"Diana Ross and the Supremes Up, Up And Away" Mono/Stereo "Motown Deep Cuts" "Women Of Motown"
"Diana Ross and the Supremes Up, Up And Away" Mono/Stereo "Motown Deep Cuts" "Women Of Motown"
The recording industry in the sixties had a model for albums which seemed to require that an artist stock their LPs with covers of other people's hits for days and days. That's not really a bad thing, except for when it goes to extremes. And in the case of Motown, this virtually insured that TONS of Motown originals went unused and wasted in tape canisters just sitting on shelves. Case in point: the space-wasting cover of The 5th Dimension hit, Jim Webb's "Up, Up and Away."
But Ima back up a bit here. When I bought this album back in the eighties, I couldn't get through the "Reflections" album. There were only about 4 songs I liked from the entire album- and this was not one of 'em. Life is weird though. Sometimes, there are things you start out not liking and then down the road, for whatever reason, it becomes a favorite. In this case, I still am not really hooked on this version of the song, but some four decades later, I'm actually finding it a pleasant bit of lightweight fun.
The huge minus for me here is that for a track produced by HDH and supposedly recorded in Detroit, this has GOT to be one of the lamest, most colorless tracks ever performed by The Funk Brothers - in fact, I don't even want to believe it was them. There is absolutely none of the carefully crafted subtle grace of the 5th Dimension's original. The horn arrangement sounds as if the musicians were trying to wing something off the tops of their heads. In fact, the arrangement overall can't even be bothered with attempting to match or better the original as performed in LA by The Wrecking Crew. Motown just threw something together that even a budget record company would have done with more fire and feeling. And it's saying a lot for me to say all of this because I never was really a fan of the original song anyway. (But now, through sheer comparison, I HAVE become a fan of The 5th Dimension's classic!)
On the plus side, this track lets us actually hear Mary and Cindy (I'm assuming it was Cindy) doing some really nice harmonizing. This turns out to be an ultra rare treat for this album. Diana Ross, as usual, turned in a lead that ends up working overtime to compensate for such a blah music backing.
This ends up being such an unnecessary recording, I almost have to look up to the skies and ask "Why?" Why was this inflicted upon those of us who love Motown? Side A of "Reflections" is pretty strong, once you grow to appreciate it; then you play side two and it's the strangest hodgepodge of stuff that just sounded as if they were pulled from about 4 different albums and stitched together.
Still, I guess there are worse things Motown did- and this DOES sound pretty upbeat and all sunshine-y and stuff.
Up, Up And Away (Jim Webb) published Johnny Rivers
The Supremes; recorded Hitsville-GW, completed 16-Nov-67 ; produced by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier
Apr-68; LP (S): Motown S665 Reflections
Apr-68; LP (M): Motown M665 Reflections
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