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Nobody - no, nobody was gonna rain on Diana Ross and The Supremes' parade.
With new member Cindy Birdsong joining Miss Ross and Mary Wilson, the group released no fewer than five albums in 1968, all of which showcased their extraordinary versatility. One of those LPs was to be their only full-length tribute to a classic Broadway score - and what a tribute it was from three of Motown's "greatest stars." Diana Ross & The Supremes Sing and Perform "Funny Girl" featured the group's dynamic renditions of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill's showstoppers including "People," "Don't Rain on My Parade," "I Am Woman," "Sadie, Sadie," and "The Music That Makes Me Dance." The sizzling and brassy album was recorded under the aegis of composer Styne and Motown founder Berry Gordy and was originally released to coincide with the big-screen film adaptation of the musical. The LP placed the songs out of show order and with numerous lyrical alterations yet captured the bright and bold spirit of the source material. Unbelievably, though, it became The Supremes' only album to never be released on CD anywhere in the world...until now!
On September 25, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records will debut Diana Ross & The Supremes Sing and Perform "Funny Girl": The Ultimate Edition, a deluxe 2-CD celebration of this Motown-meets-Broadway gem. Greatly building upon the digital-only Expanded Edition issued in 2014, The Ultimate Edition boasts:
- The original U.S. stereo mix,
- The rare U.K. mono mix (with an extended version of Diana's tour de force "People" which composer Styne called "equal in every way to Streisand's or anyone else's"),
- The Supreme Mixes reinstating Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong's original vocals not heard in 1968; and
- Bonus tracks including previously unreleased alternate versions of "Cornet Man," "His Love Makes Me Beautiful," and "Sadie, Sadie" as well as live performances of "I'm the Greatest Star" and the Fanny Brice standard "My Man."
The Ultimate Edition has been produced by the team of Andrew Skurow, George Solomon, and TSD's Joe Marchese (The Supremes' Ultimate Merry Christmas) and freshly remastered by Kevin Reeves who mixed the entirety of the second disc. It's all topped off with a sumptuous 32-page full-color booklet housed in the digipak. Designed by George Solomon and John Sellards, it's packed with an exclusive introduction by Mary Wilson, two new essays placing the album in the context of Diana Ross and The Supremes' career and tracing the Broadway-to-Hollywood journey of Funny Girl, an interview with the late Jule Styne, and a host of beautiful, previously unpublished full-color photos. Take a look at our sneak-peek video here (and make sure your volume is on)! If you can't view the video below, just click here.
Diana Ross & The Supremes Sing and Perform "Funny Girl": The Ultimate Edition is due on September 25 from Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records. It's the definitive tribute to this tuneful treasure from America's most successful vocal group of all time. You can order directly from the good folks at Real Gone at this link (and pre-orders placed with RGM will likely ship before the street date!) or below at Amazon. Hey world, here it is!
Diana Ross & The Supremes Sing and Perform "Funny Girl": The Ultimate Edition (Real Gone Music/Second Disc Records RGM-1112, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music)
CD 1
Original U.K. Mono Album (Tamla Motown TML 11088, 1969)
- Funny Girl
- If a Girl Isn't Pretty
- I Am Woman
- The Music That Makes Me Dance
- Don't Rain on My Parade
- People
- Cornet Man
- His Love Makes Me Beautiful
- Sadie, Sadie
- I'm the Greatest Star
Original U.S. Stereo Album (Motown MS 672, 1968)
- Funny Girl
- If a Girl Isn't Pretty
- I Am Woman
- The Music That Makes Me Dance
- Don't Rain on My Parade
- People
- Cornet Man
- His Love Makes Me Beautiful
- Sadie, Sadie
- I'm the Greatest Star
CD 2
The Supreme Mixes
- Funny Girl
- If a Girl Isn't Pretty
- I Am Woman
- The Music That Makes Me Dance
- Don't Rain on My Parade
- People
- Cornet Man
- His Love Makes Me Beautiful
- Sadie, Sadie
- I'm the Greatest Star
- Cornet Man (Bonus Track) (Alternate)
- His Love Makes Me Beautiful (Bonus Track) (Alternate)
- Sadie, Sadie (Bonus Track) (Alternate)
- I'm the Greatest Star (Bonus Track) (Live T.C.B. Outtake)
- My Man (Bonus Track) (Live - January 13, 1970, Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas, NV)
Tracks 1-6, 10-15 previously issued on digital expanded edition, 2014
Tracks 7-9 previously unreleased
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It's astonishing to realize, The Supremes released FIVE albums in 1968.
