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| The Supremes & The Four Tops - The Magnificent 7 (1970) |
The Magnificent 7 is a collaboration between The Four Tops and the Supremes, and production was split three ways between the considerable talents of Clay Murray, Duke Browner and Ashford & Simpson. Diana Ross' split from The Supremes and her plans for a solo career were announced in November 1969. At the close of their final show together in Las Vegas on the 14th of January 1970, Jean Terrell was introduced as her replacement. The new Supremes first released the album Right On which charted well and was swiftly followed by The Magnificent 7.
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| Rear cover |
All of the songs on the record are covers, e.g. Laura Nyro's Stoned Soul Picnic (perhaps best known from the 5th Dimension's version); Ike & Tina's River Deep, Mountain High which made for a successful single; and the dreamy, soulful For Your Love which was a 50s hit by writer and performer Ed Townsend (not the Yardbird's song of the same name, as Wikipedia states!).
There's also a cover of Reach Out & Touch (Somebody's Hand) from Diana Ross' debut album of the same year - Berry Gordy certainly knew how to cross-promote!
The album as a whole often sounds more Vegas than Detroit, but with the dream pairing of Levi Stubbs' pleading baritone and the silky tones of Jean Terrell it doesn't fail to thrill in places.
The Magnificent 7 reached just no. 113 on the US Billboard Chart, but no. 6 here in the UK, perhaps as it was widely advertised on continental commercial radio. River Deep, Mountain High got to no. 14 in the US and no. 11 in the UK.
All of the songs from the album are available on a CD which also includes those from the follow-up The Return of The Magnificent 7 plus some unreleased tracks. It's called Magnificent - The Complete Studio Duets and is on Spotify here: The Supremes – Magnificent: The Complete Studio Duets
Very cool, I'd never even heard of this. Not the kind of thing you come across in HMV! Long live the car boot sale!
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