The request seemed simple enough: “Alexa, play the Supremes.”
Not “Diana Ross and the Supremes,” but the music that came before the firing of Florence Ballard and the group’s inevitable name change. Nothing against Diana Ross, but I just wanted to hear material from the group’s early years.
Alexa – Amazon’s on-demand help device – responded in her calm, computerized voice: “shuffling your songs by the Supremes on Amazon Music.”
The first cut was odd, but familiar – an early, live version of “Come See About Me.” This is certainly not what the casual listener would want or expect, but the offbeat choice was appreciated. It’s always great to hear a young Diana Ross – before the stage grooming and lessons in elocution – because it reminds you just how young the Supremes actually were.
“The Big Chill” kicked off the Motown revival decades ago, but oldies radio kept “Baby Love” and “Come See About Me” on repeat play. Sometimes a fan just needs to stop! (in the name of love) and hit “skip” after the opening bar.
But this time was different. It wasn’t some rote, corporate playlist. The oddball cut piqued my curiosity. Maybe Alexa lets down her hair on Sunday? Or, maybe, after 60 years, Alexa thought that fans needed to hear more than just the hits?
Certainly, “Baby Love” would be second or third. But it never came. Then things started to get interesting. Next was one of the group’s biggest B-sides, “Ask Any Girl,” which was followed by the theme for “Beachball.” Then came “Moonlight and Kisses,” where Diana Ross and the girls sing in German. What?
Of course, Berry Gordy Jr. famously wanted his acts to cross over, but foreign-language versions of the hits were the hinterlands of the Motown Sound. And this wasn’t even one of the hits.
Abba convincingly returned the favor a decade later with its Swedish-speaking leads recording entirely in English, but that was different. Abba was trying to crack the world market. Motown, conversely, was just trying to reach its non-English speaking fans. The gesture was more out of respect and inclusion. Motown’s European fans were probably more than happy just finding the beat.
But we need to snap back to 2019. This is Amazon’s Alexa, an automated, no-nonsense search-and-find device. Short of college radio or an internet-only station with an outlier format, you probably won’t hear the Supremes singing “Moonlight and Kisses.” I don’t even have that cut, and my Motown collection is pretty deep and esoteric.
I wondered. How does Alexa know? I Googled “how does Alexa compile a playlist?” The answer (and more) came back: “When you want to listen to music on your device, just ask Alexa.” That was followed by “If a song, album, artist, genre, or playlist is not in My Music, Alexa searches the Amazon Music catalog or samples from the Digital Music Store when available.” There were some other general music commands listed, including: “play some music” and “play songs similar to the sixties.”
But why did Alexa queue up “Moonlight and Kisses?” Who is Alexa’s Motown whisperer?
This weekend officially kicks off Motown’s 60th anniversary. Maybe Alexa thought the world needed to hear something a little different.
Danke schön, Alexa.
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