This is one of the greatest televised musical performances EVER

"Be My Baby" and "Then He Kissed Me" were both better.

Well, I'll respectfully disagree on that, R1, though those are both great productions as well, of course.

All that said, I defy anyone to find a better LIVE representation of that 'wall of sound' power. It's the closest I've heard anyone come in a live setting.

Letterman's musical numbers were the top of the talent heap, even if they weren't at the top of the charts. He showcased the best, and got off on having talented performers of all types on his stage. This is something that Leno always lacked. Here, Darlene Love blows the roof off the joint, which is something that happened often on Letterman's show.

This number was also recreated really well in the bio-pic "What's Love Got to do With It".

Darlene Love was bitter for many, many years that she wasn't given River Deep, Mountain High but it instead went to Tina Turner. She even trashed it in her book. She must have gotten over it because this is an amazing performance.

Thanks for the tip, R3! I never saw Whats Love Got to do With It. When you say it was recreated, do you mean visually? Kind of assumed they were all lipsyncing/miming to original recordings, or did Angela Basset & crew perform a new live version of the song?

R4 - didn't know that. Should look for her book. Really enjoyed learning about her story in 20 Feet from Stardom. I think Spector made the right choice with Tina. Darlene has the more powerful and technically impressive voice, but I don't think Darlene could have equaled the rawness of Tina's recorded performance -- especially at that time.

That said, as great a performer as Tina was, she never could have equaled the sheer force and power of Darlene's live performance of the song either. This split seems like the best compromise.

[quote]When you say it was recreated, do you mean visually?

Yes. It's Tina singing, but what I'm referring to is cinematically speaking. If I remember properly, it's been quite some years since I've seen it, the recording session is recreated and we see Ike realizing that, with Tina recording this single against his orders, that he's lost control of Tina at that point. It's a powerful scene in the film.

Darlene Love is one of the great treasures of the music industry.

Sounds cool, R7. And a perfect song to showcase such a moment, too.

This NY Times Talk conversation with Darlene (and Merry Clayton and Lisa Fischer) is just pure JOY. I wish the full conversation was on YT.

The acoustics in the Ed Sullivan Theatre is amazing. Letterman enjoyed musicians and good recording artists The great Foo Fighters were his favorite band. It showed because everyone put on the "A game" when they appeared . Paul Shaffer deserves a lot of credit too for his arrangements of the performers.

On the other hand The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Musical guests took a back seat when they appeared. Who even knew if Leno had an interest in Music. Bad staging horrible lighting and awful sound came off that set in Burbank .Leno's musical director Kevin Eubanks was a session musician and he got lost in the background with whoever performed on that show. I can't remember one memorable musical act on Leno's run on that show.

I liked Tina better

This is a joyous performance by Darlene. The backup singers included Betty Buckley and the late Pattie Darcey (who was found dead at her home a couple of months after this performance). The staging and sound are awesome. The violinists are hammering those violins and having a ball. Watch the blond violinist behind Darlene. She is having a great time. As far as Tina vs Darlene on this song, since I like them both very much, it's a draw to me. Different styles; both sensational.

[quote]The backup singers included Betty Buckley

I don't think so.

R13 - thanks for that. Was wondering who that backup singer was. She was so into it. Reading her Wiki now, it looks like she and Darlene were on Broadway together in Leader of the Pack a jukebox musical bio about songwriter Ellie Greenwich. That must've been a fun show - musically, at least. Dramatically, perhaps less so. If Wiki is correct, Ellie Greenwich played herself in the show (oh lord). Interestingly, it looks like Darlene sang River Deep, Mountain High in this show, so looks like she'd made peace with it by the 80s.

There are TWO Betty Buckleys singing backup. TWO OF THEM!

Wait. The Broadway Betty Buckley? That can't... be right?

That was AMAZING, OP! Thanks!

Is that really Betty Buckley on the left?

Paul Shaffer was a genius chameleon of a performer. There's no genre he couldn't play/recreate.

You know, there's a time and a place for subtlety, but this isn't it.

SHOUT IT, DARLENE, GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU GOT!!!