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I fell in love with them ladies after listening to 'Baby Love' and 'Where Did Our Love Go?' on YouTube. Then got the 2003 compilation called 'Diana Ross & the Supremes: The No. 1's' and found more pop perfection than I'd ever hoped to. What a fantastic run of singles did they have. Problem is, I don't really like the remastering job of the compilation. Some of the tracks get lengthened for some reason, not to mention the cheap stereo additions (such as the hand-clapping that introduces Where Did Our Love Go passing from one channel to another, urgh). I don't find any appeal in modernizing their sound or whatever they were trying to achieve. So can anybody suggest a better compilation, with tracks in their original incarnation?

Also, general Supremes thread.

the Supremes are my all time favorite girl group  ;D.  My favorite is Florence

The Supremes aren't too bad, though there are other girl groups from the 60's I much prefer

  There's an ULTIMATE COLLECTION series on the great Motown groups that came out circa mid 90's-maybe give that one a try.

Cheers, Moon Dawg. That's exactly what I was looking for.


Care to give some examples?

Mainly the Phil Spector girl groups such as the Ronettes and the Crystals. But also other groups such as Martha and the Vandellas

You should get their "Where Did Our Love Go" and "More Hits By The Supremes" albums, they're great all the way through. Holland-Dozier-Holland at their peak.

As to better girl groups, my personal favourites are The Chiffons and The Ronettes, but The Supremes aren't too far behind for me.

The Supremes are easily one of the best groups at Motown as far as the sheer amount of great songs is concerned; Diana Ross is the most overrated female singer on the Motown roster - Mary Wells, Brenda Holloway, Martha Reeves, Tammi Terrell, Kim Weston, Gladys Knight, even her fellow Supreme Florence Ballard were better singers.

I think a great four-disc set could be made of their hits and album tracks; sadly it hasn't, yet.

Click on the long link below:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CEEQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSupremes%2Fdp%2FB00004WJHC&ei=4-7qUuysKpHKsQTdi4G4BA&usg=AFQjCNHp4H79d-iKwRM2Okf-8bYWdlaawA&sig2=4UA4Zbql4uUxHThhbKAZkQ&bvm=bv.60444564,d.cWc

Once you discover The Chiffons catalog, you'll never look back! I do like some early, early Supremes though - Your Heart Belongs To Me, I Want A Guy, Breath-Taking Guy etc.

I like Diana's shoulders and neckline on the early videos.  I don't know why.  something about the way she moved her shoulders was pretty sexy. 

Great example here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCqS5BwEe5I

Whenever one of their videos is on,  I find myself wanting more closeups of Flo and Mary. Diana had the commercial voice, but Mary is one of THE most beautiful women on the planet - even today, at ...well, whatever age she is now.

Yea Mary and Flo were underrated it's a shame how Berry Gordy treated Florence though, unlike Dream Girls there was no happy ending  :'(

Probably needs another thread but can you recommend a place to start? they seem to have got going again in 1970 after a long break.

Gordy is one of those character like Murry Wilson or Colonel Parker that I both love and hate. A lot of great music was made at Hitsville USA thanks to Gordy, but he sure treated a lot of his musicians and singers like trash.

I don't agree that Diana Ross was an overrated singer, because I've never heard anybody rate her as a great singer.  If it was all just about who's the best singer this thread would be called "The Aretha Franklin".  Diana had a lot of character, was cute (in a way), had a cute voice, had a style that men appreciated and women emulated.  She was certainly something special, but I would never say she was a better singer than anybody.  Competant, and good, yes... but she's never been thrown out there on her vocal merits. 

One thing I never understood was why Diana Ross was so popular and famous. Her looks at best were... meh. Her singing was fairly average at best. Her solo material I avoid. I could go on...

You must be wrong about some of that, then, eh?

Diana Ross may not have been a belter like Aretha, but she did have a vocal style that worked well commercially - does that make her the female Mike Love?

Look for the 3 disc vinyl Anthology comp from the 70s in record stores or on Ebay. It's got all the Supremes you'll ever need.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthology_%28The_Supremes_album%29

Good comparison. They both score highly in the distinctiveness department.