Reflections | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | March 25, 1968 | |||
Recorded | 1966–1968 | |||
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Length | 41:19 | |||
Label | Motown | |||
Producer | ||||
Diana Ross & the Supremes chronology | ||||
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Singles from Reflections | ||||
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Reflections is the twelfth studio album recorded for Motown by Diana Ross & the Supremes. Released in 1968, it was the first regular studio LP to display the new billing of the group formerly known as "The Supremes." It contains the singles "Reflections", "In and Out of Love" and "Forever Came Today". Also included are covers of songs made famous by Martha and the Vandellas ("Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things)") and The 5th Dimension ("Up, Up and Away"). Also present are songs written by other famous names, including "Bah-Bah-Bah" co-written by Motown singer Brenda Holloway with her younger sister, Patrice, an original Smokey Robinson composition titled "Then", and "What the World Needs Now Is Love" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which Motown planned to release as a single in the spring of 1968, but cancelled. It also contains a cover of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe," whose original recording kept the single #2 "Reflections" from peaking at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1967, and it hit #2 on Cashbox .
The album includes the final songs the Supremes recorded with their main creative team of Holland–Dozier–Holland before the three writers/producers departed Motown over royalty and title disputes. Although Florence Ballard recorded some of this album before being fired from the group in July 1967, her replacement Cindy Birdsong along with Mary Wilson recorded several songs and appears on the album cover. Initially, the album cover included three photos with Ballard but it was quickly replaced with the cover featuring just Ross, Wilson and Birdsong. A photo of the original album cover can be found on Motown 45 rpm promotional sleeves issued in early 1968. One of the album's singles, "Forever Came Today", was later covered by The Jackson 5 on their 1975 album Moving Violation .
"In and Out of Love" was chosen to be the key song for the American Bandstand dance contest that year. Because of that exposure, the single remained #1 on American Bandstand's chart for an impressive four weeks. It outperformed "Reflections" with Dick Clark's audience affording the album two top three singles on that pivotal show.[ citation needed ]
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [2] |
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The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful American vocal band, with 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland. Their breakthrough is considered to have made it possible for future African-American R&B and soul musicians to find mainstream success. Billboard ranked the Supremes as the 16th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time.
"Reflections" is a 1967 song recorded by American soul music group The Supremes for the Motown label. The single release was the first Supremes record credited to "Diana Ross and the Supremes", and the song was one of the last Motown hits to be written and produced by Holland–Dozier–Holland before they left the label.
Brenda Holloway is an American soul singer who was a recording artist for Motown Records during the 1960s. Her best-known recordings are the hits "Every Little Bit Hurts", "When I'm Gone", and "You've Made Me So Very Happy". The latter, which she co-wrote, was later widely popularized when it became a Top Ten hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears. She left Motown after four years, at the age of 22, and largely retired from the music industry until the 1990s, after her recordings had become popular on the British "Northern soul" scene.
The Supremes A' Go-Go is the ninth studio album released by Motown singing group the Supremes. It was the first album by an all-female group to reach number-one on the Billboard 200 album charts in the United States.
TCB is a 1968 television special produced by Motown Productions and George Schlatter–Ed Friendly Productions of Laugh-In fame. The special is a musical revue starring Motown's two most popular groups at the time, Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations. Containing a combination of showtunes, specially prepared numbers, and popular Motown hits, the special was taped before a live studio audience in September 1968 and originally broadcast December 9, 1968 on NBC, sponsored by the Timex watch corporation. The title of the program uses a then-popular acronym, "TCB", which stands for "Taking Care of Business".
The Supremes is a 2000 box set compilation of the material by Motown's most popular act of the 1960s, The Supremes. The set covers The Supremes' entire recording history, from its first recordings as The Primettes in 1960 to its final recordings in 1976.
Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations is a collaborative album combining Motown's two best selling groups, Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations. Issued by Motown in late 1968 to coincide with the broadcast of the Supremes/Temptations TCB television special, the album was a success, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200. Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations spent four weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Let The Sunshine In is the sixteenth studio album by Diana Ross & the Supremes recorded and released by Motown in 1969. It contains the hit single "I'm Livin' in Shame", "The Composer," a Smokey Robinson composition that peaked at number 27, and "No Matter What Sign You Are," - a single produced by Motown chief Berry Gordy that failed to crack to Top 30. Motown had titled the album “No Matter What Sign You Are” originally; going as far as creating the front cover art with the title in it, but when the single didn’t chart as expected the album was retitled “Let The Sunshine In.” Though the album was released when the group consisted of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong, original founding member Florence Ballard appears on two songs.
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.
Where Did Our Love Go is the second studio album by Motown singing group the Supremes, released in 1964. The album includes several of the group's singles and B-sides from 1963 and 1964. Included are the group's first Billboard Pop Singles number-one hits, "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", and "Come See About Me", as well as their first Top 40 hit, "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes", and the singles "A Breathtaking Guy" and "Run, Run, Run".
The Supremes Sing Holland–Dozier–Holland is the tenth studio album released by The Supremes for Motown in 1967. It includes the number-one hit singles "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone". As the title states: all songs on the album were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting team of Holland–Dozier–Holland. Most of the album was recorded during the spring and summer of 1966; however several songs date back to the summer of 1964.
Meet the Supremes is the debut studio album by The Supremes, released in late 1962 on Motown.
Diana Ross & the Supremes: Greatest Hits is a two-LP collection of singles and b-sides recorded by The Supremes, released by Motown in August 1967. The collection was the first LP to credit the group under the new billing Diana Ross & the Supremes. Although founding member Florence Ballard is pictured on all album artwork and sings on all the tracks, by the time the set was released, she had been fired from the group and replaced by Cindy Birdsong.
Live at London's Talk of the Town is a 1968 live album released by Diana Ross & the Supremes on the Motown label, recorded at the Talk of the Town nightclub. This performance marked the first time that new member Cindy Birdsong had performed overseas with original Supremes Diana Ross and Mary Wilson, a year after original founding member Florence Ballard was ousted. The group performed a variation of standards, show tunes, and their own classics with British rock stars Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney reportedly in attendance. The songs recorded are from the group's 1968 European tour. That European tour also garnered a famous Swedish television special that was used as a catalyst to promote this album.
Diana Ross & the Supremes: Greatest Hits Vol. 3 is a 1969 compilation album by Diana Ross & the Supremes, released on the Motown label. It features all of the hits released by the group between 1967 and 1969 save for the Supremes/Temptations duet singles. After Florence Ballard's mid-1967 departure from the group, Supremes singles were recorded by Diana Ross with session singers The Andantes on backgrounds instead of new Supreme Cindy Birdsong and founding member Mary Wilson, including "Love Child" and "Someday We'll Be Together".
Greatest Hits from the Beginning is a compilation double LP by the Miracles released in 1965. This was the first double album ever released by the Motown Record Corporation. It covers most of the group's hits from their pre-1965 albums, such as "Shop Around", "Who's Lovin’ You", "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" and "Mickey's Monkey", as well as the non-album singles from 1964: "I Like It Like That" and "That's What Love Is Made Of". The album was a success, reaching #21 on the Billboard Pop Album Chart. It was also the first Miracles album to chart on the Billboard R&B Album chart, where it was an even bigger success, peaking at #2.
Anthology, also known as Anthology: The Best of Diana Ross and the Supremes, first released in May 1974, is a series of same or similarly titled compilation albums by The Supremes. Motown released revised versions in 1986, 1995 and 2001. In its initial version, a 35-track triple record collection of hits and rare material, the album charted at No. 24 on Billboard's "Black Albums" and No. 66 on "Pop Albums".
"In and Out of Love" is a 1967 song recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label. It was the second single issued with the group's new billing of Diana Ross & the Supremes, the penultimate Supremes single written and produced by Motown production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, and the last single to feature the vocals of original member Florence Ballard.
"Going Down For the Third Time" is a song written and composed by Holland–Dozier–Holland, and recorded by Motown singing group The Supremes in 1967. The song was issued as the b-side to the popular "Reflections".
Four In Blue is a 1969 album by the Motown R&B group the Miracles, issued on the label's Tamla Records subsidiary in the U.S., and the Tamla-Motown label elsewhere in the world,.