New Ways but Love Stays

Last updated
New Ways But Love Stays
The Supremes - New Ways but Love Stays.png
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 1970 [1]
Recorded1970
Genre Soul, Pop
Length31:12 [1]
Label Motown
MS 720
Producer Frank Wilson
The Supremes chronology
The Magnificent 7
(1970)
New Ways But Love Stays
(1970)
The Return of the Magnificent Seven
(1971)
Singles from New Ways but Love Stays
  1. "Stoned Love"
    Released: October 15, 1970

New Ways But Love Stays is the twentieth studio album by the Jean Terrell-led Supremes. Building on the foundation of the group's first LP, Right On , New Ways was produced by Frank Wilson and features The Supremes' most successful single with Terrell, "Stoned Love".

Contents

Background

1970 Motown advertisement in Billboard for the single "Stoned Love" and the album New Ways but Love Stays. The Supremes - Stoned Love, 1970.png
1970 Motown advertisement in Billboard for the single "Stoned Love" and the album New Ways but Love Stays.

The plea for peace and love was written by Wilson and a Detroit teenager named Kenny Thomas. The song's title, read by many entertainment executives as a double-edged drug reference, prevented the song from making an impact in some areas; for example, footage of The Supremes performing the number was edited out of a November 1970 episode of The Merv Griffin Show . However, the song still was a huge success on the charts, reaching number 7 on the Billboard hot 100, number 1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and number 3 in the UK.

New Ways But Love Stays was originally titled Stoned Love after its hit single; the controversy over the song's name prevented this from occurring. Another change that befell the project was the alteration of the original album cover. The original design used a photograph which depicted the three Supremes in Afros and dark green turtlenecks, giving them a Black Power look. Apparently feeling that such a look would go against the Supremes' established "glamour girl" image, Motown's final front cover for New Ways But Love Stays includes one of the Black power photos, but it is inset within a circle and surrounded by additional inset pictures of the three Supremes in their more familiar gowns. The individual photos of the three Supremes had already appeared in the artwork for the album The Magnificent Seven. The reverse of the album cover is a full portrait of the trio in the 'black power' styling. This was a colour photograph on the US release, but black and white when released on Tamla Motown in the UK and Europe.

Besides its hit single, the album also includes several notable album tracks, such as "Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music" (a Spinners cover), and "It's Time to Break Down", which is today recognized as a minor "dusty groove" classic, and was sampled by hip hop producer DJ Premier for the Gang Starr song "JFK 2 LAX", included on the 1998 LP Moment of Truth . Terrell was quoted in October 1970 describing both "Stoned Love" and "It's Time to Break Down" as having the "Motown beat". [2] The album did not do as well as the preceding "Right On" set, likely because Motown released it along with an album of duets with the Four Tops (The Magnificent 7) at the same time resulting in split sales, despite the fact that both albums sported major hit records ("Stoned Love," "River Deep-Mountain High").

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Cashbox (Favorable) [3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]

The Rolling Stone Album Guide praised the "magnificent" "Stoned Love", before lamenting the group's slide into "mere professionalism." [5] A Cashbox reviewer wrote: 'An apt title indeed for this new Supremes outing showcasing some of Motown's newer writers. And there's been a subtle change in the group along much the same lines as the Temps. Songs are longer with a shift in emphasis to arranging of the instrumental parts of the songs. No longer is the band just a backing group but, again as with the Temps, has become a totally integrated entity along with the girls so that the Supremes now are not simply a trio but a twenty piece group. This then is Motown's key to chart success, never stand still. "Stoned Love," "It's Time To Break Down," and "Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music" are perfect examples. Paul and Artie's "Bridge" is given the best treatment since the original. Super LP!' [3] Robert Hilburn wrote in his syndicated record review column that 'Without Miss Ross, the Supremes still have a pleasant sound, but not really an impressive or commanding one.' [6]

Covers

On New Ways But Love Stays The Supremes covered Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water", The Beatles' "Come Together, Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)", and The Spinners' "Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music".

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music" (Martin Coleman, Richard Drapkin)
  2. "Stoned Love" (Yennik Samoht, Frank Wilson)
  3. "It's Time to Break Down" (Ellean Hendley, Wilson)
  4. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Paul Simon)
  5. "I Wish I Were Your Mirror" (Pam Sawyer, Frank Wilson)

Side two

  1. "Come Together" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
  2. "Is There a Place (In His Heart for Me)" (Clay McMurray, Martin Coleman)
  3. "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" (Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, Paul Leka)
  4. "Shine on Me" (Frank Wilson)
  5. "Thank Him for Today" (Vincent DiMirco)

Bonus tracks

  1. "Love the One You're With" (Stephen Stills) (CD bonus track, position # 7, it does not appear on the original LP)

Personnel

Production

Charts

Chart (1970)Peak
position
US Billboard 200 [7] 68
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [8] 12
US Cashbox Top 100 [9] 59

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoned Love</span> 1970 single by The Supremes

