Diana Ross (1976) album appreciation.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by SITKOL'76, Mar 15, 2017.

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  1. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
    Not sure how many of you would've been fans of Diana Ross back when this record dropped but it was a smashing success for her. Released February 10, 1976 it would climb to #5 on the albums charts in the US and score 2 #1 smash hits, 'Theme From Mahogany Do You Know Where You're Going To)' and the disco anthem 'Love Hangover'. 2 other singles from the album are 'I Though It Took A Little Time', which release' was circumvented to allow 'Love Hangover' to smash and the final single 'One Love (In My Lifetime)' another top 40 hit.

    Because of the album, on Billboard's YE countdown for 1976 Diana Ross would finish #1 for female vocalists both in singles and albums, 'Love Hangover' would also be her 4th chart topping hit, making her at that time the female vocalist with the most solo #1 singles on the Hot 100.

    Outside of its massive success, it really is just a pretty great album and I was listening to some of the tracks on YT yesterday, it seems to be rarely mentioned considering the amount of chart success it had.

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    Track listing:

    Side One

    1. "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" (Michael Masser, Gerry Goffin) – 3:22
    2. "I Thought It Took a Little Time (But Today I Fell in Love)" (Michael Masser, Pam Sawyer) – 3:19
    3. "Love Hangover" (Marilyn McLeod, Pam Sawyer) – 7:49
    4. "Kiss Me Now" (Gwen Gordy Fuqua, Kenneth Lupper, Bobby Susser) – 2:42
    Side Two

    1. "You're Good My Child" (Kenneth Lupper) – 3:35
    2. "One Love in My Lifetime" (Lawrence Brown, Terri McFadden, Leonard Perry) – 3:37
    3. "Ain't Nothin' But a Maybe" (Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson) – 3:35
    4. "After You" (Michael Masser, Ron Miller) – 4:06
    5. "Smile" (Charlie Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons, John Turner) – 2:55
    I've had 'I Thought It Took A Little Time' stuck in my head this past week and it's amazing how beautiful and believable her vocal is on the song. Very underrated gem in Diana's discog.

    Any fans of the record on SHF?
     
  2. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC


    Absolutely obsessed with this song. It's a song like this, along with 'Aint No Mountain High Enough', 'Remember Me', 'I'm Still Waiting', 'Touch Me In The Morning', and her cover of the Four Tops 'Reach Out (I'll Be There)' that really remind you how convincing a vocalist Diana really is. She didn't have the power vocal of some of her peers but she could really pull a song over. I'm contemplating seeing her live this year, I pulled up some tickets and my mother is really interested.
     
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  3. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC


    4th single off the album, another favorite.
     
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  4. Glenpwood

    Glenpwood Hyperactive!

    A great album - although like "Touch Me In The Morning" it contains tracks from a few years and periods. Despite that it flows pretty seamlessly.

    Here's the breakdown..

    The three Masser tracks were all from 74-75 & originally considered for the Mahogany soundtrack the year before but it was decided to make that a true score album instead.

    Smile came from the 1973 "Blue" sessions with Gil Askey. That album was scrapped when Diana failed to take home the Oscar.

    Kiss Me Now I believe is a 74 vault cut too. It's definitely an attempt to continue that "Last Time I Saw Him" & "Old Funky Rolls" ragime feel. Gotta love Diana's scatting on it though.

    The rest were more recent sessions with a variety of producers.

    The expanded edition released a few years back contains some very interesting alternate versions of most of the songs and a few Jeffrey Bowen productions recorded at the same time but ultimately canned like Le Lo Li & Go Where Your Mind Is. Ross is channelling Sly Stone more than being her usual pop diva on them.

    I agree that ITITALT (BTIFIL) is a beautiful tune. It should have done much better but Motown had to kill it to stop the 5th Dimension's cover of "Love Hangover" from beating Diana's to the public. At least it went top 5 at A/C radio.
     
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  5. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
    They released a 40th anniversary addition last year I believe.

    And year ITITALT definitely should have been a smash hit.

    As for Touch Me In The Morning I thought it was a little slow as an album but it was another really big hit for her, especially after the success of LSTB and the ST going #1.
     
  6. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
  7. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    Yes, I have it. Like a lot of Diana's albums its patchy. At least half of it is first rate though. Kiss Me Now and You're Good My Child are the weakest cuts for me. After You and the three singles are the highlights. The following year's Baby It's Me is excellent too, but didn't meet with the same success.

    The 2012 Deluxe of DR is very good and beautifully put together.
     
