1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 141. The Temptations – Cloud Nine (1969)

Time for a bit of Motown soul now, with what is the ninth studio album for The Temptations. This is apparently a bit of a departure for them sound-wise, heading into more funky territory on the advice of their producer Norman Whitfield, despite lead singer Otis Williams’ doubts on the matter.

To some extent, perhaps Williams was right. The funkier tracks, mostly front-loaded on the album, like Cloud Nine or the extended jam Runaway Child, Running Wild, sound much more of a time (to me, early Seventies) with their wicky-wocky wah-wah guitars and congo beats, compared to the later tracks on the album like the Goffin/King Hey Girl or Don't Let Him Take Your Love From Me. These sound a lot more like “classic” soul. On the other hand, it’s the earlier tracks that to me are more interesting entirely because of that funk (and Runaway Child has, I assume Williams, doing some great vocal work by mimicking the wailing of a child, something that Ceelo Greene will come to later on).

I have to admit that I get my Motown groups mixed up a lot, and so I couldn’t tell you if the great mix of vocal ranges, from deep bass to high treble, all interweaving, is specific to The Temptations or if it’s more of an element of the overall style. But it’s good, gives the songs  a great dynamic interplay as the different voices and the instruments weave in and out of each other and play off each other’s phrases.