What this really means is, The Marvelettes, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas and saddest of all, The Velvelettes, really, unfairly got pushed aside. Also, Brenda Holloway and too many other talented Motown women who deserved much better than what they got. It shouldn't have been that way.
Berry Gordy has A LOT to answer for.
Actually Mr. Gordy has NOTHING to answer for. The Supremes weren't the only act to find success at Motown, they just happen to find the most success! What happened at Motown happens at every record label, not all artists were successful or were Superstar successful. It's really as simple as that.
Regarding this album, I'm happy that it's finally making it onto cd. I have the vinyl and the download, it's nice to get the cd.
Gordy, besides short-changing many of his stars, gave preference to the Supremes because he had an affair with Diana.
I really wish that there were more albums released by the Marvelettes or the Vandellas. But the truth is neither of those acts sold albums. Many of their albums didn't even chart. And these were albums with huge hits like PLEASE MR. POSTMAN and HEAT WAVE, amongst others. It probably isn't a coincidence that each act's most successful album was a GREATEST HITS collection. What business would release something that doesn't sell? Not many.
I have the two box sets by the Marvelettes that has all of their albums and unreleased tracks, and they are both excellent. I also have all of Martha & The Vandellas albums on cd as well. All except their Live album from '67, but I have that on vinyl.
Not at all! Berry Gordy responded to what the audience wanted. The record buyers wanted more supremes, and he gave them that. Show business is no different than any other business. You nake available what the consumers want. Obviously, the audience wanted supremes. It is not a question of whether or not the other groups were good. They were. I love them all. However, the public overwhelmingly went for the Supremes' dynamism.
I've been crossing my fingers, eyes, and legs for a PHYSICAL release of this for years!
Thank you Andy, Mr. George, and Joe for making the impossible dream a reality!
I, too, have been waiting for this since the original DD edition. Looks like it is of a piece with the earlier UMe deluxe sets.
My only complaint is the order of the tracks on the first disc. I think the stereo version should be first, followed by the mono edition. In this case, there's no particular reason that the mono version should be primary, as it wasn't even released in the U.S. Besides, the mono version is something I will probably only listen to once. Why have to skip past it every time I play the CD?
All of the Supremes Expanded Editions in this long-running series have presented the mono mix first, followed by the stereo mix. The producers jointly agreed that there was no reason to change that now. (The U.K. mono mix was utilized here because of its mix variations including the extended "People." It's a more interesting listen, as the U.S. mono mix is simply a fold-down of the U.S. stereo mix. For completists, the longer "People" has also been included in stereo as part of The Supreme Mixes on CD 2.)
By the way, the bonus tracks on the second disc are numbered incorrectly.
Excited about this one! Pre ordered!
Do you know if it will be a digipak to match all the previous deluxe editions or a jewel case?
Hi Pepe! It is in a digipak to match all of the other expanded editions.
Outstanding! Thanks 😊
Motown did so much to help introduce the Great American Songbook to the youth of the 1960s. This set is a prime(tte) examp!e. Thanks for this great reissue. Next up...Live At the Talk Of The Town? Please?
About time!!!!
Hurray! I've been hoping this great album would get a proper re release! Next up...Live At the Talk Of The Town...PLEASE?
Check out the marvelettes forever more the complete albums vol 1 and two vol 1 has the albums please mr postman thru marvelettes greatest hits. Vol 2 features the pink marvelettes thru the return of the marvelettes. Martha and the vandella were shortchanged in album releases as were t marvelettes.
