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70ts Soul, R'n'B, Funk, Jazz Fusion
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters
"…You Make Your Own Heaven And Hell Right Here On Earth…"
Eagle-eyed collectors will notice two things about this stunning "Motown Funk Essentials" release by THE TEMPTATIONS covering the NORMAN WHITFIELD and BARRETT STRONG years...
First there are two Previously Unreleased versions of killer tracks "Psychedelic Shack" and "Ball Of Confusion..." (7 and 13 on Disc 1) - but better still is that all of the songs across the 2CDs are the 'full album versions' in Stereo instead of the usual Mono Single Mixes and Edits we commonly get on other compilations. Throw in stunning new SUHA GUR remasters from original master tapes of music most fans adore - and you're on a double-disc winner. Here are the details from Cloud Nine...
US released June 2003 - the 2CD set "Psychedelic Soul" by THE TEMPTATIONS on Motown Chronicles B0000582-02 (Barcode 044003865327) is part of their 'Motown Funk Essentials' Series and breaks down as follows:
Disc 1 (71:29 minutes):
1. Cloud Nine (3:31 minutes)
2. Runaway Child, Running Wild (9:21 minutes)
Tracks 1 and 2 are from the album "Cloud Nine" released February 1969 in the USA on Gordy GS939 and September 1969 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11109
3. Don't Let The Jones Get You Down (4:42 minutes)
4. I Can't Get Next To You (2:52 minutes)
5. Message From A Black Man (6:03 minutes)
6. Slave (7:31 minutes)
Tracks 3 to 6 are from the album "Puzzle People" released September 1969 in the USA on Gordy GS949 and February 1970 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11133
7. Psychedelic Shack (6:19 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED EXTENDED VERSION
8. You Make Your Own Heaven And Hell Right Here On Earth (2:45 minutes)
9. Hum Along And Dance (3:51 minutes)
10. Take A Stroll Through Your Mind (8:33 minutes)
11. War (3:12 minutes)
12. Friendship Train (7:55 minutes)
Tracks 8 to 12 are from the album "Psychedelic Shack" released March 1970 in the USA on Gordy GS947 and June 1970 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11147
13. Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World is Today) (4:08 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED ALTERNATE MIX
Disc 2 (78:08 minutes):
1. Smiling Faces Sometimes (12:40 minutes)
2. Ungena Za Ulimengu (Unite The World) (4:28 minutes)
3. Love Can Be Anything (Can't Nothing Be Love But Love) (9:20 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 3 are from the album "Sky's The Limit" released April 1971 in the USA on Gordy GS957 and August 1971 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11184
4. Take A Look Around (3:09 minutes)
5. Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are) (2:54 minutes)
Tracks 4 and 5 are from the album "Solid Rock" released January 1972 in the USA on Gordy G-961L and April 1972 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11202
6. Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On (3:10 minutes)
7. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone (12:01 minutes)
Tracks 6 and 7 are from the album "All Directions" released July 1972 in the USA on Gordy G-962L and February 1973 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11218
8. Plastic Man (5:57 minutes)
9. Masterpiece (13:49 minutes)
Tracks 8 and 9 are from the album "Masterpiece" released February 1973 in the USA on Gordy G-965L and June 1973 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11229
10. Ain't No Justice (6:05 minutes)
11. 1999 (4:04 minutes)
Tracks 10 and 11 are from the album "1990" released December 1973 in the USA on Gordy G-966V1 and January 1974 in the UK on Tamla Motown STMA 8016
The 12-page booklet has an essay called "Psychedelic Soul Power" by Leonard Pitts, Jr on the Norman Whitfield Productions between 1968 and 1973 when his leadership and songwriting partnership with Barrett Strong saw The Tempts react to the America they were living in. Battered by the loss of both Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X - and with US troops (black and white) dying in their droves in a pointless 'Red' war 6000 miles away and American cities stricken by poverty and racism - Motown's production line of boy/girl songs needed to address the real world - and beginning with the stunning "Cloud Nine" album - The Temptations took it to the world (and were glad to).
Right from the get go - the SUHA GUR remasters blow you away. If I compare the single mix of "Runaway Child, Running Wild" on "The Complete Motown Singles Volume 9: 1969" which weighs in at just under five minutes (released in January 1969 a month before the album - it was a US R&B No.1) - to hear it allowed to stretch out to its full nine-minute album wallop is such a blast - an entirely different beast. "I want my mama!" the inner city child cries just before it goes into a sensational Funk Brothers groove that lasts the final three minutes. The same of course applies to the monster "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" (even though it probably overstays its welcome at twelve minutes). And how good is to hear the seven and half minutes of "Message From A Black Man" from "Puzzle People". The bass and brass of "Friendship Train" sound huge - the group and the musicians laying into a rhythm and a set of lyrics they 'know' matters. And I always thought the simple funkiness of "Hum And Dance Along" is a genuine masterpiece often passed over for more famous tunes (they used it as a Stateside B-side to "Ungena Za Ulimengu (Unite The World)" on Gordy 7102 in 1970).
Disc 2 provides more album Funkathons like their 13-minute radical rework of "Smiling Faces Sometimes" (which became a huge hit for The Undisputed Truth) and the near sidelong "Masterpiece" has that genius bass backdrop (like "Papa") that just builds and builds and the guitars and strings battle it out against a backdrop of words about "...thousands of lives wasting away...people living from day to day..." "Masterpiece" is exactly what it is. It's a shame they didn't slap on "Law Of The Land" but again you do get the underrated "Ain't No Justice". The two Previously Unreleased versions see alternate vocals along with different guitar and keyboard funk in "Psychedelic Shack" with radically alternate vocals on "Ball Of Confusion" - personally I love them both to pieces (anything new from this period blows my tiny Dubliner's mind).
You can't help but think that Hip-O Select should just do a Temptations Box Set for the Whitfield years and be done with it (and one for The Undisputed Truth for that matter too) - but that's somewhere hopefully in the future. In the meantime - get this fantastic slice of Funk and Social consciousness into your life as soon as your bad self will allow. For once the word "essential" doesn't do the genius on display here enough justice...
