Ramblin' with Roger

Underplayed Vinyl: The Supremes

It’s the 63rd birthday of original Supreme Mary Wilson.

The Supremes, of course, were THE #1 female group in the Unites States. You can argue for Destiny’s Child or someone else, but by the calculations of the Joel Whitburn book reflecting the Billboard singles charts through 2002, they were #25, behind Madonna (#4), Janet Jackson (#9), Aretha Franklin (#10), and Mariah Carey (#14) among female artists; Destiny’s Child was #181. On the Billboard album charts through 2006, they were #29, behind only Babs (#5) and Aretha (#18); Destiny’s Child was #451. (The Whitburn books balances off the fact that there are more people today than 40 years ago, and gives points to longevity.)

But it wasn’t always the case. They were known as the “no-hit Supremes” when they came out with Meet the Supremes, which didn’t enhance their commercial reputation. This was in a period (1962) that the others besides Diana Ross actually sang leads. The late Florence Ballard sings on my favorite song on the album, the energetic pop of “Buttered Popcorn”, while Mary Wilson is featured on the soul ballad “Baby Don’t Go”, written by Berry Gordy. There were actually two album covers. My original album cover was the “soft focus” one, which was actually the second version, done in 1965, after they made it big. The “chairs” cover was the first cover, which was still being used when I repurchased the album subsequent to the Great Album Theft of 1972. You can’t even find this album on Amazon, except at an outrageous price from individuals. Too bad, because it’s a charming collection, showing a lot of promise for what was to come.

That theft wiped out a lot of albums I never replaced, notably the “theme” albums: A Little Bit of Liverpool (featuring a terrible version of A Hard Day’s Night); The Supremes Sing Country, Western, and Pop; and We Remember Sam Cooke, all coming out after the breakthrough album Where Did Our Love Go, and before More Hits by the Supremes.
After a couple specialty discs and the more popular fare of I Hear A Symphony and Supremes A’ Go Go, the group came out with what I thought was a peculiarly named 1967 album: The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland, odd because most of their pop fare was already written by Brian, Lamont and Eddie, and produced by the former two. As was often the case at Motown at that time, the album featured songs previously recorded by other Motown artists such as the Four Tops (“I’ll Turn to Stone”, “It’s the Same Old Song”) and Martha and the Vandellas (“Love is Like a) Heat Wave”), which, while not matching the originals, were enjoyable. Of course, it had the hits (“You Keep Me Hangin’ On”, “Love is Here and Now You’re Gone”), but my favorite song is a tune I always thought my sister or my eldest niece, singers both, ought to try, “Remove This Doubt”, complete with strings. Elvis Costello did this song on Kojak Variety, which is not bad, but pales to the original, to my ears.

1967 was a real transitional year. Florence Ballard left the group after the Rogers and Hart album, replaced by Cindy Birdsong of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. Also, Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown over a dispute with Berry Gordy. The group, now Diana Ross and the Supremes, did one pop album, Reflections, a really transitional album with the last H-D-H pieces (and the last Flo Ballard work), and too many uninspired covers (Ode to Billie Joe?). Then they did three specialty albums, including one with the Temptations, before releasing Love Child.

Love Child is the last very good Supremes album, as opposed to a couple singles and a bunch of filler. The first side is more soulful, the second, more pop. The group and the producers seem reinvigorated here, but the subsequent albums were far inferior to this one.

