Diana Ross & The Supremes - Some Things You Never Get Used To (1968)

In May 1968 Diana Ross & The Supremes released the single 'Some Things You Never Get Used To' on the Motown label, but it stalled for three weeks at number 30 on the U.S. Billboard pop chart in July, and it became the lowest-charting Supremes single since 1963. This lack of success became the catalyst for Berry Gordy to revamp song-writing for The Supremes, since the loss of Motown's premier production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, which Gordy had assigned as the group's sole producers after the success of 'When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes'. Motown originally created an album to capitalize on the success of the single, but when it failed to hit the top of the charts the album was scrapped, and the single, plus a few other tracks, were included on the group's next official album, 'Love Child', in November 1968. The majority of the remaining songs remained unreleased until box sets and expanded re-issues began appearing some 20 years after they were recorded, and now here they are on the album which would have appeared if the title track had been more successful. Although 'You've Been So Wonderful To Me' appeared on the 'Love Child' album, I thought the strings were a bit obtrusive at the start so I've toned them down a bit, and because it was quite a short album I've added a couple of contemporary unreleased recordings to the end. 

Track listing

01 Some Things You Never Get Used To 
02 Heaven Must Have Sent You 
03 He's My Sunny Boy 
04 Come On And See Me 
05 Can I Get A Witness 
06 You've Been So Wonderful To Me 
07 My Guy 
08 It's Not Unusual 
09 Just A Little Misunderstanding
10 Uptight (Everything's Alright)
11 What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted
12 Blowin' In The Wind 
13 Treat Me Nice John Henry
14 The Beginning Of The End Of Love

Diana Ross & The Supremes - Sing Disney Classics (1967)

'Supremes Sing Disney' was not the idea of Berry Gordy, Jr., as you might think, but of Diana Ross, who yearned to do a music album for children. The special project was then started with Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard in early 1967, along the same lines as 'The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart', which displayed the worldliness of Motown Records and the true musical diversity of the group. The recording was put on hold for the 'Reflections' personnel change of summer 1967, when Ballard was fired and replaced by Cindy Birdsong, and recording resumed in late 1967 with the new line-up, with the title amended to 'Diana Ross & The Supremes Sing Disney Classics'. Ross sings lead on all the songs except 'Davy Crockett', which was a Wilson lead vocal, and the album was completed and ready to go when Motown Records decided not to release it. Had the album been released in Autumn 1968 as later planned, the cover photograph would have had to reflect that Ballard had been replaced by Birdsong, but the recordings stayed locked in the vaults for 20 years, until some of the songs finally turned up on 'Diana Ross & The Supremes - The Never Before Released Masters' in 1987, following years of pleading from fans. Despite this act of generosity by Motown, three of the songs remained unreleased for many years, but I've managed to track down 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah' and 'A Spoonful Of Sugar', (admittedly not as high quality as the other tracks, although I have improved them from their original thin sound), which just leaves 'Chim Chim Cher-ee' still missing. A video of this appeared on Youtube for two days in 2017 before it was taken down by Disney, so if anyone has a copy of it that I could have then it would complete this extremely rare collection.  

Track listing

01 Heigh-Ho (from 'Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs')
02 I've Got No Strings (from 'Pinocchio') 
03 Chim Chim Cher-ee (from 'Mary Poppins') MISSING
04 A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (from 'Cinderella') 
05 Someday My Prince Will Come (from 'Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs')
06 The Ballad Of Davy Crockett (from 'Davy Crockett, King Of The Wild Frontier') 
07 Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (from 'Song Of The South') 
08 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (from 'Mary Poppins')
09 Toyland (from 'Babes In Toyland')
10 When You Wish Upon A Star (from 'Pinocchio')  
11 A Spoonful Of Sugar (from 'Mary Poppins') 
12 The Land Of Make Believe (from 'Peter Pan') 
13 Whistle While You Work (from 'Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs')
14 It Won't Be Long 'Til Christmas (from 'The Happiest Millionaire')