![]() Motown kept her on the books for an eponymous long-playing solo debut (all seven tracks from which are included here), yet in its determination to ride the ubiquitous 1979 disco wave, its contents suffer from a disconcerting lack of light and shade. It’s arguably the triumph of these tracks in particular that prompted her to take full solo flight two years later, after a spell touring as a Supremes nostalgia act following the group’s dissolution. In some ways, however, her versatility had a tendency to backfire “Son Of A Preacher Man” is a frustratingly rigid carbon copy of the vocal phrasing employed by Dusty Springfield on the hit version released just a few months earlier, and there’s similarly uninspired mimicry when Wilson’s solo cut of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River” adheres far too close to the Tina Turner playbook.īut on the occasions where Wilson’s own personality is given space to breathe the results can be powerfully affecting, dominant on the soulful grandeur of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil’s “You Turn Me Around” or the Philly-soaked splendour of Brian and Eddie Holland’s “Early Morning Love”, both from 1975. Not long after those teen beginnings, “Our Day Will Come” reveals Wilson to be developing the chops of a nuanced jazz balladeer in the mould of Nancy Wilson or Dinah Washington. The division of labour to come is absent on 1960’s soaring, Spector-like Motown prequel “Pretty Baby” when the group were still trading as The Primettes (a female counterpoint to the all-male Primes before they evolved into The Temptations). She’s front and centre for two big-hitters from the post-Diana era, trading verses with Terrell on 1971’s “Floy Joy” and whisperingly seductive on the following year’s “Automatically Sunshine”, and this two-disc compilation sets out to retrieve less lauded performances that fell between the cracks. Yet, even when Motown founder Berry Gordy stepped back from overseeing the trio three years later to focus on the departing Ross’ solo career, Wilson continued, to a degree, playing second fiddle to Ross’ replacement, Jean Terrell. ![]() ORDER NOW: Johnny Marr is on the cover in the latest issue of Uncut.It may have been the first single where the name of the group on the label was prefaced by the words “Diana Ross And…”, but lead vocal opportunities were already scarce – Wilson was afforded the middle-mic spotlight on just three tracks from the trio’s previous half-dozen albums. The writing was on the wall for Mary Wilsonlong before “Reflections”, The Supremes’ 1967 hit, and 13th consecutive million-seller. ![]()
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