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  8. Torontotom

    Torontotom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I love this album, too. I Thought It Took a Little Time (But Today I Fell in Love) is one of her best singles and one of her best vocals, in my opinion.

    I also adore One Love in My Lifetime.

    The 2-disc special edition is terrific. The alternate takes are really worth hearing.
     
  9. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
    Yes, Baby It's Me wasa fantastic album. 'Getting Ready For Love' is an A+ track.
     
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  10. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    In fact, I liked all her studio albums after Baby It's Me until 1989's Workin' Overtime. She was really on a roll throughout the 80s.
     
  11. zebop

    zebop Well Known Stranger

    I like it. I tend to forget about it due to The Mahogany soundtrack and Diana Ross's Greatest Hits, but Diana Ross is a nice work on its own. "Theme From Mahogany Do You Know Where You're Going To)" was such a big hit, it's really the aural equivalent of those days, great song by Gerry Goffin and Michael Masser. I also like "It Took a Litte Time" and "One Love in My Lifetime."
     
  12. JDeanB

    JDeanB Senior Member

    Location:
    Newton, NC USA
    Loved the album then and now, though I did think "Kiss Me Now" was a bit of a throwaway. Love "I Thought It Took A Little Time" but after hearing the alternative version, I think the piano intro might have been more inviting to pop radio than the string intro. That string into seemed to underscore the opinion that Diana was stuck in MOR land. Of course with "Love Hangover", it seemed like a new direction. "After All", "Smile", "One Love In My Lifetime" and "You're Good My Child" are all very fine to my ears. "Ain't Nothing But A Maybe" invites some interesting comparisons with the then recent version by Rufus and Chaka...after all these years, I can't say I prefer one to the other.
     
  13. JDeanB

    JDeanB Senior Member

    Location:
    Newton, NC USA
    I saw her last year and she still can hold an audience in the palm of her hand. My only complain--and for the price of the tix, I think it's valid--is that she sang less than an hour.
     
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  14. Torontotom

    Torontotom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    On a superficial note, the album cover is stunning!
     
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  15. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
    Yeah, I saw reviews and they said she had a ridiculous amount of costume changes. She also only tends to sing her bigger hits and doesn't perform the lesser known songs and album tracks. On another note glad to see Ms. Ross is still up to her diva antics even into her 70's.
     
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  16. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
    Yes, she was serving.

    The album art was photographed by Victor Skrebneski. He's photographed everyone from Cyndi Crawford, to Dianne Carrol and Audrey Hepburn. He also photographed her for 'Baby It's Me'.

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  17. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I saw a vinyl reissue of this today, think it was on the Back to Black label, any comments on the quality of the remaster/pressing?
     
  18. ando here

    ando here Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Pole
    It has her most ionic album cover (and my favorite!).

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    As expressed by @Bobby Morrow the album is a mixed bag. It's not one I ever play but Love Hangover will always be a dance floor favorite.


    Her live Midnight Special version is fun.

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    Last edited: Nov 10, 2017
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  19. ando here

    ando here Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Pole
    Despite Motown's big hype machine (which was considerable)...

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    the album can't compare to LPs like Swept Away, diana and/or Eaten Alive in terms of songcraft and longevity, imo.

    That said, anyone here familiar with this Diana Ross/Gloria Estefan remix of I Thought It Took A Little Time?


    (May not play on mobile devices. Download it on keepvid.)
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2017
  20. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
    1976 was a Diana Ross year though, those 2 #1 singles were the only ones scored by a female singer that year. And she was Billboards female artist of the year in both albums and singles. The album was also a big seller, top 5 both in the US + UK.
     
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  21. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
    I think Diana is her most iconic album cover because it's been recreated a lot, but this is also huge too.
     
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  22. ando here

    ando here Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Pole
    [​IMG]
    I didn't realize that there was an earlier release of the Theme From Mahogany on the Soundtrack album! Soundtrack album?? Released in late '75 the song is the only track with Diana's vocals; the rest "an otherwise monotonous album of instrumental incidental music" (allmusic.com). Still I'd like to hear it. No doubt, though, that Motown decided to include the theme song on the Diana Ross lp as well to give it a boost.
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    Last edited: Nov 20, 2017
  23. Pelvis Ressley

    Pelvis Ressley Down in the Jungle Room

    Location:
    Capac, Michigan
    I seem to remember two different mixes of the vocal version of "Theme From Mahogany". I've only been able to locate one. Was there a second mix?
     
  24. smallworld

    smallworld Forum Resident

    Who's the other singer on One Love In My Lifetime? Quite androgynous sounding. I think I read somewhere that it might be Tata Vega.
     
  25. ando here

    ando here Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Pole
     
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