Released: November 13, 1968
I have a love/hate relationship (mostly love) with this album. The love is mostly about the music, the hate is mostly about the bullbleep surrounding the album.
LOVE
The album cover actually had the Supremes in the real world for the first time. Don’t get me wrong, the Supremes were gorgeous, they deserved to be presented in gowns, dresses, and whatnot. But now they seem human! Look at Cindy Birdsong standing barefoot in an alley!
The title track also had them singing about a “real world” issue instead of just different variations of love. Again, don’t get me wrong. Love songs are great. But it was wonderful for a new subject matter. And there would be plenty of love songs here anyways.
(almost) every song here is an original. I believe there is only one or two covers out of these 12 songs.
Related to the above point, there are like eight or nine different songwriting teams working on this. After the underperformance of Reflections, Motown actually sought out new writers to work with the Supremes. There’s even a song co-written by George Clinton. Yes, that George Clinton.
HATE
The songs are by Diana Ross and “the Supremes”. By this point, Mary Wilson and Birdsong were largely relegated to lip-synced television appearances and live stage performances. They were rarely used to actually record in the studio.
(Here we go again) Don’t get me wrong, I love the Andantes (who went wildly underappreciated in the 1960s), but the Supremes should be singing all the songs on their own freaking record. The Andantes are nice to augment the Supremes, if necessary, but not to replace them when wholly unnecessary. Unless you’re Motown Records bent on building a runway for Ross to be a solo artist.
SIDE 1
“Love Child” kicks off this album and it was deservedly a smash hit in the fall of 1968. It returned the group to #1 on the pop charts while also placing #2 R&B. And it really does kick off the album. There’s a catchy as fuck isolated rhythm guitar lick that’s then flooded away by a storm of strings and then a funky rhythm track takes over for most of the rest of the song.
There are appropriate respites of cool as Ross plays the role of the song’s “Love Child” recalling how shitty it was for her growing up and she would have no part in bringing a love child of her own into the world.
She don’t care how hot you are, she ain’t having sex with you.
And here’s where I appreciate the Andantes. They shouldn’t have been singing these songs, but they did and they did it well. The way they hit that aaaaaaaahhhh is spectacular.
Given the subject matter, the song was unsurprisingly a bit controversial in conception and upon release. Thank goodness for songwriter Pam Sawyer insisting that Berry Gordy shut the fuck up, record it, and release it as a single. The Supremes needed a shakeup and this did it.
If there was any unifying force on this disparate album it was the husband-and-wife duo of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson who wrote three songs. They would go on to write and produce Ross’s first solo album, which is fucking great by the way.
Here they actually have one of those future Ross solo tracks, “Keep An Eye”. I like the future version more, but it’s better only by minor degrees. It’s an eerie song about keeping an eye on your no good friends who might take your man.
The brooding continues on “How Long Has That Evening Train Been Gone”, which is really just all vibes. Not a bad thing, per se. But I never really pay attention to it while it plays. Could be worse. I could pay attention to it cuz I hate it.
“Does Your Mama Know About Me” is our first cover. It was a hit (#5 R&B, #29 pop) for Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers and co-written by group member Tommy Chong. Yes, that Tommy Chong.
Light a blunt.
Anyways, I actually like the Supremes’ version more than the one that was a hit. Bobby Taylor rightfully released it since his group wrote the thing, but if the Supremes had it first, they woulda scored another top 20 hit, me thinks. Oh well. The song is about interracial dating, so I guess the Supremes were already controversial enough singing about love children.
“Honey Bee (Keep on Stinging Me)” is standard Motown fare. Worst song on the album.
“Some Things You Never Get Used To” is my favorite song here. Written by Ashford & Simpson (who also sing backup on it; you can here that high-pitched Nick Ashford voice crystal clear when they sing uuuuuuuuused toooooo), it was actually released as a single before “Love Child”, but it bombed. Badly. By Supremes standards. It was only a #30 hit on the pop charts.
It’s a good thing it bombed, though. It’s what caused Motown to try new things… like record “Love Child”. If “Some Things” had been successful, Gordy was gonna crank out another lazy album chock full of recycled Motown hits. Been there, done that.
Anyhoo, “Some Things” is actually of a similar musical vein to the classic Supremes hits under Holland-Dozier-Holland, but with the appropriate advances in music by 1968 applied. And with the different lyrical sensibilities of Ashford & Simpson. It’s another one of those songs that presages disco (sounds better loud on a quality sound system!) and would greatly benefit from being stretched out to four-and-a-half minutes instead of being smushed into 2:30.
And it’s got some overactive tambourine. Shake baby, shake!
SONG SCORES
Love Child: 9/10
Keep An Eye: 6.5/10
How Long Has That Evening Train Been Gone: 6/10
Does Your Mama Know About Me: 7/10
Honey Bee (Keep on Stinging Me): 5/10
Some Things You Never Get Used To: 8/10
SIDE 2
Oh my God, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong were allowed into the studio to sing on “He's My Sunny Boy” and it’s a great song written by Smokey Robinson. Appropriately it’s also a bright, jovial track. When Smokey decided to really make a tune, he could make a tune. “You've Been So Wonderful to Me” is another bouncy number, but of a slow-strollin’ variety.
“(Don't Break These) Chains of Love”. Man, it’s another just solid song. The quality here is starting to get unbearable. What is happening?
Oh finally, a cover song I can shit on. “You Ain't Livin' Till You're Lovin’” was originally recorded by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell. It was weak then and it is weak now. Boringest song the album, but “Honey Bee” is still the worst.
“I'll Set You Free” allowed the Supremes back into the studio to record another song of theirs. Their backing vocals are even dare I say, prominent. And this song sounds like a dry run for the string of hit singles by the Jackson 5 in 1970. It’s more laid back than “I Want You Back”, but it has that infectious rhythm guitar and kind of ploddingly light funky beat. Ross’ lead vocal is even in that high-pitched territory little Michael Jackson would be showing off in just a couple years.
Finally, the song co-written by George Clinton: “Can’t Shake It Loose”. Naturally, it opens with some psychedelic wah wah guitar. To me, it also sounds similar to future Funkadelic cult classic “Jimmy’s Got A Little Bit Of Bitch In Him”. It’s not funk, but it sure is funky. I really like it.
SONG SCORES
He's My Sunny Boy: 8/10
You've Been So Wonderful to Me: 7.5/10
(Don't Break These) Chains of Love: 6/10
You Ain't Livin' Till You're Lovin': 5/10
I'll Set You Free: 6.5/10
Can't Shake It Loose: 7.5/10
ALBUM GRADE: B
Look, I’m just as shocked as you all that an album completely filled with a hodge podge collection of writers and producers (made by a group that was basically a group in name only) was able to be so damn good.
It doesn’t reach the individual stupendous highs of many other Supremes albums, but it has a wholly unexpected cohesion in sound and quality, which is again shocking given the number of writers and producers.
And it benefits greatly from only having two cover songs. And only having two average songs that are spaced widely apart, so they don’t really interrupt the flow of the album.
Anyways, get ready for two really bad Supremes albums to follow.