Very Rare Doo Wop - Never Again - The Supremes (early)

[Eddieb715]

Wow, this is a great pic, I never knew this and always wondered what the label looked like. Great Info, thanks for posting!

[cynthia6637]

BEAUTIFUL, EARLY SONG OF 1961 MOTOWN BY DIANA ROSS

[proverbs1824]

@cynthia6637 No, it's the Supremes and Ms. Ross is a member of the Supremes.

[doowopman49]

EXCELLENT TRACK! THANKS FOR THE TREAT,TOM D.

[BastaVaZool]

I've always preferred the original Supremes and their recordings from the mid 50s Never got into the Motown Supremes.

[cynthia6637]

FANTASTIC SONG FROM THE EARLY YEARS OF THE SUPREMES

[tonyaustin72]

Sounds like Florence Ballard singing lead on this one

[tas6010]

1961. B-side of "I Want A Guy" sung by the great Diana Ross. One of the greatest R&B singles ever released.

[steviemedina22088]

i can keep replaying this song and its still Magic.

[RickDougall]

This must be ultra-rare as a vinyl 45. Although it was on their 1962 album 'Meet The Supremes', it's not listed as an official single release on their discography. Great track and thanks for the upload :-)

[PJDooWop]

Interesting that it's not listed. It's most definitely out there as a single

[kjchicago1]

@PJDooWop Released in March 1961 on Motown's Tamla Records Label as Tamla 54038

[tonyaustin72]

beautiful....who is singing lead?

[PJDooWop]

Diana Ross I believe

[proverbs1824]

@tonyaustin72 Diana Ross.............a very young Diana Ross.

[prettywoman456]

fantastic!!

[UncleMike43]

I've never seen the 45 but I have two copies of the LP.

[spintation]

Mary's voice would have been better as lead on this. Great to hear tho. Thx!

[pinkfloyd59]

Right after their Primettes days. Pinkfloyd59

[PJDooWop]

Exactly!

[waxheadglossy]

probably would have never heard this one, thanks PJ!

[cherikandler]

this disc must be worth a few bob eh ? . fantastic upload .

[PJDooWop]

It's worth a few bucks, but it's not an ultra high end record. I've seen mint copies sell for as much as $200, but the record shows up often in the $100 range.

[Cassalina879]

great song!!!

[rogandsal]

Wasn't "Buttered Popcorn" the A side of "I Want a Guy"?

[PJDooWop]

The flipside of "Buttered Popcorn" is "Who's Loving You." I posted "Who's Loving You" as well about a month ago.

[doowopman49]

nice ear[obscure] side by diana and the supremes. new to me ,thank you sooooooooo much for the treat.tom d brick,nj

[cabrona13100]

bad ass song ,but i cant freaking download it , one of those damn rare oldies that you just cant find!!

[doowopshopgal]

@cabrona13100 You can download the mp3 from Itunes, maybe they did not have it then, but they have it now, I looked and got it for .99. Good luck

[doowopnightsdotcom]

The problem with todays music is it can't compete with this! Thank you so much for this upload!

[BobbyDelRiv]

I'm pretty sure Diana Ross is the lead on this. Her voice sounds different but she gives it away in certain spots in the song. Not a bad song!

[stripemister]

Sound's a little like "What Brought Us Together," by the Edsels.

[PJDooWop]

That never occurred to me and you're 100% right

[anarchopk]

@stripemister to be honest, a lot of doowop sounds pretty similar.  the melodies are pretty easy and tend to get replicated quite often. don't take me wrong, though, i love doowop and can listen to it all day. i have a band that plays some doowop and admittedly, a lot of the songs i write for the band end up sounding similar to old doowop songs just because thats my influence. the difference with our songs, i guess, is that we sing about social justice issues in a doowop style

[Oldies619Producer]

for all you people saying Diana's voice is tricks and BS ,,,, STFU!!! She has one of the greatest voices of all times.

[Mstrblu]

Obviously Florence Ballard.

[strandwolf]

Totally freaking awesome!

[ejslurb2007]

Ah, Kurt, they just don't make them like this anymore. For another eye-opener, look up on YouTube the original version of "When You Walk In The Room," written by Jackie DeShannon but more commonly associated with England's Searchers. Miss DeShannon's version is a keeper! Jackie sounded a lot like Ronnie Spector, and the production is very Phil Spector-esque, similar to the Crystals' "And Then He Kissed Me." Give it a listen and let me know what you think. And keep rocking!

[ejslurb2007]

Very interesting old material from the Supremes. Why wasn't this song promoted back when it was first recorded? Also, I read that back then there was a lead singer controversy in the group. So who sang lead on this song? Was it Diana Ross or the late Florence Ballard? I read in "The Story of Motown" that one critic wrote about the Supremes, "The group has two lead singers (Ross and Ballard) but only one (Ross) is being featured."

