Cloud Nine The Temptations Artist

Best known for their silky {|soul|} vocals and smooth-stepping routines, {|the Temptations|} were firmly entrenched as the undisputed kings of {|Barry Gordy|}'s {|Motown|} stable when cutting-edge producer {|Norman Whitfield|} walked into the studio ... Read more

Best known for their silky {|soul|} vocals and smooth-stepping routines, {|the Temptations|} were firmly entrenched as the undisputed kings of {|Barry Gordy|}'s {|Motown|} stable when cutting-edge producer {|Norman Whitfield|} walked into the studio and announced that it was time to shake things up. The resulting freakout became the first half of the stellar {|Cloud Nine|}, an album that would become one of the defining early {|funk|} sets, with songs that not only took {|Motown|} in a new direction, but helped to shape a genre as well. On one side and across three jams, {|Whitfield|} and {|the Temptations|} would give '70s-era {|funk|} musicians a broad palette from which to draw inspiration. The title track, with its funky {|soul|} bordering on {|psychedelic|} frenzy, was an audacious album opener, and surely gave older fans a moment's pause. Only two more songs rounded out side one: an incredibly fresh take on {|I Heard It Through the Grapevine,|} which jazzed up the vocals, brought compelling percussion to the fore, and relegated the piano well into the wings, and {|Run Away Child, Running Wild,|} an extravagant nine-minute groove where the sonics easily surpassed the vocals. After shaking up the record-buying public with these three masterpieces, {|the Temptations|} brought things back to form for side two. Here, their gorgeous vocals dominated slick arrangements across seven tracks which included {|Hey Girl|} and the masterful {|I Need Your Lovin'.|} {|Funk|} continued to percolate -- albeit subtly -- but compared to side one, it was {|Temptations|} business as usual. It was this return to the classic sound, however, which ultimately gave {|Cloud Nine|} its odd dynamic. The dichotomy of form between old and new between sides doesn't allow for a continuous gel. But the brash experimentation away from traditional {|Motown|} on the three seminal tracks which open the disc shattered the doorway between past and present as surely as the decade itself imploded and smooth {|soul|} gave way to blistering {|funk|}. ~ Amy Hanson Less