Diana Ross – Diana (Deluxe
Edition CD Set)
Sound: B+
Music: A- Extras: A-
It was the turn of the decade, which usually for Diana
Ross means a big change in her career.
When the 1960s ended, she left the Supremes for solo glory. It was sometimes patchy, but she made
it. By the end of the 1970s, she was an
Academy Award nominee for Best Actress (1973’s Lady Sings The Blues),
made a camp classic film (1976’s Mahogany), logged nine big solo albums,
was one of the first beneficiaries of the 12” dance single, topped several
charts several times, and become one of music’s few female superstars.
In the years since Michael Jackson’s 1980s successes,
Ross’ legacy has not been recognized as much as it should be. Of all her solo albums, none have been more
pivotal than Diana, a brilliant 1980 release that that set her on
another winning streak both critically and commercially.
During the 1970s, there were the amazing chart successes
of female vocalists like Barbra Streisand, Helen Reddy, Olivia Newton-John, and
Roberta Flack gave her great competition, but the one who offered the most
unique competition was Donna Summer.
Unlike the other ladies, no woman had ever challenged her before in both
the R&B and Dance genres before like Summer did. In 1975, Summer stunned the entire music industry with “Love
To Love You Baby”, a classic of provocative and daring sexuality like
nothing that had ever hit the mainstream before. The next year, Ross and Motown responded with the even more
unexpected (for former Supreme Ross) “Love Hangover”, which has since
become every bit a classic as the Summer breakthrough.
While Summer returned with a stunning string of Dance
classics during the Disco era that DJs and Turntablists STILL hold as some of
the most important recordings ever made (and sampled), with “I Feel Love”,
“Last Dance”, the return of the repressed oldies-from-hell “MacArthur
Park”, “Hot Stuff”, “On The Radio” and “Bad Girls”
among others, Ross (with albums like Richard Perry-produced Baby It’s Me
(1977) and the remarkable The Boss (1979)) was challenged like never
before. With The Boss, produced
and written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson in exceptional form, she
had a hit and it is now a classic.
However, it did not do anywhere nearly as well as it should have
commercially at the time, which had to have concerned Motown and Ross.
With Summer in her run with Giorgio Moroder, Newton-John
had just hit a new high with the success of 1978’s Grease and the
controversial “A Little More Love” from 1979’s Totally Hot,
something had to be done to make sure Ross was going to pull off something with
the same commercial/critical success.
Barbra Streisand, who had just had an insanely successful duet with
Summer in “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)” was working on a new album
with The Bee Gees and their producers (which would turn out to be the
spectacular Guilty), so Motown decided to pair Ross with the third team
who had the kind of monster success in the Disco era equal to The Bee Gees and
Moroder, she would do her next album with Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of
Chic!
Chic had also crated some of the most key songs in
Disco/Dance ever cut, with songs like “Dance, Dance, Dance”, “Le
Freak”, “I Want Your Love”, and “Good Times”, which are every
bit as sampled and respected as the Moroder/Summer collaborations. Eight tracks would be cut, but all was not
well at the studio. At one point, Ross
and the Chic Organization (as they were known) had a bad falling out, which
delayed the album. Later, when the cuts
were finished, Motown and Ross rejected the entire album based on its mix!
The wind-up of the situation would be that they would see
their work reworked by veteran Ross mixer Russ Terrana. Possibly fearing the album might sound too
lite or easily dismissed as sounding not unlike the Chic work with Sister
Sledge (“He’s The Greatest Dancer”, “We Are Family”), and/or
being too much like The Boss in tone, Ross would be a few years ahead of
Cher’s and Tina Turner’s comebacks by having these mixes delve into the Rock
genre. At the time, that was unheard of
for a popular female vocalist, especially an African American Soul star, but it
became one of the greatest successes Ross would ever have. This new CD set offers both versions of the
album on Disc One, with a great set of extras on Disc Two.
Besides Francesco Scavullo’s classic gatefold shot of a
downbeat Diana, her glamour paired down in a monochrome masterpiece of tight
jeans, wet hair and a plain white shirt, there was the first hit. “Upside Down” was an instant classic
out of the gate, with listeners discussing the sexual merits and meaning of the
lyrics, when they were not simply stunned by the relatively hardcore mix of the
song. To this day, it remains the biggest
solo hit she has ever had, and for good reason. Her sassy phrasing bounces back and forth with her more
commending vocals, which actually offset any possibility that her submissions
to a lover of great infidelity was not going to be so simple. The Chic version is more musical, melodic,
not as hard, has an even more empathetic vocal performance, which it relies on
more, and is simply smoother. It is a
fine alternative to the known cut.
“I’m Coming Out” has become more thought of as a
Gay theme, but that would be totally forgetting the Women’s Rights Movement
that helped fuel Ross’ success to begin with.
Of course, this helped her drive towards more positive, upbeat
music. The known cut has an
unforgettable drum/percussion mix, but the Chic cut once again relies on Ross’
vocals, which offer even more range and trickier phrasings.
