Touch Me In The Morning (Remaster) Diana Ross

• 1 Touch Me In The Morning 03:27
• 2 All Of My Life 03:31
• 3 We Need You 03:44
• 4 Leave A Little Room 03:38
• 5 I Won't Last A Day Without You 03:49
• 6 Little Girl Blue 04:00
• 7 My Baby (My Baby My Own) 02:45
• 8 Imagine 03:02
• 9 Brown Baby/Save The Children 08:19
• Total Runtime 36:15

Info for Touch Me In The Morning (Remaster)

„Touch Me In The Morning“ the 1973 fifth solo album from Diana Ross, returns in this rerelease including 'We Need You,' and 'All Of My Life,' and the title track.

If the first three solo albums of Diana Ross’s career (Diana Ross, Everything Is Everything, Surrender) comprise the first definite era of her solo stardom, then this – her first studio album following the Lady Sings The Blues soundtrack – neatly kicks off the second. That trio of early 70s albums were strong and soulful, and took Diana Ross out of the pop-leanings of the Supremes and placed her back squarely in R&B territory. But with the film and soundtrack release of Lady, featuring Diana Ross’s stunning renditions of the Billie Holiday jazz catalogue, the singer’s career shot to a new level. No longer just an R&B diva and “former lead singer of the Supremes,” Diana Ross was now truly an international star, and her recording career would never be the same. She herself is quoted in David Nathan’s The Soulful Divas as saying, “Somehow I feel [a little] lost between ‘Baby Love’ and ‘Lady Sings the Blues.’ I’m not sure which direction my career will take now” (153).

The direction she took was up – straight to #1 – with the hit song “Touch Me In The Morning.” The song was a huge success and is now a Diana Ross classic, and was the perfect continuation of her solo career. Just as “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” showcased a major growth from her work with the Supremes, “Touch Me…” shows off a further maturation in Diana’s voice, which had lost some of the breathiness from her earliest solo recordings but gained a smooth, velvety tone used in her jazz recordings. The song was the work of Michael Masser and Ron Miller (she’d have a few more ballad hits thanks to Masser later in her career), but the album that followed was mainly put together by Deke Richards, who’d masterminded her Everything Is Everything.

Much in the way Diana Ross (1970) served as a definition for Diana as a solo star, the Touch Me In The Morning album helped re-define Diana Ross as an entertainment star. The songs are tailored to a much broader audience, mixing R&B and pop in equal parts, and even retaining some jazz for the new fans gained thanks to Lady. It is to Richards’s credit that this time – while he’s again working with a variety of songwriters and producers, as he did on Everything Is Everything – there’s a cohesive feel to the album, with each and every song building off the adult contemporary tone set by the title track. This is not “bubblegum” pop music; Diana Ross is now singing about adult relationships, motherhood, and social issues.

„Diana Ross was a superstar even when part of the Supremes, and as a solo singer much was expected from her from the Tamla/Motown empire. Although she had enjoyed a hit single in 1971 with 'I'm Still Waiting' and a few other Top Ten singles during the 1970s, it wasn't until the album Touch Me in the Morning that she showed her full potential as a solo artist. Touch Me in the Morning was a Top Ten album in the autumn of 1973 and opened with two ballad hits, the title track and 'All of My Life,' and continued in that vein with classy sophisticated love songs, including 'I Won't Last a Day Without You,' which had been recorded by the Carpenters, and 'Little Girl Blue,' a song from the 1930s written by Rodgers & Hart for the musical Jumbo, which was pleasing to those new fans who had only really listened to Ross following the Lady Sings the Blues project earlier that same year. One of the most sensual tracks was 'My Baby (My Baby My Own),' which just oozes sex appeal, a few years before Donna Summer came onto the scene. The penultimate track was a rather unnecessary version of the John Lennon classic 'Imagine,' which lacked the poignancy of the original -- but then most versions of this song do. The album closed with a medley of 'Brown Baby/Save the Children,' eight minutes of sheer indulgence, smooching Marvin Gaye-style rhythm & blues that was nearly hypnotic and didn't even need Ross' vocals over the absolutely beautiful backing.“ (Sharon Mawer, AMG)

Produced by Michael Masser, Tom Baird

Digitally remastered

Diana Ross
While still in high school Ross became the fourth and final member of the Primettes, who recorded for Lu-Pine in 1960, signed to Motown Records in 1961 and then changed their name to the Supremes. She was a backing vocalist on the group's early releases, until Motown boss Berry Gordy insisted that she become their lead singer, a role she retained for the next six years. In recognition of her prominent position in the Supremes, she received individual billing on all their releases from 1967 onwards.

Throughout her final years with the group, Ross was being groomed for a solo career under the close personal supervision of Gordy. In late 1969, he announced that Ross would be leaving the Supremes, and she played her final concert with the group in January 1970. The same year, following the relative failure of "Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)", Ross began a long series of successful solo releases with the US chart-topping "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". She continued to enjoy success with lightweight love songs in the early 70s, with "I'm Still Waiting" topping the UK charts in 1971, and "Touch Me In The Morning" becoming her second US number 1 in 1973.

In April 1971, she had married businessman Robert Silberstein. Motown's plan to widen Ross' appeal led her to host a television special, Diana!, in 1971. In 1972, she starred in Motown's film biography of Billie Holiday, Lady Sings The Blues, winning an Oscar nomination for her stirring portrayal of the jazz singer's physical decline into drug addiction. However, subsequent starring roles in Mahogany (1975) and The Wiz (1978) drew a mixed critical response. In 1973, she released an album of duets with Marvin Gaye, though allegedly the pair did not meet during the recording of the project. She enjoyed another US number 1 with the theme song from Mahogany, subtitled "Do You Know Where You're Going To", in 1975.

Her fourth US chart-topper, "Love Hangover" (1976), saw her moving into the contemporary disco field, a shift of direction that was consolidated on the 1980 album Diana, produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic. Her choice of hit material continued to be inspired and the 80s started with a major hit, "Upside Down", which rooted itself at the top of the US chart for a month, and reached number 2 in the UK. Similar but lesser success followed with "I'm Coming Out" (US number 5) and "It's My Turn" (US number 9), although she enjoyed another UK Top 5 hit with the jaunty "My Old Piano". The following year a collaboration with Lionel Richie produced the title track to the movie Endless Love.

This album contains no booklet.