Diana Ross Diana CD

Personnel: Diana Ross (vocals); Nile Rodgers (guitar); Eddie Daniels (saxophone); Bob Milliken (trumpet); Meco Monardo (trombone); Raymond Jones, Andy Schwartz (keyboards); Bernard Edwards (bass); Tony Thompson (drums); Alfa Anderson, Luci Martin, Fonzi THorton, Michelle Cobbs (background vocals); The Chic Strings.
Recorded at Power Station and Electric Lady, New York; New York, Motown Studios, Hollywood, California.
All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.
Includes 28-page booklet.
Personnel: Diana Ross (vocals); Niles Rodgers (guitar); Eddie Daniels (saxophone); Bob Milliken (trumpet); Meco Monardo (trombone); Raymond Jones, Andy Schwartz (keyboards); Bernard Edwards (bass); Tony Thompson (drums); Alfa Anderson, Luci Martin, Fonzi Thorton, Michelle Cobbs (background vocals); The Chic Strings.
Recorded at Power Station and Electric Lady, New York, New York, Motown Studios, Hollywood, California.
All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.
The very fact that Diana Ross' third album was Diana! The Original TV Soundtrack and not a full-fledged studio record was ample proof that she was more concerned with being an all-around entertainer than simply a singer. Fortunately, she was very good as an entertainer, as Diana! illustrates. True, a few moments -- namely the Bill Cosby and Danny Thomas sequences and her duets with the comedians -- fall flat without visuals, but her showtunes and covers are all quite enjoyable. Nevertheless, they can't help but be overshadowed by the Jackson 5's medley, which captures the group at their dynamic prime. Even if Diana is eclipsed on Diana!, the best moments on the record prove that she is a fine showwoman in her own right. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Coming off four Top Ten hits in three years for their group Chic, producers Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers were the hot R&B/disco team of the day when they wrote and produced Diana Ross' second album named simply diana. (The first was her 1971 TV soundtrack, Diana!.) The result was Ross' best-selling album ever, paced by her biggest singles hit yet, "Upside Down," and its Top Ten follow-up, "I'm Coming Out." For the most part, disco productions tended to emphasize the beat over the voice, and it might be argued, but for the billing, Ross had been reduced to guest vocalist on her own album. But it was exactly her struggle to retain an identity beyond the groove that made this music more compelling than Chic's records. diana marked an important comeback for Ross, who had struggled in the late '70s after the early successes of her solo career. She celebrated by leaving Motown for a six-year, five-album sojourn at RCA. ~ William Ruhlmann
Diana Ross would probably be offended by anyone who called her 1980 smash DIANA a comeback, but let's face it--after the flop of THE WIZ and the way that the disco revolution steamrollered so many of her old Motown compatriots' careers, that's exactly what it was. Wisely hooking up with Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (both the most traditionally rooted and most fearless of the major disco-era producers), Ross sounds more forceful than she had in years--the helium-toned style of her early hits with the Supremes is worlds away from the assertive way she rips into the funky hit "Upside Down." Even better, the joyous, celebratory "I'm Coming Out" is probably the best solo track of her career, and the heartfelt "Now That You're Gone" is one of her most subtle ballads. The glossy Chic production might sound a bit dated to some ears, but it's matured much better than many similar albums of the era. Overall, this is, in many ways, Diana Ross's best solo record.Rolling Stone (9/4/03, pp.146-7) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Contrasts the Nile Rodgers-Bernard Edwards production team's original unreleased 1980 director's cut of DIANA with the more conservative mix Motown released instead....Heard now, the jazzier, more dangerous dynamism of their original mix is a prescient vision of the modern urban sound."
Q (10/99, p.160) - Included in Q Magazine's Best Motown Records Of All Time - "...a skilful, nay, glorious harnessing of Motown's presiding diva to the hip club styles of the day. She's in good voice but the real joy lies in the elegance and percussive muscle of the Chic Organisation's tunes..."
Q (4/93, p.101) - 3 Stars - Good - "...[in 1980] Diana Ross was svelte, funky, and smart enough to make an album with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic..."
Q (10/99, p.160) - Included in Q Magazine's Best Motown Records Of All Time - "...a skilful, nay, glorious harnessing of Motown's presiding diva to the hip club styles of the day. She's in good voice but the real joy lies in the elegance and percussive muscle of the Chic Organisation's tunes..."
Q (01/01/04, p.77) - Included in Q's "Best Re-releases of 2003" - "[A] truly sparkling slice of disco-pop."
Mojo (Publisher) (11/03, p.138) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Fascinating stuff...an essential treat for Ross fans, Chic fans and dance historians..."