All Directions - Plak

ENGLISH

A good three years lie between the by The Temptations groundbreaking album "Cloud Nine" (Gordy GS-939) and what consequentially developed out of it with the telling title "All Directions". The first three numbers are governed by a funky beat in all its various forms. While the live atmosphere of the emphatic group funk in "Funky Music Sho’ Nuff Turns Me On" opens the way to a meatier sound, "Run, Charlie, Run" is a snappy big-band number with harmonically enriched vocal breaks. Strongly rhythmic and melodic, and constructed with just a few repeated melodic elements, the clanging funk of "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" hammers itself into the mind with a vengeance, and recalls the equally black group Kool And the Gang. The Temptations’ balladic style had also changed by this time, the naive sound of the early years being replaced with a more realistic, bittersweet timbre. As a result some songs have a pleasant dreaminess ("The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face") while others have a distinct gospel-like groove ("Mother Nature") with a deliberately toned-down praising of the Lord. Clearly both the music and the programme go in 'all directions'.<br /><br /> Production: Norman Whitfield