I agree about Martha and the Vandellas being short changed re: album 're relrases. My favorite are Sugar and Spuce, Natural Resources and Black Magic. I have these as downloads, but physical copies would be great to have.
“Talk of The Town” next would be amazing. I’d also love to see an expanded “Farewell” because I’m sure there was much more than what was initially released.
I have waited 52 years for this release. I Bought the LP and Live at London’s Talk of the Town on the same day in 1968. I was 16, and when everybody else was listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones I was listening to Diana Ross and the Supremes Sing and Perform Funny Girl and Live at London’s Talk of the Town! I have always loved this LP and in my opinion Diana Ross gave Barbra Streisand a run for her money. She was flawless! Now we need an expanded edition of Live at London’s and Farewell! A CD of the expanded edition of Baby it’s me would be wonderful to. 😀
Diana certainly have Streisand a run for the money. Diana's Music That Makes Me Dance is stunning . I agree about expanded Talk of The Town, Farewell and Baby It's Me.
I'm a little confused about the bonus tracks on Disc 2. The 2014 LP remix featured alternate vocals on the same three tracks (Cornet Man, His Love Makes Me and Sadie Sadie) that are marked as unreleased here (tracks 11-13, disc 2). Are these the same alternate vocals from 2014 with a new remix, or yet more alternate vocals. Regardless, I'm so excited to see this have a proper CD release.
Emile, The alternate vocals on Cornet Man, His Love Makes Me Beautiful and Sadie Sadie are the same alternates that were on the 2014 digital release. New to this Ultimate Edition are tracks 7, 8 and 9 on Disc 2 which uses for the first time a new mix of the 1968 released Diana vocal with Mary and Cindy on background vocals. We placed those released vocals back in their proper place on the album and used the 2014 alternates as bonus tracks 11, 12 and 13. Apologies if the press release is confusing. I hope that clears it up and we're happy you're excited about this release. We are so happy with the positive response and grateful to the fans who support these releases.
I was looking forward to the Supremes mixes, but there is so little of Mary and Cindy on these mixes, I'm a bit disappointed.
Sorry you're disappointed Harry but thank you for your comment. We used all of the Mary and Cindy vocals that were there. They are on every track except the first two "Funny Girl" and "If A Girl Isn't Pretty." "People" was always essentially a Diana solo on this album, as was "The Music That Makes Me Dance." But we were very happy to find Mary and Cindy's vocals on the latter track where there were never any by the Andantes or Blackberries. We're still very satisfied with the Supreme mixes and glad that we've had such positive feedback. There's no doubt this album is a Diana Ross showcase and background vocals are sparse, but for fans of Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong you will find more vocals by them on this album than any other studio album by Diana Ross & The Supremes.
Hi George;
Thanks for your reply. It really is astounding how infrequently Mary and Cindy appeared on the 1968-69 recordings. I love the Jean Terrell years as Mary and Cindy were actually part of the recording process.
I hope the Talk of the Town album gets a much deserved reissue.
Harry
I’ve listened to this reissue on Apple Tunes over last couple of years. It’s OK. Glad for us fans that it’s been given the spotlight again, because I recall reading that it was DRATS’ lowest charting Billboard album before Diana left in 1970. Also I agree about the dearth of Mary and Cindy backing vocals, which of course isn’t the reissuers’ fault but is frustrating for us fans. Note: Mary and Cindy may have been heard more loudly on the post-Diana Supremes album cuts with Jean—but sadly even then, Motown continued to use weird- and different-sounding Andantes, etc., in their place behind Jean, or still in a very toned-down way. Maybe because maybe of the songs had backing tracks recorded before Diana had left and Motown didn’t want to waste using them. Inconceivably, compared with other record companies it was as if Motown resented its female vocal groups’ “backup” members and seemed to tend to turn down, limit or tune out their record contributions much more frequently than not.