Ladies & Gentlemen: The Supremes have arrived!

A transitional album, as this combines some of their earlier minor hits like ‘Run, Run, Run‘ and ‘A Breath Taking Guy‘, alongside their Top 40 breakthrough ‘When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes‘ and their trio of groundbreaking chart-toppers: ‘Where Did Our Love Go‘, ‘Baby Love‘ & ‘Come See About Me‘. The album cuts are all top-notch, culled from various recording sessions, with stand-outs including ‘Ask Any Girl‘ (the B-side to ‘Baby Love’), which could easily have been a hit in its own right, and ‘I’m Giving You Your Freedom‘, capturing an unusually earthy vocal from Diana Ross.

There’s much to savour here and this is a classic album by Motown’s finest.

Tracks
A1 Where Did Our Love Go 2:32
A2 Run, Run, Run 2:15
A3 Baby Love 2:34
A4 When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes 2:34
A5 Come See About Me 2:39
A6 Long Gone Lover 2:20
B1 I’m Giving You Your Freedom 2:37
B2 A Breath Taking Guy 2:20
B3 He Means the World to Me 1:52
B4 Standing at the Crossroads of Love 2:27
B5 Your Kiss of Fire 2:45
B6 Ask Any Girl 3:01

Also including the mono LP version as Motown MT-621, August 1964

AllMusic Review by Lindsay Planer

Even though this long-player was the second collection to have featured the original Supremes lineup with Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Diana Ross, Where Did Our Love Go (1964) was the first to significantly impact the radio-listening and record-buying public. It effectively turned the trio — who were called the ‘No-Hit Supremes‘ by Motown insiders — into one of the label’s most substantial acts of the 1960s. Undoubtedly, their success was at least in part due to an influx of fresh material from the formidable composing/production team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland (HDH). They had already proven themselves by presenting “(Your Love Is Like A) Heatwave" to Martha & the Vandellas and providing Marvin Gaye with “Can I Get a Witness." Motown-head Berry Gordy hoped HDH could once again strike gold — and boy, did they ever. Equally as impressive is that the Supremes were among the handful of domestic acts countering the initial onslaught of the mid-’60s British Invasion with a rapid succession of four Top 40 sides.

Better still, “Where Did Our Love Go“, “Baby Love" and “Come See About Me" made it all the way to the top, while “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" (number 23), “Run, Run, Run" (number 93) and “A Breath Taking Guy" (number 75) were able to garner enough airplay and sales to make it into the Top 100 Pop Singles survey.

HDH weren’t the only contributors to the effort, as William “Smokey" Robinson supplied the catchy doo wop influenced “Long Gone Lover" as well as the aforementioned “Breath Taking Guy“. Norman Whitfield penned the mid-tempo ballad “He Means The World to Me" and former Moonglow Harvey Fuqua co-wrote “Your Kiss of Fire“.

With such a considerable track list, it is no wonder Where Did Our Love Go landed in the penultimate spot on the Pop Album chart for four consecutive weeks in September of ’64,making it the best received LP from Motown to date.

The Supremes are almost a text-book example of a “singles" rather than “albums" outfit.

Yet Where Did Our Love Go is a breathtaking capture of the metamorphosis of a group emerging out of the shadows to become one of the world’ leading pop acts, as exciting as any Beatles release of the time.

---

Bonus

In 2004, the internet-based Hip-O Select issued the double-disc Where Did Our Love Go [Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition] in a limited pressing of 10,000 copies. The package included the monaural and stereo mixes, plus a never before available seven-song vintage live set from the Twenty Grand Club in Detroit and another 17 unreleased studio cuts documented around the same time.

So here it is the 2nd CD from 2004 double CD, Where Did Our Love Go: 40th Anniversary Edition with The Sessions including 19 songs, most of them previously unreleased and The Concert Recorded live at the Twenty Grand, Detroit, Michigan, August 7-9, 1964.
Considered for inclusion on the unreleased Supremes album Live! Live! Live! Although a formal album was never completed, Motown assigned catalog number Motown 626 and slated it for release circa April 1965. The LP was likely to have included additional performances, possibly culled from The Battle Of The Stars At The Greystone Ballroom, February 28, 1964, The Motortown Revue At The Fox Theatre, December 1964, and/or The Motortown Revue In Paris, March 1965.