It's hard to imagine that someone as famous as Diana Ross, recording for a label as successful as Motown, could have such a fine album drop from sight shortly after its initial release. Despite cracking the top-20 with its title single, Motown apparently lost interest in the album when follow-up singles failed to break and Ross' attention was diverted by her work on the film "Mahogany." Unreissued since its original 1973 date (one of three Diana Ross projects that year), Hip-O's resurrected this little known catalog item with a deluxe 2-CD set. In addition to the album's original ten tracks, the Japanese quadraphonic mix is included (though folded down to stereo) alongside ten bonus tracks from the album sessions.

Though the album lacked hits, it didn't lack good material. The album tracks are anything but filler, with arrangements that add adventurous touches. The title track has a bouncy country-soul sound with electric piano and strings complemented by banjo and clarinet on the old-timey coda. "No One's Gonna Be a Fool Forever" has a Burt Bacharach style to its horns, but with an unusual line of pedal steel woven underneath. The brassy "Sleepin'" is a dramatic song of gritty urban streets, and the thankful love song "You" is gospel and blue. The album's only real miss is an arrangement of "Turn Around" whose soaring strings and overwrought choral surges are at odds with Harry Belafonte and Malvina Reynold's gentle lyrics. A trio of Bob Gaudio (Four Seasons) songs on the album's second side is also somewhat non-descript.

The bonus tracks fit in theme and sound with the album and include the emancipated "I Don't Care Where the Money Is," an early version of "Where Did We Go Wrong" (which wouldn't turn up again until the 1978 "Ross" album), a slow, soulful cover of the Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You," a cover of Roger Nichols and Paul Williams' hit with the Carpenters, "Let Me Be the One," and the Broadway styled "Old Funky Rolls." The highlight of the bonuses is a cover of the superb Motown oldie "I Wanna Go Back There Again," originally waxed by Chris Clark in 1967.

Ross is on top of her game throughout the original album, and though obviously a star, she lets the songs be her spotlight rather than overpowering the lyrics and arrangements with her voice. As with many of her albums, the material isn't as uniformly strong as the hit single, but there's more than enough worthwhile material here to have merited a reissue a few decades sooner. The stereo mix of the Japanese quadraphonic release features different song lengths and some minor instrumental changes, but it could have been dropped in favor of reducing this to a single disc Still, Ross fanatics who'd been savoring the opportunity to fill in a missing piece of her recording career might be just the sort who want every last configuration. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]

Having waited a very long time for 'Last Time I Saw Him' to emerge on CD, I am most pleased with the presentation of this fantastic stuff. There is truly some exceptional music from Diana Ross that has been overlooked--very valid material that reiforces her status of being a 20th Century icon.The unreleased tunes only leave me guessing as to why these gems never saw the light of day back in the '70s (the first Johnny Bristol tune blows me away: an example of the last music made out of Detroit with the integrity of 'The Motown Sound'). In closing, this tribute package is a strong example of the superb artist that Ms. Ross was (and IS)and that her legacy is properly being showcased as it should be. Bravo, Hip-O-Select!!!!

This is one of Diana's best albums not issued on CD yet. Actually, I have been waiting for this to happen for 20 long years. Please, wake up Motown!

Hip-O Records has been issuing Limited Edition CDs from the vast catalog of Motown Records and it does not get any better than this 2-CD reissue of an overlooked early 1970s gem by Diana Ross.

Released in December 1973, the album failed to light up the charts after the initial single - the title track - failed to crack the top ten and the follow-up - Sleepin' - was even less successful.

But the lack of commercial appeal does not diminish the solid interpretation of the lyrics by Ross and the fantastic arrangements which propels the music on the emotionally-charged 10 tracks.

The CDs include the original album and the Japanese Quad edition, along with 10 bonus tracks, including an unedited version of the Last Time I Saw Him. The booklet has a wealth of information on the original LP and CDs.

As with the Hip-O Records catalog, Last Time I Saw Him provides the listener with the historical nature of the original LP, while meticulously tapping into rare or unreleased material from the sessions. The reissue is arguably the most underrated and unappreciated LP ever recorded by Ross.

The previous unreleased material is the draw here. What's interesting is Ross' commitment to each and every song. We sometime take her for granted. If you listen to all her Supremes hits she punches and boxes through every song. What sounds like a fabulous song sometime really in other hands would be the most routine material (for example "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone"). Ross never sailed through anything she recorded, She's always giving 100 percent and you can hear that on all the unreleased tracks. When recording problematic songs she has always ignored the problems and given the songs full attention, as if all were gems. A side note: When Jean Terrell came into the group she sang "Love Is Here" in the early performances. I have a recording of her doing it at the Apollo and she is every bit as remarkable at Ross, but in her own style.