LOS ANGELES, April 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sought after
by collectors and considered the rarest of Motown's rare grooves,
Diana Ross' diana – the original
CHIC mix, will make its long-awaited debut on vinyl on
April 21, on Motown/UMe/UMGI, with a
twist: it will be a double-LP set on pink vinyl at 45rpm for
maximum fidelity. This edition of diana includes
alternate-mix versions of such classics as "Upside Down" and "I'm
Coming Out," as envisioned by Chic's Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame
member Nile Rodgers and the late Bernard
Edwards.
Following 1979's collaboration with Ashford & Simpson, which
produced her hit "The Boss," Diana
Ross sought a new sound and hired the hot Chic team of
Rodgers and Edwards to compose, play on and produce her next
release. But she and Motown were dissatisfied with the
too-Chic-like results, a feeling supported by influential disc
jockey Frankie Crocker, who warned
Ross the record might fall prey to the disco backlash at the time.
Ross turned to Motown's house engineer, Russ Terrana, the man behind her Supremes and
solo hits and much more, and he proceeded to remix the entire
album, using alternate vocals or placing her vocals more upfront,
creating overall a smoother, "commercial" mix. "Our concept was to
make it more avant-garde," Nile Rodgers later told writer
Brian Chin, "and their concept was
to make it a little bit more accessible." The revised diana,
her tenth studio album, was released – with a striking, now iconic
cover image – on May 22,
1980.
Rodgers and Edwards were not informed and, protesting publicly,
wished to take their names off the record. But they cooled off and
saw "Upside Down" – Ross' own description to Rodgers and Edwards as
to what she wanted to do to her career – emerge a #1 smash hit.
Subsequent singles included "I'm Coming Out," which went to #5
in the U.S. and became a LGBTQ anthem, while "My Old Piano," was a Top 5 hit in the U.K. The
album peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200, selling nine
million albums worldwide. Soon after Ross moved on to RCA Records
in a then-record $20 million deal
before returning to Motown in 1989.
Fans now get to hear for the first time on vinyl those original
Chic mixes of diana, one of four albums the duo of Rodgers
and Edwards produced that year, including Sister Sledge's Love
Somebody Today, Sheila and B. Devotion's King of the
World and their own studio album, Real People. Available
on two pink vinyl 45rpm discs, diana – the original CHIC
mix, incorporates tracks first heard on diana: deluxe
edition, originally issued July 29,
2003.
diana – the original CHIC mix vinyl track listing
Side One
1. "Upside Down"
2. "Tenderness"
Side Two
1. "Friend to Friend"
2. "I'm Coming Out"
Side Three
1. "Have Fun (Again)"
2. "My Old Piano"
Side Four
1. "Now That You're Gone"
2. "Give Up"
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SOURCE UMe