Touch is an unqualified success and the final proof that the Supremes will continue without Diana Ross. New lead singer Jean Terrell proves too smart to imitate her predecessor and in the space of only a year and a half has succeed in making the group over in her own image. Gone is the cooingly adolescent sexuality of Miss Ross and in its place is a fuller and more adult approach to both music and life. The hallmark of Miss Terrell's style, like that of so many of the best Motown artists, is an enormous sense of dignity, pride, and class. While those qualities have been there from her first effort with the group, the superb "Up the Ladder to the Roof," and came into full blossom on the powerful single "Stoned Love," it is only with this new album that we come to expect no less from her, confident that she will deliver.

The album's highlight is "Nathan Jones," an altogether remarkable single. The body of the song is a straight blues–only the hook lines at the end of the verses differ from blues form. The song tells a very specific story about a very specific person–another rarity for recent Motown records. And two thirds of the way through the cut, the song goes into a long, "psychedelic" mood piece that lasts until the fade-out and that by any logic at all just shouldn't work. But it does and so does everything else about this song. When Jean sings, "The key that you're holding won't fit my door,/And there's no room in my heart for you no more," she shows all the independence and sense of self a rock & roll lyric can stand: she sounds strong and she sounds beautiful.

When Jean took over for Diana it seems likely that Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong insisted that their role in the new Supremes be augmented to keep the group from ever turning into another "Diana Ross and the Supremes." Consequently, their roles on the album as a whole seem much larger than in the old albums and on a song like "Nathan Jones" there are long stretches where the three women sing the lead together in beautiful harmony, with Jean's voice dominating only enough to give the song some tension and focus.

As good as "Nathan Jones" is, the best thing about Touch is that, unlike most Motown albums, it's good all the way through. There is hardly a bummer on the album and there are an amazing number of single quality cuts. "This Is the Story," "Have I Lost You," "Touch," and "Happy (Is a Bumpy Road)" are all superb, but the album's real gem is a number almost as off-beat as "Nathan Jones," namely "Love It Came to Me This Time." The entire song is based on a single descending chord progression and the arrangement is restrained for almost the entire song. Over this shimmering background Jean works out beautiful patterns, with Mary and Cindy answering her perfectly. Without ever going into a full-blown crescendo the three of them create tremendous tension and feeling and the sheer power of some of Jean's vocal lines is one of the great things I've heard on records this year.

Frank Wilson's production is happily devoid of Motown nightclub flourishes (except for a fine pop version of "Time and Love") but at the same time would never be mistaken for straight R&B. I call an album like Touch conventional rock. There are horns and there are strings but there is a sharp, tight, driving rhythm section to keep them in rein and to provide the music with the kind of force that can only be characterized as rock.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for The Return of the Magnificent Seven, a new joint effort by the Supremes and the Four Tops. The selection of material is much more pop to begin with and as if to compensate for the greater number of vocalists, the strings and horns have escalated in importance to the point where they dominate many of the arrangements. The Return has all the earmarks of a Motown nightclub, middle-of-the-road, production.

And yet it too has its moments. "You Gotta Have Love In Your Heart" is so fine that it almost makes up for the lackluster quality of the rest of the record, while Jean Terrell's singing on "I Can't Believe You Love Me" (listen to her sing just the word "sincerity") is beyond belief. Levi Stubbs is in fine voice throughout which just makes me hungry for the great Four Tops album Motown is going to put out one of these days. Regrettably, the material, arrangements, and, alas, the concept itself, doom the rest of the album to Motown mediocrity.

The best thing to do is to forget about The Return and pick up on Touch. For that album marks the arrival of a whole new Supremes and a beautiful singer who, hopefully, will be with us for a long time to come, namely, Miss Jean Terrell. (RS 87)

JON LANDAU