By the time the 1980s rolled around, Diana Ross was a mother to three daughters, an acclaimed actress, and hugely successful recording artist. From her early days as head Supreme to her classic \u201870s solo output, Ross and her trusted Motown producers had barely put a foot wrong \u2013 it was a sweet run that would eventually turn sour for many reasons, but none of which were evident during the first two years of the new decade. <\/p>\n
Ross severed her long tenure with Motown following the release of her seminal diana<\/i> LP released in 1980 and produced by Chic\u2019s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. That project was a fraught with trouble from day one, as Ross found it difficult to totally trust Rodger\u2019s direction. This famously culminated in Ross remixing the entire album prior to its release because she felt the strings and other excesses overshone her beautiful but somewhat delicate voice. <\/p>\n
Ross\u2019 new label was RCA, who had signed her to a stunning 20 million dollar deal that gave the artist complete creative control over all aspects of her career. Ross\u2019 first LP for RCA was due for release in latter half of 1981 and was ironically supposed to be produced again by Nile Rodgers; however, due to his other commitments and RCA\u2019s deadline, Ross decided to produce the album herself and set about creating a slightly less excessive version of the diana<\/i> LP. <\/p>\n
Meeting the deadline, released in September of 1981, Why Do Fools Fall In Love<\/i> was Diana Ross\u2019 12th<\/sup> studio album and although it failed to meet the creative heights of diana<\/i>, it sold incredibly well and delivered Ross and RCA the hit album they were all hoping for. Curiously, the lead single and title track is a breezy cover of a 1956 teeny bopper originally released by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers. It was a solid top #10 hit that helped push initial sales for the album past expected levels. <\/p>\n The second hit single came courtesy of Michael Simbello, who would soon (1983) enjoy his career peak with \u201cManiac\u201d after it was plucked from his Bossa Nova Hotel<\/i> LP to feature prominently in Flashdance<\/i>. \u201cMirror Mirror,\u201d which Simbello penned with Dennis Matkosky, is the most unique moment on this record and remains one of Ross\u2019 most enigmatic singles still. The rhythm track is essentially a mid-tempo disco affair that is then peppered with some fantastic electric guitar riffs thanks to Bob Kulick, and Ross topped it off with an inspired and powerful delivery. <\/p>\n The third single released from this set (and only a moderate hit) was Ross\u2019 precursor to Olivia Newton John\u2019s mammoth hit \u201cPhysical.\u201d The video featured Ross in workout gear embracing the gymnastics craze of the early \u201880s with unashamed glee. Musically, there isn\u2019t much memorable about the track save for some glorious backing vocals and a killer bassline from Neil Jason. <\/p>\n Another curious choice, clearly to push sales, was Ross\u2019 decision to include a solo recording of her incredibly successful duet with Lionel Richie \u201cEndless Love\u201d (who wrote the track), which was still riding a wave of success having only been released one month prior to this record and taken from the Endless Love<\/i> soundtrack. Despite an impassioned vocal performance from Ross, it doesn\u2019t come close to the magic of the duet. <\/p>\n Elsewhere, Dan Hartmann\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s Never Too Late\u201d gets a respectable workout, Brenda Lee\u2019s 1959 rockabilly \u201cSweet Nothings\u201d is given a seductive makeover complete with steamy spoken word vocals and a sax solo, while \u201cTwo Can Make It\u201d is tailored for Ross in the sense that it sounds identical to any number of \u201870s filler tracks that appeared several albums that decade. \u201cThink I\u2019m In Love\u201d fares slightly better despite it being a low-fat version of tracks like \u201cMy Old Piano\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s My House.\u201d <\/p>\n Overall, the lazily titled Why Do Fools Fall In Love<\/i> was the successful first album RCA needed from their star recruit. But artistically, it really doesn\u2019t hold up that well these days and is a ways off from Diana Ross\u2019 best work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":34093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7892],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-45924","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-diana-ross","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45924"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}