After a first listen, Surrender sounds like pop, and somewhat monotonous at that. The instrumentation is elaborate, the lyrics slick. But more than the flutes or Diana's campy "poetic" recitation, one notes a total lack of warmth and humor. Surrender varies in mood only from manic-hysterical, "Remember Me," "Surrender," to manic-depressed, "Didn't You Know You'd Have to Cry?," to just plain depressed, "And If You See Him," the loveliest song on the album. Hysterical climax follows hysterical climax at a disturbing pace–usually with Diana, the backup singers (probably Nick and Valerie, who did them on Diana's first solo album), and the violins trying to outdo each other.

It's all a bit grotesque, but it can remain to haunt you. Though the instrumentation is like Glenn Campbell, the fervor and intensity is pure Church. Take her version of the Four Tops masterpiece, "Reach Out, I'll Be There." What was once an assertive, highly dramatic song has become an almost painfully drawn out one about self-negating devotion. "Reach out for me, girl" becomes "I'll be there, boy." In fact, the line "You can always depend on me" is repeated seventeen consecutive times, with only slight variation. By conventional standards the version here is a failure. (By any standards the Holland-Dozier-Holland original is superior.) But this version, because of its fanaticism, the imaginative backup vocals and the beauty of the piano playing (usually true for Valerie Simpson productions), has a strange beauty and resonance.

I thought "Remember Me" was the shrillest single Motown ever released. But the depths of self-deprecation reached in the song and the pzazz of Diana, Nick and Valerie's singing make it unforgettable, if also unbearable. "Surrender" itself is funky, and almost fun, with one great line: "You created a need in me That only you can satisfy."

"Didn't You Know You'd Have To Cry Sometime?" is a spite song, like "Like A Rolling Stone," a genre I've always found charming. While the Dylan song was straight vengeance, this one is a combination of pride, hurt, self-righteousness, and a world-weary sort of wisdom. The melody has an extraordinary rocking, comforting quality, punctuated by shrill outbreaks from the chorus, adding up to a somewhat awkward, but very moving song.

Beneath the flutes and violins. "And If You See Him," has the poignancy of the great early Motown songs like "You Beat Me To The Punch." The brilliant, but simple use of rhythm instruments, and the rapid shift of moods perfectly recreate the ambivalence and desperation of someone rejected. The image of Diana Ross with "circles underneath her eyes The makeup just can't seem to hide" is perfect.

Diana's singing in those early, tight Supremes songs was truly magnificent. I can think of no one else who could race through a song like "You Keep Me Hanging On" in that slightly off-beat way with such drive and feeling. Since her Holland-Dozier-Holland days she's shown she can do a lot of other things really well. Her improvisation in the last thirty seconds of a silly song like "Love Child," is brilliant. In this album she shows she can really let loose, but there's an absence of depth and richness to her voice. Holland et al. usually had her singing partly-with and partly-against four or five other things: Mary and Flo, the piano, the electronic sounds on "You Keep Me Hanging On." and the drums. A lot of the beauty was in the conflict. When the production style accentuates the hysterical, monomaniacal, and desperate side to her singing, as it does on Surrender, it becomes too much a mad admirable dead end, that sounds great only when you're feeling really lonely, or really drunk.

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RUSSELL GERSTEN

(Posted: Oct 28, 1971)