Ross

by William RuhlmannA noble, if failed, experiment. Diana Ross teamed up with Steely Dan producer Gary Katz for this, her third outing on RCA. Katz brought in the usual suspects, not only buddies like Michael McDonald and Donald Fagen (each of whom contributed a song and keyboards), but also session aces like Jeff Porcaro and Greg Phillinganes. The result, on the five tracks Katz handled, has that precise, icy sound those guys always get, not a sound that meshes well with Ross. No better are the two tracks contributed by Ray Parker, Jr., or Ross' own effort, "Girls," which closes things out. As a result, Ross was Diana Ross' first album since 1978 not to even go gold. (Not to be confused with Diana Ross' 1978 album [Motown 907] of the same name.)