New releases - 07.04.07: REVIEWS CATALOGUE.

The Supremes

This Is The Story: The 70s Albums Vol 1: The Jean Terrell Years (Motown 8593802)

When Diana Ross left The Supremes to pursue a solo career, most of the spotlight went with her, but the balance is belatedly redressed by this beautifully-packaged set, which collects five albums fronted by her successor Jean Terrell and other stray tracks from the same period (1970-1973) in a hardback sleeve book, complete with comprehensive

liner notes. On the evidence of the 68 tracks here - 13 of them previously unreleased - they were still a class act. The hits, including Nathan Jones, Stoned Love and Bad Weather, were less frequent and of lesser magnitude but this is a solid body of work with good songs well sung. The entire Floy Joy album was written and produced by Smokey Robinson and is a mini-masterpiece, aside from the rather annoying title track, while an eponymous album produced by Jimmy Webb is achingly melodic, beautifully arranged and home to lost gems like 5.30 Plane and All I Want. For good measure, the Supremes' version of The Beatles' Come Together knocks spots off Ms. Ross' recording of the same song.

Prefab Sprout

Steve McQueen (Kitchenware/Legacy 82876731592)

Prefab Sprout's 1985 breakthrough album was full of breezy and idiosyncratic songs from frontman Paddy McAloon and was produced with a deft lightness of touch by Thomas Dolby. The new Legacy edition, remastered by Dolby and packaged in a deluxe digipack with extensive new liner notes, brings home the sheer beauty of the band's first Top 40 hit, When Love Breaks Down and includes the more lively but no less lovely Appetite, which somehow failed to chart. In stark contrast to the polished pop perfection of the originals, a bonus CD offers Paddy McAloon's 2006 acoustic versions of eight songs off the album, in which his more mature and lived-in voice offers new twists on old favourites.