"Stoned Love" is a 1970 hit single recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label. It was the last Billboard Pop Top Ten hit for the group, peaking at number seven, and their last Billboard number-one R&B hit as well, although the trio continued to score top ten hits in the UK into 1972. In the UK, it was the post-Ross Supremes' biggest hit, reaching number 3 in the singles chart. The single spent six weeks in the UK top ten and five weeks in the US top ten. The BBC ranked "Stoned Love" at number 99 on The Top 100 Digital Motown Chart, which ranks Motown releases solely on their all time UK downloads and streams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Love Child (song)</span> 1968 single by Diana Ross & the Supremes

"Love Child" is a 1968 song released by the Motown label for Diana Ross & the Supremes. The second single and title track from their album Love Child, it became the Supremes' 11th number-one single in the United States, where it sold 500,000 copies in its first week and 2 million copies by year's end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Supremes discography</span>

American girl group The Supremes have released 29 studio albums, four live albums, two soundtrack albums, 32 compilation albums, four box sets, 66 singles and three promotional singles. The Supremes are the most successful American group of all time, and the 26th greatest artist of all time on the US Billboard charts; with 12 number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and three number-one albums on the Billboard 200. The Supremes were the first artist to accumulate five consecutive number-one singles on the US Hot 100 and the first female group to top the Billboard 200 albums chart with The Supremes A' Go-Go (1966). In 2017, Billboard ranked The Supremes as the number-one girl group of all time, publishing, 'although there have been many girl group smashes in the decades since the Supremes ruled the Billboard charts, no collective has yet to challenge their, for lack of a better word, supremacy.' In 2019, the UK Official Charts Company placed 7 Supremes songs—"You Can't Hurry Love" (16), "Baby Love" (23), "Stop! In the Name of Love" (56), "Where Did Our Love Go?" (59), "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (78), "Come See About Me" (94) and "Stoned Love" (99)—on The Official Top 100 Motown songs of the Millennium chart, which ranks Motown releases by their all-time UK downloads and streams.

<i>Farewell</i> (The Supremes album) 1970 live album by Diana Ross & the Supremes

Farewell is a 1970 live album by Diana Ross & the Supremes. The album was recorded over the course of the group's final engagement together at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, including the final night on January 14, 1970. The show marked Diana Ross' penultimate performance with fellow Supremes members Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong. At the conclusion of the show, new Supremes lead singer Jean Terrell was brought onstage and introduced to the audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)</span> 1970 single by Diana Ross

"Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" is the debut solo single of singer Diana Ross, released in April 1970 as the first single from her solo self-titled debut 1970 album by Motown Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Up the Ladder to the Roof</span> 1970 single by The Supremes

"Up the Ladder to the Roof" is a 1970 hit single recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label. It was the first Supremes single to feature new lead singer Jean Terrell in place of Diana Ross, who officially left the group for a solo career two weeks before the recording of this song in January 1970. This song also marks a number of other firsts: it is the first Supremes single since "The Happening" in 1967 to be released under the name "The Supremes" instead of "Diana Ross & The Supremes", the first Supremes single solely produced by Norman Whitfield associate Frank Wilson, and the first Supremes single to make the United Kingdom Top 10 since "Reflections" in 1967.

<i>Love Child</i> (The Supremes album) 1968 studio album by Diana Ross & the Supremes

Love Child is the fifteenth studio album released by Diana Ross & the Supremes for the Motown label in 1968. The LP was the group's first studio LP not to include any songs written or produced by any member of the Holland–Dozier–Holland production team, who had previously overseen most of the Supremes' releases.

<i>Right On</i> (The Supremes album) 1970 studio album by The Supremes

Right On is the nineteenth studio album by The Supremes, released in 1970 for the Motown label. It was the group's first album not to feature former lead singer Diana Ross. Her replacement, Jean Terrell, began recording Right On with Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong in mid-1969, while Wilson and Birdsong were still touring with Ross.

<i>Cream of the Crop</i> 1969 studio album by Diana Ross & The Supremes

Cream of the Crop is the eighteenth studio album released by Diana Ross & the Supremes for the Motown label. It was the final regular Supremes studio album to feature lead singer Diana Ross. The album was released in November 1969, after the release and rising success of the hit single "Someday We'll Be Together."

<i>Touch</i> (The Supremes album) 1971 studio album by The Supremes

Touch is the twenty-third studio album by The Supremes, released in the summer of 1971 on the Motown label. It was the third and final LP under the supervision of Frank Wilson, who had been the group's main producer since 1970, when Jean Terrell joined as lead singer. The album also marked the first Motown contributions by composer-producer Leonard Caston, Jr. and writer-lyricist Kathleen Wakefield: "Nathan Jones", a hit single sung by all three members, which was later recorded by Bananarama, and "Love It Came to Me This Time".

