#394 Diana Ross, 'Diana' (1980)

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At #452 we listened to Diana Ross and the Supremes, 'Anthology,' a collection of songs that defined her early career with her former group. On what would become the most successful album of her career, Diana Ross reinvented herself as a mononymous disco superstar. The true mark of success. With Chic’s Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards at the helm, the album was essentially a CHIC record, with Diana Ross on vocals. But Diana Ross is such a presence, that she wasn’t just the singer on this. She owned it. For all intents and purposes, this IS a Diana Ross record. 

The forerunner to Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way,’ ‘I’m Coming Out’ became a massive LGBT anthem, cementing Ross as an icon. The other hits on the record were ‘Upside Down’ and ‘My Old Piano.’ While this is a great record, I found that the album was dwarfed by the singles, and that’s not saying the rest of the album isn’t good, it just illustrates how massive those songs are. Special mention to Bernard Edwards’s bass playing, the real star of this album (after Diana, of course).

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