Search - Temptations :: All Directions & Psychedelic Shack

Really tight set

mistermaxxx@yahoo.com | usa | 04/26/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"this is a solid Combination of Albums.the Temptations like Marvin,Stevie,Smokey,Diana,Jackson 5,etc... moved into the 70's with a whole different outlook than what Motown was putting down in the 60's.Norman Whitfield&the Temps went for a Hybrid Sound of Sly&The Family Stone,Hendrix,P-Funk among others to capture there Flower Vibe on these Sets.everybody knows the Hits but the Albums themselves hold up really well.the arrangements&the Vocals are top notch from start to finish."

More from the Norman Whitfield masterclass

Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 03/27/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Psychedelic Shack came out in June 1970 featuring the psychobabblic Take A Stroll Through Your Mind, as well as War (the original version) and Friendship Train, which Norman Whitfield also produced on hits for Edwin Starr (1970) and Gladys Knight (1969). This new direction was all too much for original lead singer Eddie Kendricks who was shortly to leave the band. One of the songs, It's Summer, appeared as a single in newly re-recorded form a year later.



The sound that Whitfield got from the phenomenal but uncredited session players had become honed and refined to an effortless-sounding and staggering efficiency.



All Directions came 3 albums later (after Sky's the Limit and Solid Rock) in 1972 and was well named since it veered between Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On and Ewan MacColl's First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. At its heart lay an astounding 12-minute masterpiece, Papa Was A Rollin' Stone, which began with a bravura instrumental overture which stripped away the instrumentation bit by bit in a way that almost prefigured dub reggae as it used the sonic palette in a manner that only the latest technology could have enabled."