The Supremes A’ Go-Go Turns 60

The Supremes’ 1966 album became a landmark for Motown, led by the enduring number one single You Can’t Hurry Love.

by Paul Cashmere

Sixty years ago this week, The Supremes reached a significant milestone in American popular music with The Supremes A’ Go-Go, the Motown album that became the first album by an all-female group to reach number one on the Billboard 200. Released on August 25, 1966, the ninth Supremes studio album captured the group at the height of its commercial power, with You Can’t Hurry Love providing one of its defining moments.

The album followed I Hear a Symphony, released in February 1966, which had already taken The Supremes to number eight on the Billboard 200. By the time A’ Go-Go was issued, the group had established a remarkable run of singles, while Motown was looking to convert that success into substantial album sales. The result was a record that combined new material with interpretations of songs associated with other Motown acts and contemporary pop performers.

At the centre was You Can’t Hurry Love, written and produced by Motown’s Holland-Dozier-Holland team. The single was released on July 25, 1966, one month before the album, and became The Supremes’ seventh US number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number three in the UK and the Australian top 10. The song was recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit, with Diana Ross on lead vocals and the Funk Brothers providing the instrumental foundation.

The song’s message of patience in matters of romance was framed around a mother’s advice, while its musical construction drew from gospel as well as the established Motown sound. The production team of Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier gave Ross a tightly arranged pop-soul recording supported by the Motown studio musicians. The single spent two weeks at number one in the United States in September 1966, establishing itself as one of The Supremes’ signature recordings.

It was preceded on the album’s single campaign by Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart. Released in April 1966, the Holland-Dozier-Holland composition reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and represented a more forceful, rhythm-driven side of The Supremes. The recording featured Ross with Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, and was recorded before its eventual release, reflecting the way Motown frequently built albums from material recorded across different sessions.

A’ Go-Go was deliberately broader than a conventional collection of new Supremes compositions. The track list included versions of songs by fellow Motown acts including the Four Tops, The Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, The Isley Brothers and Barrett Strong. It also reached beyond Motown for Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ and The McCoys’ Hang On Sloopy. Motown’s official account notes that several tracks were recorded in Detroit with Holland and Dozier, while other sessions took place in Los Angeles under Hal Davis and Frank Wilson.

The album’s success also sits between two important phases in The Supremes’ catalogue. Before A’ Go-Go came I Hear a Symphony, whose title track had restored the group to number one after Nothing but Heartaches interrupted their earlier sequence of chart-topping singles. After A’ Go-Go came The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland in January 1967, an album devoted entirely to songs written and produced by the celebrated Motown team.

The singles kept the momentum going. Following You Can’t Hurry Love came You Keep Me Hangin’ On, which became another US number one, followed in 1967 by Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone and The Happening. The sequence demonstrated how effectively Motown linked singles, albums and a consistent production identity during The Supremes’ peak commercial period.

The album’s historical importance extends beyond its sales figures. A’ Go-Go established an all-female group at the summit of the US album market at a time when album success was becoming increasingly important to the recording industry. Its mixture of original Motown material and carefully selected covers also reflected the label’s practice of presenting its artists within a broader house repertoire.

The Supremes A’ Go-Go was later revisited in an expanded two-disc edition issued by Universal Music Group in 2017, adding alternate vocals, mixes and previously unreleased material from the recording period. That edition underlined the depth of the sessions surrounding an album whose original 12-track sequence remains one of the clearest documents of The Supremes at their 1966 peak.

The Supremes A’ Go-Go Tracklisting

Side One

“Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart” – 2:54
“This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)” – 2:35
“You Can’t Hurry Love” – 2:46
“Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)” – 2:46
“Baby I Need Your Loving” – 2:59
“These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” – 2:31

Side Two

“I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” – 2:36
“Get Ready” – 2:43
“Put Yourself in My Place” – 2:20
“Money (That’s What I Want)” – 2:26
“Come and Get These Memories” – 2:18
“Hang On Sloopy” – 2:43