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Meet the Supremes, the group’s debut studio album, was recorded at Hitsville USA in Detroit between October 1960 and September 1962 and released in December 1962. Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Raynoma Liles all produced tracks, and the record moves between pop, rhythm and blues and 1950s doo-wop. Four singles, I Want a Guy, Buttered Popcorn, Your Heart Belongs to Me and Let Me Go the Right Way, failed to make a real chart impact, and the lead vocal was still shared among Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Barbara Martin.

Critics described Ross’s delivery on I Want a Guy as shrill, with the backing vocals buried in the mix, while Your Heart Belongs to Me showed a tender Ross and warmer Wilson and Ballard harmonies. Buttered Popcorn, sung entirely by Ballard, was a raw, innuendo-heavy R&B novelty that reviewers are surprised got past Motown’s quality control. After the 1964 Holland-Dozier-Holland hits, the UK release on Stateside EMI swapped out older tracks for the new chart toppers under the same title, and that version reached No. 13.

• Mary Wilson sings lead on Baby Don’t Go, and Barbara Martin co-leads He’s Seventeen.
• Florence Ballard co-leads Let Me Go the Right Way and carries Buttered Popcorn alone.
• Critics single out Time Changes Things as a precursor to the later Holland-Dozier-Holland style.
• The reworked UK edition of late 1964 spent six weeks in the UK Top 20.
• A 2010 expanded CD gathered outtakes, live recordings and both the mono and stereo mixes.