Cloud nine temptations update#
Cloud nine temptations full#

Paul Williams is given two solo numbers, 'Hey Girl' and 'Don't Let Him Take Your Love From Me', re-recorded as an upbeat single for The Four Tops the same year. Edwards, Kendricks, and Melvin Franklin share the lead on 'Love is a Hurtin' Thing', while 'I Gotta Find a Way (To Get You Back)' is a showcase for Edwards alone. 'Why Did She Have to Leave Me (Why Did She Have to Go)' features Dennis Edwards delivering a Ruffinesque lead on a slow ballad, and the Eddie Kendricks-led 'I Need Your Lovin'' also finds the group in familiar surroundings. The rest of the Cloud Nine album is made up of more standard Temptations fare, most of which is relegated to the flip side of the LP. Earl Van Dyke, who performs the prominent organ solo during the instrumental section of the record, recorded his own instrumental version of 'Run Away Child, Running Wild', which was released as a single the same year. 'Run Away Child' was a number-one hit on the US R&B singles chart, and, like 'Cloud Nine', a number six hit on the US pop chart. Future Temptations songs produced by Norman Whitfield, such as ' Hum Along and Dance', ' Smiling Faces Sometimes', and ' Papa Was a Rollin' Stone', would further emphasize extended instrumental passages, often allowing said passages to overshadow the songs' vocals and as a result, The Temptations had him replaced by Jeffrey Bowen after the 1990 album. Halfway through its running time, 'Run Away Child' segues into an instrumental jam session (the single mix only includes the vocal half of the song). The album's second single, ' Run Away Child, Running Wild', delved further into unusual territory for the Temptations, turning a story about a lost runaway into a nine-minute epic of doo-wop vocals, droning organ lines, and hard-hitting drums similar to those typically heard in Sly & the Family Stone and James Brown records. 'Cloud Nine' was a number six hit on the US pop singles chart, and a number two hit on the US R&B singles chart, and won Motown Records its first Grammy Award, for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental. The song seems to suggest that the best way for someone to deal with the problems that come with being poor and black in America was to 'ride high on 'cloud nine''.

Although Otis Williams denies the connection, 'Cloud Nine's' lyrics have frequently been cited as empathizing with drug use. Regardless of his original opinion of Sly Stone's work, by the fall of 1968, Whitfield had the Temptations recording ' Cloud Nine', which featured all five members (Otis Williams, the newly drafted Dennis Edwards, and founding members Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, and Melvin Franklin) trading lead vocals over a Family Stone-like instrumental track. 'Man, I don't want to be bothered with that shit,' remarked Whitfield, who regarded the Family Stone sound as a 'passing fancy'.

Cloud nine temptations update#

The Temptations had been successful with romantic ballads such as ' My Girl' and mid-tempo numbers such as ' (I Know) I'm Losing You', but Williams, taking Gamble's advice, felt that it was time to update the group's sound. While Williams, Whitfield, and Williams' then-wife Ann Cain were standing outside of the Casino Royale nightclub in Motown's home city of Detroit during the summer of 1968, Williams suggested that Whitfield might try to produce something like Sly & the Family Stone's ' Dance to the Music' for their next single. Gamble agreed with Williams that Sly Stone's funkier production style and multi-lead vocals was here to stay and that it was time to learn to adapt to it. Williams had been discussing Sly & the Family Stone's music, and the changes it brought to the soul music industry, with his friend, producer Kenneth Gamble.

Norman Whitfield took the Temptations into psychedelic territory after a suggestion from the group's de facto leader, Otis Williams. It earned the group their first Grammy Award in 1969. The change in style polarized longtime fans but proved highly successful, with the album rising to number four on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart. It also marked the beginning of the Temptations' delve into psychedelic soul under the ambitious direction of producer Norman Whitfield.

Cloud nine temptations full#

It is the first full Temptations studio LP to feature Dennis Edwards as the replacement for David Ruffin, who was fired in June 1968. The album marked a major turning point in the group's career.

Cloud Nine is the ninth studio album by American musical group The Temptations for the Gordy ( Motown) label released in 1969.