Concerto” was previously a #2 pop hit for the Toys. It was a fine girl group pop single, so it easily lent itself to being covered by the Supremes. In fact, I think the Supremes version is slightly superior to the original.
Another cover crops up with “Wonderful! Wonderful!” This song defies its own title. It’s not the least bit wonderful. Worst song on the album.
With that crap out the way, time for the three hidden gems on this LP!
Note they aren’t necessarily era-definding classics, but “Any Girl In Love (Knows What I'm Going Through)”, “Everything Is Good About You”, and “He’s All I Got” are some really good songs. Especially, if you like the Motown Sound but want something beyond the BIG HITS to listen to.
“Any Girl In Love” is a rare Supremes song where the backing vocals are the showcase. For me at least. It also has a lyric (“as soon as love walked in, you walked out”) that presages a future Supremes smash (“Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone”).
In case you had any doubt that these gossamer productions by H-D-H would help lead to disco, “Everything Is Good About You” would be lovingly ripped off by Barry White for “It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart It's Spring)” by his own vocal trio Love Unlimited.
Don’t take my word for it. Listen to them back-to-back and you can hear the *ahem* influence.
And now we come to my personal favorite song on this album.
“He’s All I Got” is some great trash talking. The song starts off with, “You’re a girl who hates to see others happy, unless you’re happy too/ so you’ve told the boy I love, a lot of things that ain’t true”.
Other choice lines…
Your selfishness causes unhappiness
For once in your life, considers someone else’s feelings
Confess the truth you’ve been concealing
Earrings are coming off and shoes about to fly. I love it.
SONG SCORES
My World Is Empty Without You: 8/10
A Lover's Concerto: 7/10
Any Girl in Love (Knows What I'm Going Through): 8/10
Wonderful! Wonderful!: 2/10
Everything Is Good About You: 7/10
He’s All I Got: 7.5/10
ALBUM GRADE: C+
There’s some really good songs here, but there’s a lot of averageness too. In a nutshell, stick to the original tunes, ignore the covers, and you’ll be fine.
It also showed that Motown could easily be stressed by its relentless release schedule. Counting live and studio albums, this was the Supremes’ sixth album in under two years. You gotta give people room to breath and recuperate.
If the original songs from I Hear A Symphony and the next Supremes release were combined onto one LP, you’d have another classic on the level of More Hits By The Supremes. Instead you got two subpar albums released within six months of each other.
A real shame.