Diana Ross & The Supremes - More Hits By The Supremes (1965) [1986, Reissue]

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Diana Ross & The Supremes - More Hits By The Supremes (1965) [1986, Reissue]

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"More Hits by The Supremes" is the sixth studio album by Motown singing group The Supremes, released in 1965. The album includes two number-one hits: "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Back in My Arms Again", as well as the Top 20 single "Nothing but Heartaches". The album opens up with the b-side "Ask Any Girl" from their "Where Did Our Love Go" album, which ironically ended side 2 of their previous album of new material. It was once planned for single release with this new mix. Barney Ales, then an executive vice-president of Motown Records, reported in the August 14, 1965 issue of Billboard magazine the album had advance orders estimated at 300,000. More Hits by The Supremes peaked at #6 on the U.S. Billboard album chart and remained on that chart for 37 weeks. It reached #2 on Billboard's R&B album chart. To further underscore their popularity, each girl's signature was autographed on the album cover. According to Motown data this album managed to sell over 1,675,000 copies. The opening track was to have been "Always In My Heart," the back side of "Come See About Me," but then "Ask Any Girl" was remixed as a possible A-side single and the remix opened this album. "Always In My Heart" surfaced later as "You're Gone (But Always In My Heart)" on the "Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland" album (at the suggestion of a fan!). The problem with the title "Always In My Heart" was the royalties were being misreported to the standard tune "Always In My Heart." "Mother Dear" originally was to follow up "Nothing But Heartaches" as a single but "Heartaches" not making number one spurred the label to seek another musical direction for the next single. "Mother Dear" was rearranged with a stop beat and re-recorded but again rejected for single release. The songs were all released in stereo mixes on the stereo version of the vinyl album except "He Holds His Own," which remained unreleased until the 2011 expanded edition.

Its title might lead one to think this was a compilation, but it wasn't - rather, More Hits by the Supremes is merely a valid presumption of its worth. It was also the original group's third highest charting album of their five years on Motown, and came not a moment too soon. The Supremes were doing incredibly well as a singles act, but not since Where Did Our Love Go had any of their LPs done particularly well on the pop charts; even a well-intentioned Sam Cooke-tribute album recorded early in 1965, which ought to have done better, had only reached number 75 (though it had gotten to number five on the R&B LP charts). "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Back in My Arms Again" helped drive the sales, but those singles had been out six and three months earlier at the time this album surfaced - listeners were delighted to find those singles surrounded by their ethereal rendition of the ballad "Whisper You Love Me Boy" with its exquisitely harmonized middle chorus; the gently soulful, sing-song-y "The Only Time I'm Happy"; and the sweetly dramatic "He Holds His Own" (with a gorgeous and very prominent piano accompaniment). The material dated across six months of work, from late 1964 through the spring of 1965 (apart from "Ask Any Girl," the B-side of "Baby Love," which was cut in the spring of 1964), and showed that Motown could put a Supremes album together piecemeal around the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team and place the trio right up at the top reaches of the charts, in the company of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, et al. Its release also opened a floodgate of killer albums by the trio - overlooking their 1965 LP of Christmas songs, they were destined to issue three more long-players that delighted audiences a dozen songs at a time over the next two years, which was a lot of good work.

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Diana Ross & The Supremes - More Hits By The Supremes (1965) [1986, Reissue]

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