Love Child (Henry Cosby, Frank Wilson, Pam Sawyer, Deke Richards, R. Dean Taylor) -yes, the R. Dean Taylor of “Indiana Wants Me” fame. Motown session singers The Andantes sing the backup vocals on this song.
Keep an Eye (Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson)- a great song of warranted paranoia; “There used to be three of us seen all over town. Now there’s only two. Someone’s missing. Guess who?”
How Long Has That Evening Train Been Gone (Sawyer, Wilson) – an Amazon critic says: “a late 60’s soul masterpiece, features a killer (and much studied) James Jamerson bass line, and lyrically, tells a compelling story.”
Does Your Mama Know About Me (Tom Baird, Tommy Chong) – a cover of the Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers song about interracial love. Yes, that’s the Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong on the songwriting credits.
Honey Bee (Keep on Stinging Me) (Janie Bradford, Debbie Dean, Richards) – straight ahead infectious pop. My favorite song because of the bass and background vocals
Some Things You Never Get Used To (Ashford, Simpson) The first single, which only went to #30, oddly. The Andantes sing backup here.
He’s My Sunny Boy (Smokey Robinson)- the horns punch up this tune.
You’ve Been So Wonderful to Me (Anna Gordy Gaye, George Gordy, Allen Story) – lilting pop.
(Don’t Break These) Chains of Love (George Beauchamp, Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol) – more towards the MOR Motown was aiming Diana towards.
You Ain’t Livin’ Till You’re Lovin ‘ (Ashford, Simpson) – a cover of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell’s original that I was not familiar with at the time.
I’ll Set You Free (Gwen Fuqua, B. Gordy, Ivy Jo Hunter, Renee Tener) – my favorite song from Side 2, with the classic Supremes background vocals.
Can’t Shake It Loose (Sidney Barnes, George Clinton, Joanne Jackson, Rose Marie McCoy) Yes, THAT George Clinton, and I don’t mean the former governor of New York.
***
Greg Burgas sent me a mixed disc featuring Dr. Goldfoot And The Bikini Machine, the title track of an apparently not very good 1965 movie. And though I own FOUR Supremes collections (two on vinyl, two on CD), I never owned this song, which is on The Supremes Box Set (2000). Thanks., Greg!

Another Movie Meme

1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times.

Not sure I’ve seen ANY movie more than 10 times. MAYBE the Wizard of OZ on TV, but the first several times was on a B&W set. “Annie Hall” I’ve seen a lot. Also Le Roi de Coeur, which played in my college town annually for a while. There tend to be scenes, usually because TNT/TBS is running the movie over and over, that I’ve seen a lot: the end of Animal House (from “the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor”), e.g.

2. Name a movie that you’ve seen multiple times in the theater.
At least three times, and possibly many more: Le Roi de Coeur. Four times: Annie Hall, Midnight Cowboy. Twice: the first Planet of the Apes, Help!, Yellow Submarine. Woodstock, I sat through twice in a row. Catch-22: 1 1/2 times – there’s a story there.

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie.

Meryl Streep, apparently. Saw, in the movie theater, two of her movies (Prada, Prairie Home Companion) in 2006. James Cromwell (Babe, L.A. Confidential, The Queen). There are probably others.

4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie.

Rob Schneider. Actually about a third of the SNL alums (David Spade among them) who are making movies.

5. Name a movie that you can and do quote from.

Quote on a regular basis like in my everyday life? Midnight Cowboy: “I’m WALKIN” here!” I try NOT to quote “The Wizard of Oz”.

6. Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs.

“West Side Story”, “Fiddler on the Roof”, “The Sound of Music”

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.

I don’t sing along with movies. Takes me out of the film.

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see.

With the caveat that I don’t think there’s such a thing that everyone MUST see: Schnidler’s List.

9. Name a movie that you own.

I own a number of VHS tapes. One of them is Stuart Little, which I’m pretty sure was a gift. We started watching it, but the cat was too scary for Lydia. I didn’t know that Hugh Laurie, who I only know from the TV show “House” was the father in that movie or that M. Night Shyamalan co-wrote the screenplay; the movie was released the same year as The Sixth Sense.

10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.

Will Smith, Chuck Connors.

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what?

Saw lots of movies at the drive-in as a kid. The last time that I can remember the films were all five Planet of the Apes films (I fell asleep during the last one, which, apparently, is just as well).

12. Ever made out in a movie?

Probably.

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven’t yet gotten around to it.

