The Supremes at the Copa

Infobox Album | Name = The Supremes at the Copa
Type = Live album
Artist = The Supremes


Released = November 1 1965
Recorded = Copacabana nightclub, Manhattan, New York City, New York; August 1965
Genre = Pop/soul
Length = N/A
Label = Motown
M 636
Producer = Berry Gordy, Lawrence Horn
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:aukcikm6bb19~T00 link]
Last album = "More Hits by the Supremes"
(1965)
This album = "The Supremes at the Copa"
(1965)
---
"Merry Christmas"
(1965)
Next album = "I Hear a Symphony"
(1966)

"The Supremes at the Copa" is a live album by Motown singing group The Supremes, recorded during their debut engagement at the prestigious Copacabana nightclub in New York City. Released in the late fall of 1965, "At the Copa" was the first live album issued by The Supremes, and the only live album issued by the group's best-known lineup of Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson.

History

Background

The Supremes were, following Sammy Davis, Jr. and Sam Cooke, among the first African-American entertainers to appear at the Copa, and playing the club was seen by Motown CEO Berry Gordy as an in-roads into the conservative white middle-America market. Gordy and the Motown staff, including vocal director Maurice King and choreographer Cholly Atkins, invested significant amounts of time and money into preparing the Supremes for their Copa debut.

Tensions ran high at several points during the preparation stages. Florence Ballard was angered that her only solo number, "People", was now to be led by Supremes lead singer Diana Ross, while Ross herself complained about the group's staging and bristled under Gordy's criticisms of their performances. Nevertheless, the Copa engagement was a success, paving the way for several other Motown stars, including The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Martha & the Vandellas, and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles to secure play dates at the Copa.

After the success of their initial Copa engagement, Mary Wilson noted that the Supremes were "welcome to play any club in the world" [Wilson, Mary and Romanowski, Patricia. "Dreamgirl & Supremes Faith".] The group had several future play dates at the Copa, and eventually earned $20,000 a week for these performances, fees on the level of popular performers such as Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin. Incidentally, Davis wrote the liner notes for this album.

Album release information

The "Supremes at the Copa" LP was issued by Motown on November 1, 1965; Motown also released the Supremes' "Merry Christmas" LP on the same date. "At the Copa" peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and at number six on the Billboard R&B Albums chart.

The performances included on the LP include several pop standards, four of the Supremes' number-one hit singles, and a medley of songs by late soul star Sam Cooke. Berry Gordy and Motown's head engineer Lawrence Horn are credited as the producers, and the orchestra was arranged and conducted by Gil Askey. The release of "The Supremes at the Copa" led Motown to shelve a studio-record album of pop covers, "There's a Place for Us", which featured many of the same songs as "Copa", with the same arrangements.

"The Supremes at the Copa" does not include the group's entire set: for example, "From This Moment On" was the opening number in their Copa set, not "Put on a Happy Face". When the tapes were brought back to Detroit following the Copa engagement, it was discovered the recording quality did not come up to Motown quality standards as the acoustics at the Copa were not congenial to recording. Gordy had the Supremes re-record their vocals live in Motown's Hitsville USA studio, although traces of the original Copa vocals remain on the tracks.

Track listing

ide one

#Opening Introduction
#"Put On A Happy Face" (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse)
#"I Am Woman, You Are Man" (Jule Styne, Bob Merrill)
#"Baby Love" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
#"Stop! In the Name of Love" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
#"The Boy From Ipanema" (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Norman Gimbel).
#"Make Someone Happy" (Styne, Betty Comden, Adolph Green)

ide two

#"Come See About Me" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
#"Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" (Sam M. Lewis, Jean Schwartz, Joe Young)
#"Queen Of The House" (Roger Miller, Mary Taylor)
#Group Introduction
#"Somewhere" (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim)
#"Back in My Arms Again" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
#Sam Cooke Medley (Sam Cooke)
##"You Send Me"
##"Cupid"
##"Chain Gang"
##"Bring It On Home To Me"
##"Shake"
##"(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons"
#"You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" (James Cavanaugh, Russ Morgan, Larry Stock)

Personnel

* Diana Ross: lead vocals
* Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson: background vocals
* Berry Gordy and Lawrence Horn: producers
* Gil Askey: bandleader, arranger, conductor

Chart history

Notes

References

* Wilson, Mary and Romanowski, Patricia (1986, 1990, 2000). "". New York: Cooper Square Publishers. ISBN 0-8154-1000-X.