Disco de The Temptations: “Psychedelic Soul [UK]”

....funky stuff with a social conscious.

By now nearly everybody knows the legend of how when top vocalist David Ruffin left the Temptations, it was suggested by Otis Williams that producer Norman Whitfield take a listen to Height-Ashbury pop funksters Sly and the Family Stone to get the group goin' in a new direction. That resulted in the fantastic "Cloud Nine". Whitfield and the group and Motowns stable of arrangers (most notably Riser's orchestrations, Dennis Coffey's spacely wah-wah's) and usual suspects (the Funk Brothers) must have known they were doing something which would start a musical revolution. Yeah. Some of the best years ever in R and B music.

Get it, put it in your player and let it ride. If you ain't diggin' on the recently remastered cuts by Suha Gur, then you must require your Soul overhauled. I particularly like the subtle changes on "Ball of Confusion" Gur did in May 2003.

And this compilation just proves the point on what I have been ranting about for years. Whoever makes those types of decions at Motown should decide to remaster a lot of the original albums, in the order they were first produced. Who wouldn't snap up the album "Sky's The Limit" with it's original cover, song sequence and modern-day remastering? I know I would.

This superb collection puts together some of the greatest psychedelic soul records ever made. Norman Whitfield was a genius and this record is a proof of his amazing talent as a record producer and songwriter. Wonderful vocal performances by The Temptations, great musical arrangements by Paul Riser and some of the best grooves cooked by The Funk Brothers are here, making this compilation a must buy for Funk and Soul fans everywhere.

This 2 CD set focuses on the Temptations' psychedelic period and features new, unreleased extended versions of "Ball Of Confusion" and "Psychedelic Shack". For the die-hard Temptation fan, there is really nothing new here other than the extended cuts. The rest are songs you probably already own, as most of them are on the box set Emperors of Soul. But for the newbie who doesn't own a lot of Temptations music, this is like finding gold. These CDs have the major psychedelic funk and soul hits and popular album selections that the group made with Norman Whitfield producing after Dennis Edwards joined them. From "Cloud Nine" to "1990", you will see why Norman Whitfield was considered to be a musical genius, and how truly talented and vocally gifted the Temptations were. My favorites: "You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here On Earth", "Take A Stroll Through Your Mind" and "Message From a Black Man". Powerful stuff!!

Ok, so its not the Temptations you remember...this isn't for fans of the "Big Chill". Nobody will argue that this isn't the prime Temps, however this is a very interesting period for the Temps and motown...a period of transition. This reissue has all songs that are available on other CD's (with a few exceptions). Do you need the long versions of these tripped out tunes? Of course you do! The title is Psychedelic Soul, and thats what you get...with great sound. This double disc set can get a bit much at times...thats when you turn off the detroit "head" music and put on something else. Fans of The Funk Brothers, jump on this set, you'll love it.

The first review is brilliant. Saying everything I WANTED TO SAY about the genius of Norman Whitfield. But the only benefit I got from buying this set was it enabled me to hear the long versions of Temptation songs truncated on their double LP series - issued sometime in the last century. I especially wanted to hear their version of "Ball of Confusion" - which came as a big disappointment as compared to Brenda Evan's contribution to the masterpiece he cut with the "Undisputed Truth" on their first album. "It's such a cold cold world ... ".

But I've never played these 2 CD's more than once. Two reasons ..

1) Because they run in the order they originally appeared on LP's the sequencing will never be pleasant as a repeated "listening experience"

2)The great sound on the 4 LP's I do own has been given extra bass in these digital versions. I happen to LOVE the long instrumental introductions to "Papa" and "Masterpiece" on LP - but found myself wishing they would get it over. That can only be because these transfers of the Funk Brother backings are metallic and harsh.

I still don't understand why when I convert my "Undisputed Truth" LP's to disc, using a standard JVC unit the sound is mellow and smooth but the engineers at Universal have to give you THEIR VERSION of original records.

I've thought of writing to MCA asking for the 4 first great "Truth" LP's to be issued on CD. Now I know they would only be a letdown. Ever since I bought it at Pasadena's flea market I consider '"Face to Face" the greatest of all Whitfield's albums - especially for the long tracks. "What's Going On" almost hypnotic. Wasn't Marvin Gaye the main beneficiary of Norman Whitfield's early experiments with strings? No wonder Berry Gordy didn't like it. Or thank both of them sufficiently for helping to forestall Motown's eventual decline after the move to California.

Nevertheless I live in hope they'll issue 2 CD's of Norman Whitfield'd Greatest Hits. The #1 being Marvin's "I heard it Through the Grapevine".