[PJDooWop]

It's not that Gordy didn't push it, it's just the way he pushed records in the early days. He'd press records on his own labels for distribution within the greater Detroit metro and hope for national distribution with another outfit. For whatever reason htis one wasn't picked up by another outfit. It wasn't until about 1962 that Gordy was primarily using his own labels for national distribution.

[kurtsupreme]

@ejslurb2007 This is Diane! Diane's voice today hardly resembles this young, innocent voice that was closer to the way she later sounded in the legendary Supremes. Today, her voice is in severe deterioration.................­no wonder that you can't recognize this one!

[lonn67]

@kurtsupreme Diana Ross's voice like most older women, has gotten deeper and fuller with age.  It has not deteriated at all and her current concert tour proves that. Yes, gone is that girlish quaility in her voice, but she still sound great for a 66 year old women. Keep rockin Diana!!!

[kurtsupreme]

@lonn67 I Diane has NEVER had a good voice. She had a UNIQUE voice with a girlish, nasal, cooing quality which, along with Mary and Flo combined to form a sound that defined the decade of the 1960's. As you have stated, the girlish, cooing quality in her voice is gone.....that was the whole thing! I rest my case! The only thing that Diane's recent tour showed is that she, along with a complete orchestra and THREE phony Supremes, can do a tribute act to the legendary trio! C'mon, get real!

[lonn67]

@kurtsupreme Obviously we see and hear two different things when we see Diana Ross, then and now. That is fine, because we are intitled to our OWN opinions. Also, Diana's current background singers are two men and one woman, just in case you didn't know. So, they can't be phony Supremes, just background singers, singing a few Supreme songs and mostly Diana's solo catolog of mostly number 1 hits. With that, I'm done debating the opinions of us all...take care and here's to the Supremes!!!

[kurtsupreme]

@lonn67 I am cetainly aware that Diane has 3 phony Supremes (2 men and a woman) in her Supremes Tribute Act. Believe me when I tell you that she depends on that orchestra AND the phony SUPREMES to hold her up vocally and distract the audience instrumentally! Beileve it, I am well aware of Diane's stage tricks! Obviously, it is YOU that she has fooled!

[proverbs1824]

@ejslurb2007 In the beginning there were four lead singers, as all the girls shared the lead. Even after they became a trio, they shared lead vocals. It wasn't until Berry Gordy got a hold of them that it was decided there would only be one lead singer. But, all the girls could sing lead. Diana was chosen as the "one", because her voice, Gordy felt, would appeal to a white audience. And, Motown was looking to cross over and have a wider appeal to all audiences.

[CrisVangel]

How did it come to be that this has the same number as "I Want A Guy"? (54038)?

[PJDooWop]

I want a guy is the other side of this

[CrisVangel]

@PJDooWop I realized that right after I asked.. lol!  I read somewhere that it was Buttered Popcorn but I get it that they were mistaken now.. lol.. thanks! Love "I want a guy" a whole lot, just heard it recently .. (I know, I know.. lol)

[ipmover]

Diana Ross had a group called the Primettes, when she was around 14 years old. I have some of the song n CD.

[proverbs1824]

@ipmover NO! Florence Ballard had a group called the Primettes, and Diane Ross was one of the Primettes.

[SANDYBLUEFORYOU]

A never heard them sound like this ...better ...blimey

[uncledooley]

Great song, forgot I even have this, nice to hear it again

[UncleMike43]

I've got the LP this song came off of but when I play it, it just doesn't sound as good as this. thanks for the post.

[PJDooWop]

Interesting. Motown albums usually had a good sound to them. How do the other songs sound compared to this?

[Musicball]

That's because chances are the lp you have has the version without the finger snaps, which IMO gives this song that extra doowoppy feel. Definitely one of my favs from that time period.

[Martywt43]

Barbra Martin, Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, and Mary Wilson was the line up for the single "I Want A Guy" according to the info that I found both songs were Diana Ross on lead.

[PJDooWop]

Thank you for the info. That was in line with what I had thought.

[Martywt43]

'Never Again" is the flip side of I Want a Guy". The song was written by Berry Gordy and was the debuting single for Motown girl group The Supremes in 1961, featuring Diana Ross, going by her given name, Diane Ross, in lead, the song was a doo-wop ballad similar to what the Supremes had been recording since forming as "The Primettes" two years earlier. The single never charted on the Top 100.

[yardlet6]

For a while the Motown crew called them the No Hit Supremes.

[PJDooWop]

This is true.. They had a similar name for The Temptations (the hitless Temptations or something like that)

[tbear4pa]

@Martywt43

The date would be exactly right because of the original short lived TAMLA label with the horizontal lines was last used in early 1961, right before it was redesigned later that year(perhaps in the summertime) to the "Globes" as part of the label which was used for a few years, until the late 60's.

