The Temptations

Capturing live rock or soul performances professionally for commercial release was still more art than science on October 3, 1966, when this album was recorded at the Roostertail in Detroit. Technically, Temptations Live! has its flaws – balance problems and leakages – but the remastering has compensated for these problems extraordinarily well, and the performance always had about as much energy as any other three albums of the same era.

"The Temptin' Temptations" is the 3rd studio album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1965. The album includes several of the group's hits from 1965, and also includes a handful of singles that were not included on the Temptations' first 1965 album, The Temptations Sing Smokey. Among these are the 1964 singles "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)" and "I'll Be in Trouble"; and the 1965 singles "Since I Lost My Baby", and "My Baby". Seven of the album's 12 tracks had previously been released as singles and their B-sides, though "My Baby" preceded the album only by a month.

"Masterpiece" is a 1973 album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, produced and written by Norman Whitfield. The title refers to the album being not the group's intended masterpiece, but Norman Whitfield's. Having already produced songs for the Temptations such as "Smiling Faces Sometimes" and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" which emphasized his instrumental tracks over the group's vocals, Whitfield goes one step further here. Despite the criticism directed towards the LP, "Masterpiece" became a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart, and a #7 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Its follow-up, the "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"-like "Plastic Man", hit #40 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Hey Girl (I Like Your Style)" also became a Top 40 hit in the late summer/early fall of 1973. "Law of the Land" was released as a UK-only single by Tamla Motown, and just missed out on the UK Top 40, peaking at #41 in late 1973.

These two albums are almost perfectly suited to each other, representating the peak of the Temptations' early- to mid-'70s output. "A Song for You" was a rare Berry Gordy co-production (necessitated by Norman Whitfield's departure from the company) Gordy and Jimmy Bowen came up with an album that combined a powerful, funky beat with gorgeous singing (especially by Dennis Edwards) and a range of superb songs. These tapes sound extraordinary on this release, like they're really being heard properly for the first time. "Masterpiece" was precisely that for producer Whitfield, comprised of just six songs, every one of them a winner, including the epic-length title song, possibly the best extended track ever to come out of Motown Records. The two albums fit together almost seamlessly (though one wishes that "Masterpiece"'s tracks were first on the disc), and the only flaw is that there are no expanded notes or album credits.

When The Temptations left Motown in 1977 the group weighed offers from Warner Bros. and Philadelphia International before settling for Atlantic. The album seemed doomed from the start. Temptations lead Dennis Edwards had already left the group and was replaced by Louis Price. This album was released in late 1977 and was a fixture of the cutout bins by the early '80s. Ron Baker, Norman Harris, and Trammps member Earl Young, collectively known as Baker-Harris-Young, produced this album. They were known for their grittier variant of Philly soul/disco but often they play it too safe here. The fact that The Temptations did their vocals in New York rather than Philadelphia does diminish the Philly credentials a bit.

The Temptations Sing Smokey leans heavily on a great soul-music tradition: the practice of Motown artists' covering each other's hits as album tracks. Not that the Temptations' versions of Smokey Robinson-penned Miracles and Mary Wells singles qualify as filler. Hardly, as Eddie Kendricks's falsetto makes a convincing stand-in for Robinson's on remakes of "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "What's So Good About Good Bye."

Part of the new wave of British two-LPs-on-one-CD Motown releases, these two albums, issued almost exactly two and a half years apart, bookend the early-'70s successes of the Temptations.

The Temptations celebrate a milestone on Temptations 60 with a lineup and approach that differentiate the album from 2018's All the Time. Former Az Yet lead vocalist Tony Grant, a tenor, joins Otis Williams, Ron Tyson, Terry Weeks, and Willie Greene, Jr., and instead of covers, the quintet offer up mostly new material. It's an inspired return that sensibly balances the past with the present. A couple songs strongly evoke specific classics without distinguishing themselves, a flirtatious Caribbean number doesn't hold up, and the opener curiously puts the Tempts in a supporting role (for positive rapper K. Sparks). Even so, hearing these five voices together is a treat at all times. The most satisfying results occur when they're assisted by old friend Smokey Robinson (who writes and fronts the soft and warm "Is It Gonna Be Yes or No") and tailored with sure-fire crowd pleasers, such as the one co-written by Williams, Narada Michael Walden, and Preston Glass ("When We Were Kings").