Additional information
This 1999 reissue includes two bonus tracks not on the original release. Personnel: Diana Ross (vocals); Eric Gale (guitar); Michael Brecker (saxophone); Valerie Simpson (piano, background vocals); Ray Chew (Fender Rhodes, Clavinet); Anthony Jackson, Francisco Centeno (bass); John Sussewell (drums); Sammy Figueroa, Errol Bennett (percussion); Ullanda McCullough, Nickolas Ashford, Raymond Simpson (background vocals). Producers: Nicholas Ashford, Valerie Simpson. Recorded at Sigma Sound Studio and Celebration Studio, New York, New York. All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology. Ashford & Simpson wrote and produced almost all of the material for Diana Ross' self-titled debut and third album Surrender, LPs that were almost a decade old by the time the trio reunited for The Boss. The duo and the singer prospered during the time apart. They had proven to be more than adept at disco -- Ross' "Love Hangover" and Ashford & Simpson's "One More Try" coincidentally were on the Billboard disco chart together in 1976 -- so the reunited unit's prospects in 1979 were high. Ross' first solo gold album, The Boss contains some of her most commanding and seductive material. The charging title song was a Top 20 hit, the album's only single to crack the Hot 100, but the dazzling "No One Gets the Prize" and lighter "It's My House" -- both of which also topped the disco chart -- add much depth. Ross' charisma was so powerful during this era that she was able to make lines like "There's my chair/I put it there" not sound ridiculous. "Sparkle," the best of the three ballads, is an original, not a cover of the Curtis Mayfield-written song from the Supremes-inspired film of the same title. ~ Andy Kellman
