Diana Ross & The Supremes - Where Or When

In preparation of The Supremes playing such venues as The Copa in New York City, Motown President Berry Gordy had the girls cut an album of show tunes in order to appeal to the more mature audiences for which they would be performing. "The Supremes sing Rodgers & Hart" from 1967 was a landmark recording in many ways. It was the last time the Supremes would record without Diana Ross' name fronting the group (although I have credited her in this instance), and this would also be Florence Ballard's farewell recording session with The Supremes (she would soon be replaced by Cindy Birdsong). "Where or When" is one of the better cuts from this Rodgers & Hart compilation.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Diana Ross
• Supremes
• Where Or When
• Rodgers & Hart

[wkbbrat]

This album was my first introduction to "classic" songwriters,like Rodgers & Hart. I thank Motown for that. As a lower middle-class black kid in Philly, I might never have been exposed to this type of music ("Somewhere", "Hello Young Loves", "The Impossible Dream", etc.), had it not been for Motown & The Supremes. And what a great job they all did (including the arrangers & producers). Motown was a 'school' for a lot of us (not just the Motown artists).

[Nocaro]

@wkbbrat I think your note would make Berry Gordy and all of the Motown performers cry. Thanks.

[motownbaby]

This was my favorite from the "Rodgers & Hart" LP! If anyone likes this style of music, check out the complete collection...many songs that were left out of the original collection are great! Check out "It Never Entered My Mind".

[Nocaro]

I'll be posting "It Never Entered My Mind" very soon...thanks for the comments.

[aldroidlaw]

Ow,love this song, so happy to read the excitement from others.

Thanks for the post

[waynebrasler]

Ya, I knew I got it wrong the minute I wrote but wanted to see how long it would take someone to catch. Whitman and Frost had something in common but that's another story. The strange thing is, for years I had dreams about the album title and cover and finally when I got a chance I told Mary Wilson about the dreams and she said, "Actually, there was such an album." I've never figured out how I knew.

[tm02066]

@waynebrasler They may indeed have been strolling out of the woods, but the line of the poem you quote is from Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

[waynebrasler]

More on covers: I vaguely remember the cover for the Supremes' "Promises Kept" which had Jean, Mary and Cindy strolling out of a woods (the title was based on the Walt Whitman poem "The woods are lovely, dark and deep but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep"). Also I saw the cover for the "To the Baby" album which at that time was "The Baby Album" and there was one for an album of unreleased Supremes titled "New Revelations" that got cancelled.

[waynebrasler]

Regarding the Disney/Funny Girl cover at the time I was a friend of a Motown vice president and he was forever telling me what was going on. Also, Randy Tarraborrelli knew of it and I believe included it in one of his books. There was a lot of cover shifting; the "I Hear A Symphony" cover originally was the "There's A Place For Us" cover. I think the cover for "Supremes Sing The Motown Sound from Broadway to Hollywood" was used for something else too.

[MotownConnoisseur30]

@waynebrasler How do you know the Disney album cover later became the Funny Girl album cover? I never heard that before.

[proverbs1824]

Nice post..........but, I just wish people who post videos of songs by the original Supremes would stop crediting the group as Diana Ross and the Supremes. This is from THE SUPREMES sing Rogers and Hart.

[proverbs1824]

@oceanbound222 Flo and Mary are there............no, not a solo. It's THE SUPREMES!