Album Review: The Supremes – I Hear a Symphony

Cogs in the Motown musical machine, the Supremes churned out albums with alacrity. 1966’s I Hear a Symphony was the group’s eighth album. It was also the first of two released in that year. And it would also mark the final album to feature three of the group’s original vocalists. Diana Ross and Mary Wilson had been there at the start in 1959 when their group was still known as the Primettes. Florence Ballard was there, too, but she would leave upon completion of I Hear a Symphony, with Cindy Birdsong coming in.

The Supremes had been making a habit of releasing albums each with a theme all its own. The titles of A Bit of Liverpool (1964), The Supremes Sing Country, Western and Pop and We Remember Sam Cooke (both ‘65) all make their contents plain.

The production and arrangement on the album is stellar. The team of Holland/Dozier/Holland may have picked u pa few ideas from Bran Wilson, or they may have arrived at their special place all on their own. The details don’t matter: what we’re left with an ear candy of the sweetest sort.

Highlights about, but “My World is Empty Without You” is among them. There’s nothing particularly original about the tune: in familiar tone, lyric and instrumentation it’s immediately identifiable as a Supremes cut, but when one finds a formula that works, why not – the thing goes – just run with it? And so they would.

Ms. Ross sings the lead of “Unchained Melody” a couple octaves higher than those Righteous guys; the instrumentation sounds as if it’s playing a block away from the singer, though. A cover of The Toys’ “A Lover’s Concerto” (itself a rewrite of Bach’s “Minuet in G Major”) is flawless, if opportunistic; the Toys’ record had been released mere months before.

“Everything is Good About You” is subued Spectorism, with lovely vibraphone and reliably crystalline vocal work that sounds effortless. The record’s lesser known tracks are a mixed bag: the anachronistic “Wonderful, Wonderful” almost sounds flown in from an earlier decade, one populated with Bing Crosbys, Perry Comos and such. “Without a Song” wades heavily into the syrup, but an album with “symphony” in its title must do, one supposes.

As a single, the album’s title track sold more than two million units worldwide (half of those in the U.S). In its album form, I Hear a Symphony charted well: #8 on Billboard’s album chart, and the top spot on its R&B chart. It marked the group’s most impressive album showings to date, with greater successes soon to come.