I had a bit of a Motown weekend, here in Plastic Mansions, or more precisely, a Motown lads weekend, with the Four Tops, the Contours, Marvin, Smokey, Junior Walker and a host of others including, of course, The Temptations. After listening to a load of tracks I had to top it off with a viewing of The Temps' 'Get Ready' DVD, a collection of their TV performances of their greatest hits. It features the classic line-up with David Ruffin and then the metamorphosis into pyschedelic soul and radical sounds when Dennis Edwards was brought on board. And they all sang lead at different times, either whole songs or those tracks when they swapped the vocal around the whole group with each of them taking different lines. One of my favourite Temps songs is 'Just My Imagination' which was one of Eddie Kendricks' final songs with them.Presentation was married to their vocal powers, looking good and having dance routines to liven up their stage presence and make it a more complete experience. The coolest group around and just look at those moves, with Ruffin dropping to his knees in 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg' while the others moved around him. A lot of this was down to Paul Williams who also took lead vocals with his rich voice. And Melvin with his cheeky bass and Otis, the 'glue' in the centre. Every group has a history, disagreements and fights but I'm not interested in that - The Temps were close to perfect and that's all that matters.
So, all you hippity-hoppity wrapper type lads with your jeans falling down and hands never far from your crotch, take a look at The Temptations to see the real meaning of cool and wallow in those glorious voices.
Chickaboom, y'all!
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