<i>The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb</i> 1972 studio album by The Supremes

The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb is the twenty-sixth studio album released by The Supremes on the Motown label in 1972. It stands as a unique entry in The Supremes' discography as it was the only album produced by a non-Motown artist, the accomplished songwriter and producer Jimmy Webb. This album also marked the final appearance of Jean Terrell as the lead singer of The Supremes during the early 1970s.

<i>The Magnificent 7</i> (album) 1970 studio album by The Supremes and The Four Tops

The Magnificent 7 is a collaborative album combining Motown's premier vocal groups, The Supremes and The Four Tops. Issued by Motown in 1970, it followed two collaborative albums The Supremes did with The Temptations in the late 1960s. The album featured their hit cover of Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep – Mountain High", which reached number 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In the UK, the album peaked at number 6. In December 1971, Billboard reported UK album sales of 30,000 copies.

<i>The Return of the Magnificent Seven</i> 1971 studio album by The Supremes and The Four Tops

The Return of the Magnificent Seven is the second collaborative album between Motown label-mates The Supremes and Four Tops, released in 1971. The production only featured two covers compared to their first album together, The Magnificent 7, that included more than eight. Although the three albums the Supremes recorded with the Four Tops did not match the commercial success of the Supremes/Temptations duet albums, what they did have instead were original tunes, soulful lead vocals by Jean Terrell and Levi Stubbs and high production values in terms of arrangements and orchestration.

<i>Dynamite</i> (The Supremes and the Four Tops album) 1971 studio album by The Supremes and the Four Tops

Dynamite is the third and last collaborative album between labelmates The Supremes and The Four Tops, released on the Motown label in 1971. The album was a collection of material recorded for the Magnificent Seven albums, but which had not been included on either of those two albums. The cover artwork was an illustration based on photo sessions from the Return of the Magnificent Seven album artwork. In the US, Dynamite was as commercially unsuccessful as The Magnificent 7 (1970) and The Return of the Magnificent Seven (1971), peaking at the lower hundreds of the Billboard Top 200. The album fared much better on the Billboard R&B charts, peaking at 21.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everybody's Got the Right to Love</span> 1970 single by The Supremes

"Everybody's Got the Right to Love" is a socially conscious–inspired pop song written by Lou Stallman, produced by Frank Wilson and released as a single in 1970 by Motown group The Supremes, who took the song into the top forty in mid-1970 following the release of "Up the Ladder to the Roof".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Touch (The Supremes song)</span> 1971 single by The Supremes

"Touch" is a soft ballad written by Pamela Sawyer and Frank Wilson, who also produced it as a single for Motown recording group The Supremes, who issued it as a single in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart</span> 1971 single by The Supremes & The Four Tops

“You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart” is a duet single between Motown singing groups The Supremes and the Four Tops, released as a single from their The Return of the Magnificent 7 album in 1971. The single became a modest charter peaking at #55 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and #41 on the U.S. Billboard R&B Singles Chart. The single fared better in the UK, where it reached #25 in the official top 50 single chart. Lead vocals were by the groups' respective lead singers Jean Terrell and Levi Stubbs.

<i>This Is the Story: The 70s Albums, Vol. 1 – 1970–1973: The Jean Terrell Years</i> 2006 box set by The Supremes

This Is The Story is a box set, released in 2006, comprising The Supremes' albums from the period 1970-1973, featuring new lead singer Jean Terrell, along with Mary Wilson, Cindy Birdsong and Lynda Laurence In addition to the five studio albums Right On, New Ways But Love Stays, Touch, Floy Joy, and The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb, the set also includes thirteen tracks from the group's unreleased 1972 album, Promises Kept. Not included from the same time period are the three duet albums recorded with Four Tops; these were issued in full in 2009 on the 2-CD compilation Magnificent - The Complete Studio Duets, which included 13 previously unreleased recordings.

"Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music" is a 1967 song co-written by Richard Drapkin and Marty Coleman. In 1968 it was assigned to Artie Fields' Top Dog label in Detroit and issued as a 45 by rhythm and blues singer Joe Towns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)</span>

"Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)" is a song written by Holland–Dozier–Holland and released as a single in 1964 by the Motown singing group The Four Tops as the second single from their self-titled debut album, Four Tops. The group would later cover the song with The Supremes.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "New Ways but Love Stays". AllMusic . Retrieved 2012-03-03.
  2. Terrell quoted in Eddie Sears, "Supremes Didn't Fade Away", Atlanta Constitution 24 October 1970 "TV Amusements Guide" section, p. T3
  3. 1 2 "cashbox / album reviews" (PDF). Cashbox . October 17, 1970. p. 42. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  4. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 7. MUZE. p. 859.
  5. 1 2 The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 684.
  6. Robert Hilburn, 'Johnny Cash waxes an "easy" album' Los Angeles Times, "Calendar" section 1 November 1970, p. 46
  7. "The Supremes Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  8. "The Supremes Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  9. "TOP 100 Albums" (PDF). Cashbox . October 31, 1970. p. 88. Retrieved 2 January 2022.