[Wehategod]

Just wondering if this is the Line up of Barbra Martin, Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, and Mary Wilson? Also wasn't Mary Wilson the lead singer early on?

[PJDooWop]

As far as I know, Mary did do lead on some stuff, but Diana was the primary lead of the group. This was released in March of '61, so Mary was most likely present on this recording. I believe Diana is doing lead on this one

[best1forward]

@Wehategod No. She just goes around saying she was. She was never the chosen one, except for a few songs here and there..even early on in their career.

[hah13]

one of the few records where they don't all sing the same note in the background..never knew they could harmonize

[MOOGAH64]

Fantastic early sound!

[echoesibiza]

Nice ballad .thanks

[jt123egypte]

Unknown to me...but what a great quality! Add 10 stars! FANTASTIC thanks for posting this gem!

[moonchild0204]

Never heard this one before. Thanks for posting. I've been a Supremes mega-fan forever & Run, Run, Run is my very favourite by them. It's nice to know others love it too.

[srercrcr]

Yah, we agree. Also, When the Lovelight Starts Shining In His Eyes, the first HDH/Supremes release. Very good. It was clear that Diana had the voice, he had vision. Berry should have re-released both songs once they started hitting.

I read that when Where Did Our Love Go hit big, Berry corraled HDH in a room and told them not to leave til they had some more material. By dawn they had the next three hits composed! Gotta love it.

[srercrcr22]

"Your Heart...." came out in 62, written by and had that Smokey tempo. It was their first record to chart...at #95. Try "Run Run Run", it came out 4 months before Where Did Our Love Go, has that fantastic energy they became known for (HDH). But it was just too soon. I think it's great.

[PJDooWop]

Run Run Run is a fantastic track... One of my favorites by The Supremes (or in Gordy's stable for that matter)

[hah13]

That's the reason I liked the Tenptations, but not the 4 tops..to me, harmony is very important, noy everyone in the background singing the same note..anyone can do that

[hah13]

hey..i can finally hear some harmony from them, not all singing the same note, like their other records

[PJDooWop]

Yeah, it's a nice change of pace

[chazman1315]

Hey PJDooWop, do you know the song "Your heart belong to me" by The Supremes, it's very nice.

[PJDooWop]

Hmmmm... Can't say I'm familliar with that one. The Supremes have an amazing amount of material. Is that the title of the song or some of the lyrics?

[srercrcr]

Yes, it came out in '62, didn't turn the trick though, only went to #95. A Smokey production. He and Berry couldn't get anything to "stick to the wall" so in '63 Berry hired three guys with the initials HDH, and the rest is history.

[PJDooWop]

That's partially true. Berry Gordy had some trouble pulling in hits before '63, but he did have hits before '63. He also hired Eddie Holland before '63. Money by Barret Strong, Please Mr Postman by The Marvelettes and Shop Around by The Miracles were major hits for Gordy before '63. About HDH, Eddie Holland was hired by Gordy well before '63. Eddie Holland started recording for Gordy in '59, and released at least 5 45s that I know of before becoming the powerhouse HDS writer.

[CrisVangel]

Is this Diana Ross with the supremes or a different group? I'm confused. Sounds like it could be her, but I am not sure at all..

[PJDooWop]

This is THE Supermes - Diana and all.

[colsnake331]

Yeah..Diane Earl is in there but this sounds like one of the cuts they recorded as the Primettes. That had Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, Betty Mcglown and Diane in it. But if this after the name change it's Di, Flo, Mary and Barbara Martin. The alto is Mary Wilson.

[PJDooWop]

This was definitely a Supremes track although it does sound like a Primettes cut. LuPine Records (also from Detroit) cut all of the Primettes stuff and I don't think they gave the masters to Gordy.

[justb0bbyg]

What year was this from??

[PJDooWop]

1961

[CrisVangel]

Wow, that was a different sound for them and in the shows all about the motown story etc, I don't believe they ever mention this record and they should!

[DaveSwinger]

This maybe my favorite record from The Supremes.  The flips is killer, as well. But, I don't want a guy, thanks.

[PJDooWop]

Yeah this is a great 2 sider

[JustMeHere9]

Very interesting how they try to conform to the standard style of that time given that it sounds so different from that unique Motown bubble-gum pop sound they would craft a few years later. It's like 2 different groups.. They would never have became who they were had they stuck to this generic style of music.

[PJDooWop]

Motown, even in the early days, was always a label of conformity. Musical genius, yes, but conformity none the less. If a sound was hot they were on it with their own spin. Motown ran in cycles with their formulas.. They'd stick to one, produce a string of records with it, then change the formula and stick with that for a while. Motown's sound was unique from day one... Shop Around by The Miracles and Money by Barrett Strong are great examples.