Almost Hits: The Supremes - When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes (1963)

Here's an old post from ten years ago. It's been significantly revised and republished today as a new Almost Hits entry along with its original comments.

The Supremes roared out of Detroit in 1963 with the classic Motown sound that young people all over America craved. It began their reign as the most successful female group of all time, a crown they held for decades. Unfortunately, The Spice Girls (ugh!) eventually sold more records and stole their throne.

Signed by Berry Gordy in 1961, the trio made seven earlier attempts to have a hit, but until "When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 near the end of 1963 - just a few weeks ahead of the British Invasion - they had little success. After that, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Diana Ross were off to the races. Over the next few years, they placed twelve #1 singles on the Hot 100.

"Lovelight" had the vibrant accessibility that Motown became famous for during their early years served up by the label's famous singers and house band, The Funk Brothers. "Lovelight" isn't as instantly recognizable, nor quite as compelling, as many of The Supremes' later chartbusters, but you can hear that their platinum selling formula was already in place. What's mostly missing is the sexiness in Ross's voice. Despite that, it's an oldie that deserves to be heard more than it is.

A bit of trivia: at 1:48 into the song you'll hear all Four Tops and Holland-Dozier-Holland - the song's composers - shout out in unison just as the instrumental break begins.

The single was the first one of many H-D-H wrote for the ladies, almost all of them huge sellers.
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Almost Hits is an occasional exploration into songs that failed to reach the top #20 on the American Billboard Hot 100. Many have become classics despite what their chart position would indicate.

Comments

  1. Todd Mason6:58 PM, July 30, 2015

    For me, Ross was never that much more talented than the others...and the treatment of Ballard was a blot on the Gordy history. The Zombies covered this and I doubt they were alone among the invaders...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Todd Mason7:10 PM, July 30, 2015

    (My Motown "crushes" were on Mary Wilson and Claudette Rogers Robinson...)

    ReplyDelete

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