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SupremesTo hard-core soul freaks, The Supremes represent the weakest thoroughbred in the Motown stable. Polished and pretty (and popular), the trio does not compare favorably to the mighty Temptations or the majestic Four Tops. But, lead singer Diana Ross was the very pinnacle of Motown founder Berry Gordy's dream to succeed in mainstream (i.e. white) America (read more). Subsequently, the Supremes' music veered far, far away from pure soul. Which is not to say it's bad - it's just not soul. What it is, is pop - usually darn good pop - that succeeds on its own terms.

Merry Christmas (1965) is no exception - in fact, it's whiter than usual. While it may rank as the worst Motown Christmas album, that's a competitive league. It's like saying someone is the worst player in the NBA, because the worst player in the NBA would wipe the court with anyone else in the world. So, simply put, most Motown fans will adore the crap out of Merry Christmas. Most impressively, the album has a high quotient of original material, and while "Children's Christmas Song" is perhaps the most annoying single the label ever released, "Little Bright Star" is top-notch, hard-chargin' vintage Motown. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Me" is also charming, though it conforms much more closely to the mainstream image in which Berry Gordy was molding the trio.

Among the standout tracks on Merry Christmas are a several solid covers of seasonal favorites including Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and an ornate, uptown arrangement "My Favorite Things" - a song from The Sound Of Music that was just beginning to come into its own as a Christmas song (which, technically, it is not). And, finally, there's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," given the full Motown treatment including a thundering drum track played by Benny Benjamin - or someone doing their best Benny Benjamin imitation (the album doesn't provide musician's credits).

SupremesThanks to Motown's aggressive marketing, a number of other rare Supremes tracks have leaked out over the years on a variety of compilations. Of particular interest is "Won't Be Long Before Christmas," a 1967 effort recorded for a Disney tribute album that Motown never released. That's a shame because, to my ears, it's one of the best holiday track the girls ever waxed! Look for it on Christmas In The City or Motown Christmas Vol. 2. The former CD also contains Diana Ross' 1976 solo rendition of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," her first and only solo Christmas recording for Motown.

Up The Chimney To The Roof

Motown has reissued Merry Christmas on CD a number of times, including an early 2-on-1 disc paired with Stevie Wonder's 1967 LP, Someday At Christmas. The label's 1999 edition of Merry Christmas was beautifully packaged and mastered, with several bonus tracks from the same sessions. These include a Harvey Fuqua composition, "Just A Lonely Christmas" (originally recorded by the Moonglows in 1953), a rare Florence Ballard lead vocal on "Silent Night," and Diana Ross' confident reading of Mel Tormé's "Christmas Song" - plus the aforementioned "Won't Be Long Before Christmas." While Universal's 2003 reissue, 20th Century Masters: The Christmas Collection, was virtually identical to the remastered Merry Christmas, the 2015 digital-only Expanded Edition folds in mono and stereo versions with even more rarities.

However, all these were rendered irrelevant by The Ultimate Merry Christmas (2017), a two-disc set from Real Gone Music that includes just about everything from all the above plus more - for a total of 50 tracks. While Merry Christmas may not be Motown's finest Christmas album, The Ultimate Merry Christmas is its best-ever representation, and - in a perfect world - would serve as a model for further Motown reissues.

Diana RossThe Boss

Many years later, the Supremes' unquestioned leader, Diana Ross, recorded several Christmas projects that didn't generally reflect her large, hallowed body of solo work. Ross left the Supremes in 1970, but remained with Motown, and immediately scored a #1 hit with the gospel-tinged "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." The hits kept coming fairly consistently, including such classics as "Touch Me In The Morning," (1972), "I'm Coming Out" (1980), "Love Hangover" (1976), and "The Boss" (1979) - the song that came to represent both her strong personality and her musical prominence. In 1981, Ross jumped ship to RCA and continued to score hits like "Muscles" (1982) and "Missing You" (1984). Long a multihyphenate superstar, Ross expanded her resumé over the years to include cultural ambassador, gay icon, and dance diva.

By the 1990's Diana Ross was back at Motown, and her star had cooled considerably. The holiday music she recorded reflected her transition into an elder stateswoman of Black music and a show business institution - and it bore little stamp of her earlier work at Motown and RCA. In 1993, she recorded Christmas in Vienna, a live album with opera singers Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. In 1994, she recorded two different albums of largely traditional holiday fare, backed by large, traditional orchestrations. Diana Ross does Julie Andrews, you might say.

The first, A Very Special Season, was released only in Europe, and it included one of her spotlight numbers, "Amazing Grace," from Christmas in Vienna. The second, Making Spirits Bright, was a collaboration with the King's Singers, Modern Jazz Quartet, and London Symphony Orchestra, and it was originally sold only in Hallmark stores.

In 2018, Motown combined the two albums as Wonderful Christmas Time. It included A Very Special Season in its entirety plus Ross' six numbers from Making Spirits Bright. It's a very well done reissue, including new liner notes by Diana Ross herself, and it's certainly a good value. Personally, though, I can't recommend it, as it eschews everything I love about the Diana Ross and the Supremes while embracing middlebrow, mainstream musical values. To me, the Supremes will always be the apex of Motown's aspirational business model, and Diana Ross will always be its boss. But, her solo Christmas music was cut from a different cloth and intended for a different audience - one that does not include me. [top of page]

Albums Albums

SongsEssential Songs

  • The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) (1965)
  • Just A Lonely Christmas (1965)
  • Little Bright Star (1965)
  • My Favorite Things (1965)
  • Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (1965)
  • Twinkle Twinkle Little Me (1965)
  • White Christmas (1965)
  • Won't Be Long Before Christmas (1967)

Further ListeningFurther Listening

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