“My Old Piano” was a single that inexplicably did
not become a huge hit. The 1980 release
cut has a great guitar part, but is rivaled by the assertive drums. The lyrics are great, and Ross is hitting
higher-than-usual notes throughout. The
Chic cut is even more vocal-dependent than the previously compared
counterparts, also aging better than the 1980 cut. Despite that, the 1980 version is still great.
Other cuts include “Tenderness”, “Friend to
Friend”, “Have Fun (Again)”, “Now That You’re Gone”, and “Give
Up”, all of which could have been single releases. In all cases, the Chic versions tend to be
more musical, experimental, vocal-dependent, often longer, more naturalistic,
offer alternate Ross vocals, and more of their autueristic feel that made Chic
the legend they are today. It is simply
awesome to have two great mixes of this classic album, which should give both
Chic and Ross a newer artistic recognition they so deserve.
Disc Two offers an alternative 12” version of “Love
Hangover” that ditches the “ooohhh-vvveeeerrrrrrrrr” vocals as the song
makes it transition from a slow song into its fast breakout pace. This critic is NOT a fan of that, but it
still offers its highlights. “Your
Love Is So Good To Me” is the 12” Dance single version of the Richard
Perry-produced/Ken Peterson-penned track from Baby It’s Me. It’s interesting and also a different sound
for Ross. “Top Of The World” is
from the same album, offering more backing vocals, and is more typical of her
earlier 1970s output, but is not bad. “Livin’,
Lovin’ and Givin’” was from her Ross (Motown version) album, but
this was the remix from the Thank God It’s Friday (1978) soundtrack, but
played second-fiddle to lead star Donna Summer’s “Last Dance”. The Summer song is better, but the film was
a disaster.
“What You Gave Me” is her as the 12” single version
of the song Ashford & Simpson created for that same Ross album,
while “You Were The One” is a regular cut form the same album and the
only “normal” single, untouched track here.
It is also rather early 1970s.
The Supremes 12” Medley is a medley that actually manipulates the songs’
speeds and shows its age more sonically than any other track in the 2 CDs.
The best 12” on this set is a combination of “No One
Gets The Prize” and “The Boss” from The Boss. These are two of the best tracks form that
album and run very well together. “The
Boss” is a pure triumph of spirit and one of the most important songs Ross
ever made. “I Ain’t Been Licked”
is also from that album, getting a 12” single all to itself here, but this one
was never released. It is also in the
great spirit of the other songs, which makes one wonder when we’ll get this as
a Deluxe Edition.
“Fire Don’t Burn” is an interesting song that was
intended for an aborted Ross album called Revelations. With Lamont Dozier, brothers Brian and
Edward Holland Jr. co-wrote this with singer Mack David in an interesting
attempt to update the Supremes sound in 1975, after a failed attempt to cut it
as “Don’t Give In” for Thelma “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
Houston. This could have been a hit,
and the same team cut “We Can Never Light That Flame Again” for the
Motown Ross album, but it never made that album. This was only previously issued on a
cassette tape in 1990!
“You Build Me Up To Tear Me Down” was yet another Ross
album intendee, but Ronald Miller replaced Mack David as a co-writer and has
never been issued before. This has a
harder feel to it, with some 70s-era Funk, but Ross’ vocals counter that. This is the second of two versions, begun in
1975, then finished in 1978. It offered
another alternate direction for Ross and could have been a hit, yet neither
version had ever been issued. Now, we
have this one.
“Sweet Summertime Livin’” is a cut that missed both
the Ross and aborted Revelations albums, it was begun in 1977,
then that cancelled 1981 release made certain this would not be issued until
now. It is a fair song, but nothing
spectacular, though fans might like it.
The sonic quality of this set is exceptional for CD and
for the material’s age. The bass is
nice and clean, while detail is not bad for 16bit/44.1 kHz playback. This is good, even with SACD and DVD-Audio
out there. Like the Joe Jackson Night
& Day set, Universal has gone out of their way to produce the best
possible CD editions so they will never have to reissue and remaster them for
the format ever again. The liner notes
in the booklet are brand-new, the details about the music are all great, and
the photo reproduction is fine. The
case is a foldout with digi-pak holders keeping the CDs firmly in place, but
has a translucent slide out it is contained in.
In all, this is a remarkable set, covering a key time in
Diana Ross’ career, as well as an exciting time in music. Chic went underground after this project and
eventually broke-up, though both Rodgers and Edwards continued to have huge
commercial success with other artists.
Ross went on to have a mega-hit with her Lionel Richie duet “Endless
Love”, the theme song for the Brooke Shields film, but she had already
signed a then-record contract to move over to RCA Records. She would have more hits, then watch her
career decline commercially. Nevertheless,
Diana is a classic album and this Deluxe Edition brings this triumph
back in an unexpectedly spectacular way.
- Nicholas Sheffo
