Diana Ross - Diana: Deluxe Edition (Motown/UME): After seeing Chic in concert, Diana Ross approached mainmen Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards with a view to working with them.

The pair established that Ross wanted to sound nothing like her previous Motown classics, so they set about applying their customary 'chicken scratch' guitar/heavy bass sound to a new set of songs. Released in July 1980, the resulting Diana set would give Ross her biggest seller since the Lady Sings The Blues soundtrack eight years earlier.

One of the first songs to be recorded was Upside Down, the lyrics of which personified the lifestyle changes Ross was making at the time. Nile Rodgers said later: "Only she knew that this was the last record she would make for Motown. We had no idea."

During the recording of Diana, all parties fell out and Ross skipped off to the south of France for three months. And the trouble didn't stop there. When the sessions were completed, Motown chiefs rang Rodgers and Edwards and complained about the mix. Ross, too, would put in a phone call asking why her voice sounded so low. She felt so strongly that she took away the master tapes, and with the assistance of Motown engineer Russ Terrana remixed the entire album.

With the release of Diana: Deluxe, listeners can now compare the different styles. A bonus CD of disco tracks is also included. Highlight is the long version of Love Hangover, where the pace never flags and the brain never numbs.

Published: 23/10/2003