Disc of the day
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
Features Disc of the day
The Temptations
Sky’s The Limit
(Motown, 1971)
When the late Norman Whitfield found a way to play all the great quintet’s aces.
Briefly, and broadly speaking, The Temptations’ first wave of hits were written and produced by Smokey Robinson. When that began to wane, Norman Whitfield, a self-confident and enthusiastic emerging writer-producer who’d charted with The Marvelettes and The Velvelettes, and would write the eternal I Heard It Through The Grapevine, took over. His main thrust would become a reliance on the tougher tenors of David Ruffin and, when Ruffin quit in 1968, Dennis Edwards. But he had just as great an understanding of the exquisite high reach of Eddie Kendricks, who leads the two opening tracks here (Gonna Keep On Tryin’ Till I Win Your Love, Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)), and the tonal chemistry of the group, who share third song I’m The Exception To The Rule. He also lets Edwards gloriously loose, at first in short bursts on Imagination and Rule. Of course, Whitfield became notorious with his Tempts and Undisputed Truth productions for long, organically growing and mighty arrangements. In this album’s Smiling Faces Sometimes he created the best ever – better than anything Isaac Hayes or any of the other “symphonic soul” creators achieved. For that, the arranger and conductor David van de Pitte shares immense credit. There is enough detail in the orchestration, vocal lead (again mostly Kendricks) and harmonies to base a thesis on and even after 37 years the lyric – warning against liars and deceivers and ending in crazed laughter at “the impossible task, is to figure out which of the smiles is a mask” – rings resoundingly true. Thereafter, Whitfield, and co-writer on all tracks Barrett Strong never lower their sights. Man is a rumination on the human condition to a tick-tock rhythm and then Edwards is finally unleashed on the closing two tracks – a shout for human togetherness, Ugena Za Ulimwengu (Unite The World), set to a joyful, virile soul march, and final track Love Can Be Anything (Can’t Nothing Be Love But Love), which gets a touch overcrowded as Edwards, Kendricks and bass voice Melvin Franklin all crowd to the front, hemmed in by the rhythm and brass sections. Soon after Sky’s The Limit’s release, Kendricks quit to go solo and Paul Williams’ drinking got him sacked as the original line-up completely fractured. In 1973, Whitfield produced another Tempts album and called it Masterpiece. In fact, he’d already made it.
Geoff Brown
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 22/09/2008
Further Listening
The Temptations – Psychedelic Shack/All Directions (Motown twofer, 2000)
Rose Royce – Rose Royce II In Full Bloom by (Whitfield, 1977)
Previous Disc of the day
-
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
6:00 AM GMT 18/03/2010
-
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River
Essence De Choogle from John Fogerty and crew. Badass!
9:54 AM GMT 17/03/2010
-
The The - Soul Mining
Matt Johnson's self-excoriating - but tunepacked! -classic.
6:00 AM GMT 16/03/2010
-
-
Various Artists - Axe Attack Vol II
Metal Britannica inspires MOJO metal amnesty. Studded leather wristbands aloft!
2:32 AM GMT 12/03/2010
-
The Pop Group - Y
For connoisseurs of pop-as-rupture-in-the-space/time-continuum
6:00 AM GMT 11/03/2010
end of body content back to top
Footer
Join us on:
© Copyright Bauer - all
rights reserved.
Reproduction of this
website, in whole or in
part, in any form or
medium without express
written permission from
Bauer is prohibited. All
use is subject to our
Terms of Use
|
|
Comments
Comment on this post
Comment on this post