Happy 50th Anniversary to The Temptations’ All Directions, originally released July 27, 1972.
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The traumatic and dramatic upheavals in American society during the late 1960s and early 1970s have been written about many times. Countless TV shows, films and history books have been produced over the last 50 years detailing the (ongoing) fight for civil rights, equality and freedom from white supremacy.
Every single part of my understanding of those times is the result of listening to music produced during those tumultuous times. The history I was taught at school in England had no reflection on race, civil rights or global inequality—instead it was endless reruns of Britain’s “glorious” past.
Discovering Motown in my teenage years, I found refuge in The Four Tops and The Temptations, but it could hardly be said that their early and mid-1960s repertoire taught me much about the aforementioned nature of American society. Change though, as Sam Cooke wrote, was coming. When Marvin Gaye’s startlingly brilliant What’s Going On appeared in 1971, it changed the label, the music business and the world. The narrative surrounding the album revolves around Berry Gordy’s reluctance to release something so politically charged into a world where Motown had been focused on dominating pop charts and crossing over to global dominance.
While those things are undoubtedly true, the change in Motown had already started three years earlier from a wholly unexpected direction. The Temptations had racked up hit after hit with their sensational vocal powers, snappily choreographed performances and ballads from the mighty pens of the cream of Motown’s writing stable. But they began the change that Gaye accelerated with such style and substance when they worked with Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1968.
“Cloud 9” became (unbelievably) the first Motown record to win a GRAMMY award and it signaled the beginning of a new reincarnation of the Temptations as societal disruptors and pioneers of a popular strain of expansive soul music. This journey was seemingly instigated by the longest serving member of the band, Otis Williams. According to Williams in his interview with Questlove for his QLS podcast, he hipped Norman Whitfield to the wonders of Sly Stone and returned three weeks later to find the music recorded for the barrier-breaking “Cloud 9.”
By 1972, The Temptations had managed to skillfully balance the expansive sounds that Whitfield conjured alongside the more readily associated balladry that had formed the foundations of their success and longevity. All Directions cemented that formula further but offered one of the greatest songs of all time alongside perhaps their most startlingly open social critique.
Having had the pleasure to write about The Isley Brothers and express disbelief at writing about them in the present tense, the same applies to The Temptations. But given their longevity, it is inevitable that their pathway is littered with personnel changes. By the time All Directions was released, the group was composed of Dennis Edwards, Otis Williams, Damon Harris, Richard Street and Melvin Franklin. The days of David Ruffin, Paul Williams and Eddie Hendricks had gone, ravaged by a combination of addiction, health issues and differing ideas about the band’s direction and monetary disputes.
It would be hard for anyone to top the combination of those voices from what is considered the “classic” lineup, but as All Directions ably demonstrates, it is clearly a group still capable of great vocal power and joyous harmony. But beyond their obvious excellence sit the equally outstanding musicians who made up the legendary Funk Brothers.
In the 2002 documentary about these oft overlooked musical powerhouses Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, Uriel Jones (one of the in-house drumming legends) lamented the urge some people had to explain the hard work and graft put into the Motown recordings as some sort of magic simply excavated from the ground, rather than the result of ferocious human endeavor. That endeavor is more than ably demonstrated here in combination with The Temptations’ vocal abilities, as they create a winning combination that brings to life the songs written by greats of the genre and produced by the supremely confident (or, as Williams put it with Questlove, “cocky”) Norman Whitfield.
The exceptional combination of writer, performers and musicians is evident throughout but a run of three songs typifies the album and those that occurred after that epochal shift with “Cloud 9.” The second track is entitled “Run Charlie Run” and is a blistering attack on white flight. Its opening refrain is as follows: “Run Charlie, run / Look, the n****s are coming / Uh, the n****s is coming?!”
It is practically impossible to imagine any Motown act from its inception singing such a refrain, let alone the swooning romantic balladeers The Temptations. Gaye may have helped persuade Gordy of the need to address the issues at hand, but to address then in such a brutal, head-on way seems incomprehensibly brave and unexpected. Otis Williams on hearing the song for the first time was similarly dumbfounded—“you’ve got to be kidding me” was what he recounted to Questlove et al. He further expounded that at that point, the Temptations under the production of Whitfield were spared being exposed to the Friday afternoon quality control meetings that other acts were subject to at Motown due to their run of success. Gordy was nothing if not a pragmatist.
Nestled in the middle of the three songs is what could lay claim to being one of the greatest songs ever recorded. Originally recorded by The Undisputed Truth and released earlier in 1972, “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” is a staggering achievement that could and should be written about ad infinitum. The brilliant simplicity of the instantly recognizable bassline, the wonder of Edwards’ baritone and the furious guitar of the aptly named Wah Wah Watson and Paul Warren are all key parts. But it seems churlish to separate them from the rest, as it is a perfectly balanced and poised song that sends chills down my spine every time I hear it and here, in its full 12-minute glory, it is beyond magnificent headed toward perfect.
Then the trio is rounded out by a ballad that could have sprung from The Temptations in any of their eras at Motown. Written by the legendary Ashford and Simpson, and first performed by the inimitable Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Harris takes the opportunity to sing lead and grabs it with both hands on “Love Woke Me Up This Morning.”
The rest of the album tips its hat to the influences who drove Whitfield to break Motown conventions. Opener “Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On” (originally recorded by Edwin Starr) is littered with winks and nudges to Sly Stone (after he supposedly nudged at Whitfield with “Hot Fun In The Summertime”) and the final song is a cover of Isaac Hayes’ “Do Your Thing.” Hayes and Whitfield shared a cinematic approach to instrumentation that pushed the boundaries of soul music wider.
The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100 but “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” was a #1 single and GRAMMY-winning song. In fact, it was The Temptations’ final #1 record (of four) and the album was one of the final ones recorded at West Grand Boulevard in Detroit before Motown moved to LA and changed forever.
The societal upheavals of the era were reflected in the upheavals that Motown went through in finally addressing those battles explicitly in its music, as well as in both the personal and professional upheavals within The Temptations due to the departures of those key members of the “classic” lineup. Despite those seismic shifts, the group continued to be successful and All Directions captures a group at the peak of this second phase of their career. It wasn’t long though before The Temptations ditched Whitfield as his music began to take precedence over their vocals. Both parties moved on, but the magic they created together remains a glittering addition to soul music that remains as vital today as it was back in 1972.
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