Office Space. Actually went to the library to seek it out last month, then didn’t have time to watch it before it was due back.

14. Ever walked out of a movie?

No, but got awful close with Fellini’s Satyricon.

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.

I cried at the end of The Pursuit of Happyness, I cried at the end of Brokeback Mountain. I can be a sucker for a weeper. Oh, and – do I want to admit this? – I got a little misty in Toy Story 2, when Jessie the Cowgirl sang When She Loved Me.

16. Popcorn?

Usually.

17. How often do go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)?

Not nearly as often as BL (before Lydia), when it was twice a month, at least, and a lot more in the winter. Now it’s usually every two months, at best.

18. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater?

Notes on a Scandal.

19. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie?

Intelligent comedy.

20. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?

State Fair

21. What movie do you wish you had never seen?

I don’t remember the title. It was a double feature with some old Francis the Talking Mule film. The story involved this woman who was old and/or homely but became lovely through this potion. Men found her irresistible, but if they kissed her, she’d revert to her former self. She had to kill them, using some ring to the jugular, and blow some powder to return to her beautiful self. I was about 10 or 11, so this movie came out before 1964. The thing gave me nightmares for MONTHS. It was, quite literally, a pain in the neck.

22. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?

I don’t know: Life of Brian, The Sixth Sense, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Any of these weird?

23. What is the scariest movie you’ve seen?

That I can remember the title to? Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia.

24. What is the funniest movie you’ve seen?

Young Frankenstein, which I can quote in part, but it doesn’t make any sense out of context.
***
So I’m going through the list of bloggers I check out, and I come to the site of my buddy Fred Hembeck and what do I read on March 1? “I blame Roger Green.” What?

Seems that the idea Tom the Dog had to list all of the Oscar-winning movies he’d seen I expanded on somewhat to mention the circumstances. Well, Monsieur Hembeck took the concept much further, not only with far greater detail than I could possible muster about who he saw films with, but also about a dozen responses to MY posts, plus nearly as many pictures. A real bang-up job that you should see here.
***
Hey, Albany: The Oscar-winning “On the Waterfront” at the Palace Theater, Wednesday, March 7, 1 and 7 pm, $5.

By the Secrets

In anticipation of the first Sunday in Lent, which was last Sunday, my Bible group was reading Deuteronomy 26. It is a lovely piece about appreciation for God and how we need to offer our first fruits to God, which one could look up, in several versions, here. Deuteronomy, BTW, means “second law”. But scanning the page, I saw in the Bible something I’d never seen before.

I’ve read the Bible all the way through twice. Once was in 1977, seven months with the King James Version. The other was 1996-1997, 13 months with the New International Version or maybe the Revised Standard Version.

Anyway, here’s Deuteronomy 25:
KJV
(11)When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:
(12)Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.
NIV
(11)If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, (12) you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.
New American Standard Bible
(11)”If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals,
(12)then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.”

OK, forgetting the creepy payoff: yes, I had never seen “genitals” in the Bible, and it’s the fault of the lectionary. The lectionary is a mechanism by which the Scripture is read over a three-year period, each year featuring one of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke). If you go here, then click on the Index of Lectionary Readings by Biblical Books, you’ll see that Deuteronomy 24 and 25, which are full of all sorts of arcane laws, are not included. So, it’s unlikely that most church attendees will hear a sermon on this Scripture (though you’ll see it illustrated in LegosTM here), or that lovely story about a man refusing to marry his dead brother’s widow, so she gets to spit in his face, also in Deuteronomy 25 (and illustrated in Legos here).

So just how much of the Bible IS in the lectionary? I don’t have a definitive answer, but this report on the Catholic version of the Bible suggests that it’s most of the New Testament, but a very small portion (less than 15%) of the Old Testament, except for the Psalms.

Of course, ministers do vary from the lectionary at times, but I’ll be shocked the first time I hear this text as a basis for a sermon. I’ll be certain to be intrigued by how one could take that message and apply it to today’s world.

