— Charlie Gillett
"Not only is this Diana's first release on Capitol," states Bev Hillier in her November, 1981 review of the album Why Do Fools Fall in Love, "but also her first shot at producing her own material". They wouldn't introduce Album of the Fortnight to Smash Hits for a while but if it had existed at the end of 1981 she would have taken the runner up spot behind Fad Gadget's Incontinent. Among the LP's Diana Ross finished in front of in a pretty strong batch are Japan's Tin Drum (a very worthy 8 out of 10), Depeche Mode's Speak and Spell (a respectable 7/10), Earth, Wind & Fire's Raise! (also a 7/10 but surely it deserved better), The Bee Gees' Living Eyes, Adam & the Ants' Prince Charming (both with a deserved 5/10), Prince's Controversy (4/10 seems ungenerous but I'm not sure Hillier's wrong) and Rush's Exit...Stage Left (again, 2/10 is a bit of a chintzy score but Mike Stand's remark — "I would close with the standard attack on their interest in dodgy philosopher Ayn Rand if only I knew who the hell he was" — makes it all worthwhile). Bloody hell, this Fad Gadget dude must've been good...
For Diana Ross to have thrived up against such strong competition (and Rush!) is not such a big deal for someone with her pedigree but for her to have done so on an album she also produced is another matter entirely. One would think that a diva of her stature would have more pressing matters than sitting behind a grubby mixing desk with a sad, friendless engineer while barking orders at overworked, underpaid session musicians. Yet, she proved up to the task enough that she would go on to produce the bulk of the material that would make up her next three albums.
Not to take anything away from the legendary ex-Supreme but she did have a few advantages that your average first time producer wouldn't normally enjoy. First, she had use of the finest recording studios in the United States at her disposal. She also had a team of first rate musicians in her employ, including well-rounded guitarist Eric Gale and tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker, individuals who had played on her now overlooked 1979 album The Boss (her much better remembered Diana LP from '80 had been done with Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers who effectively made a Chic album with Diana Ross singing on top of it; Why Do Fools Fall in Love set the clock back by utilizing previous sessioners and is probably a more accurate indication of where she was creatively and professionally at the time). Finally, she had nearly twenty years of studio experience to rely upon; in my previous review of "Mirror, Mirror" I argue that years of working alongside Motown's studio wizards as well as Edwards and Rodgers must have rubbed off on her.
The one thing that Ross failed to account for was decent songs. Well played and sung by all concerned, "Mirror, Mirror" is nevertheless a flimsy composition. Time had not endeared it to me since the last time I wrote about it though I will acknowledge that Charlie Gillett was correct in favouring the 12" mix to its 7" counterpart. Disco tunes need time to settle in and, if anything, six minutes is probably not quite long enough. Eric Gale's hard rock guitar playing doesn't quite fit the shorter version while the lengthier mix allows for sufficient space. Seemingly stuck in a noble sixties' mindset of keeping albums down to thirty to forty minutes, Ross' album sacrificed dancefloor excellence for unnecessary brevity. Instead of "Mirror, Mirror" being the album's longest track it should have been the median.
I love Chic as much as the next person but to give them the bulk of the credit for Diana Ross' success in the early eighties overlooks the fact that their team-up was short lived and that she was doing well for herself both before and after they worked together. With all due respect to their talents as ace musicians and producers it was their songwriting that likely benefited her most. Not since the heyday of Holland-Dozier-Holland had Ross worked with such a formidable team. Producing seemed to suit her so why didn't she take up songwriting while she was at it? She could've given it a go by collaborating with colleagues like Lionel Richie or Smokey Robinson a busy-but-always-willing-to-help-a-friend Michael Jackson. She could have even written a few songs on her own and it's not a stretch to suggest she would have been capable of something better than the cliche-ridden "Mirror, Mirror" or the dated "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". Why rely on covers and third rate nonsense when she could have done it herself? After-all, Diana Ross was no mere diva.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Fun Boy Three with Bananarama: "It Ain't What You Do..."
"Somebody should give these guys a lesson on writing dynamics into their records, with middle-eights and bridges and all that stuff," states Gillett in an otherwise complimentary review. He doesn't seem aware that Terry, Lynval and Neville, along with newcomers Sarah, Siobahn and Keren, didn't compose this record. Indeed, he seems unaware that it was already over forty years old and had been a jazz standard until the FB3 gave it an update. All things considered, the Boys and the 'Narns had a minor masterpiece on their hands. Lots of fun (I like the Fun Boy Three a lot but they didn't always live up to their name), catchy, addictive and a great way to introduce the world to the genius of Bananarama, who would soon overtake their male counterparts as regulars on the giddy carousel of pop for the remainder of the decade. Gillett concludes by wishing a poorly Lynval Golding well; I'll sign off with a regretful RIP Terry Hall. (And RIP Charlie Gillett while I'm at it)
(Click here to see my original review)
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