Also, this means that one of these days, I’m going to need yet another translation of the Bible all the way through.
***
And since I seem to be on the topic, I’m loving the controversy about the Newbery Award-winning book ‘The Higher Power of Lucky’ over the use of the word scrotum, referring to a canine’s private parts, which has propelled the book’s sales.
***
According to a new book, Americans are the most religiously ignorant people in the West.

In the News QUESTIONS

I’m recalling that the guy who did the In the News segments on Saturday morning s for CBS died last year. What WAS his name? He had a great voice.

Anyway, an extension of a recent Lefty question.

1. Where do you get the news?
Local newspaper? Yes, I read the Albany Times Union, more for the local stories.
National newspaper? Yes, the Wall Street Journal, even though their editorial policy is obnoxious. I do like the cool sabermetric stuff they have on the Friday sports page, their movie recviews are usually spot on, and I like the wine, small business and and technology columns. I USED to read the NY Times daily; those were the days, he sighed. Someone tortured me by getting me a free NYT last Sunday; still haven’t read the book review or the magazine.
Local TV news? I used to, back when this guy was anchoring. But now, I might get “News in a Minute” from the Time Warner folks, unless some major story has broken, when I’ll usually tuirn to the NBC or ABC affiliate.
National news? ABC in the evenings, ABC and CBS on Sunday morning; the ABC show does a best of the late night comedians segment. Also 60 Minutes, for stories such as Brundibar: How The Nazis Conned The World by using a children’s opera to deceive the International Red Cross, which, frankly, made me weep; and GIs Petition Congress To End Iraq War, which frankly gave me hope – check out The Appeal for Redress website for more information. The Today show on those rare times I watch in the morning.
Radio news? About four minutes worth on NPR at 6 a.m., usually. If I’m in the car, I’ll sometimes catch NPR.
Internet news? I tend to note the pieces on Google or AOL, but don’t tend to read them unless they’re breaking stories, usually a storm (Alabama, Florida), a death (Molly Ivins), or a rampage (Utah mall). Occasionally, I’ll check out the local paper’s website, usually when the weather’s dodgy, and I want to know about school closings.
Internet commentary (e.g., Daily Kos)? Rarely, unless someone sends me a link.
E-mailed news? I get a notice from Hispanic Business, which often has news elements.
Most of the above I do NOT watch in real time.

2. Why do you get, or don’t get, the news?
As a librarian, I’ve found it useful context for future questions. Someone reads about a new tax policy and wants to know the implications for themselves. I COULD look it up when asked, but I have found it easier to answer when I have some idea what they’re talking about. Besides, I have that JEOPARDY!-champion-know-it-all burden to maintain. Everyone assumes I know everything (except about cars, where they KNOW I haven’t a clue).
That said, sometimes, I tune out certain stories: another helicopter going down in Afghanistan or Iraq, or the next car bombing that kills scores of civilians, out of self-preservation.

Torture: I’m Against It

Well, that does seem obvious, I suppose. But this winter, ABC News was doing their Basic Instincts series, and they broadcast a piece on The Science of Evil. They replicated the Milgram experiment:
“The Milgram experiment was a series of famous scientific studies of social psychology, intended to measure the willingness of a participant to obey an authority who instructs the participant to do something that may conflict with the participant’s personal conscience.”

Then I discovered Ella Mazel. She is a…vintage woman who, in 1998, had put together a “treasury of quotes on the past, present, and future of the color line in America” called And don’t call me a racist!, which a colleague of mine had received at a conference, and had given me a copy. Ms. Mazel doesn’t sell the book, although she appreciates money for the postage.

Subsequently, she’s compiled Not in MY name!, a collection of quotes on the past, present, and future of the practice of torture. Even without photos, or specific descriptions of torture, I found it to be a disturbing read. This latter book is available only online.

Finally, I found a compelling read which matched my opinion as to Why I Stopped Watching “24”.