I was listening to my man Eddie Kendricks when I thought about this. Even if there's been an appreciation thread, they're worthy of another one. Doesn't matter which incarnation of the group you enjoyed most, they've had some hits over the years.

Do you realize--and I thought about this before but the thought came to me again when I was looking at the insert for "The Temptations 'One by One'--that the only original member left is Otis Williams? (2nd from top counter clockwise.)Talk about gone too soon.

This group had two of the greatest voices in popular music history. They made timeless tunes, changed the tenor and tone of their music with the times, and are all-time greats.

I loved the NBC movie, although it clearly makes out Otis to be the hero of the story. Even in the most favorable light, he comes off like a control freak.

Their debut album 'Meet The Temptations' (1964) is a classic! I love these songs...

"Farewell My Love"
"Slow Down Heart"
"Check Yourself"


If you ever come across this CD,buy it!

Please dont forget Mr Norman Whitfield, the man wgo made the Temptations funky.
And dont forget the Funk Brothers who gave the Tempts their music.

I love the original Tempting Temptations and all the incarnations of them since the beginning. Their last two albums are the bomb.

DavidEye said:

ok i'm a long-time tempts fan...i go back from the beginning...i dedicate this to great Tempts who went on to the next world...

paul williams...what a showman...the original lead singer
and a great dancer...my fave paul best vocals: I WANT A LOVE I CAN SEE...SLOW DOWN HEART (GREAT PICK d-eye) DON'T LOOK BACK..oh mother OF mine.
CHECK YOURSELF...

eddie kendricks...eddie's smotth tenor was/is an influence
on me...what a voice...here's my fave eddie classics:

the way you do the things you do...paradise (what a cool scene in the tempts tv movie) the girl's alright with me..
just my imagination...please return your love to me...
you've got to earn it..born to love you...what love has gone together...

david ruffin...so great so tortured...loved david's facial
expressions...his splits...ruffin's classics...

i'm losing you ...my girl...i could never love another..
ain't too proud to beg...since i've lost my baby (oh man..what smooth classic) its growing...

melvin franklin (david english) the bassofundo...the deepest bass..melvin was "blue"...every tempts song when melvin was on -was special cuz of him... i miss him...
a superb dancer...he was always on one end dancing and paul on the other...the best two dancers (with ruffin) in the group..."old man river...i truly do believe...just 2 of his great leads...

and to dennis edwards -he's still shouting and testifying.
richard street...rich was a fave of mine in the after paul williams era (he was in the DISTANTS and actually got shafted in the TV movie...he did the "come on' lead not
the el bryant character...and they didn't do much with his
character. rich's great leads:heavenly,hey girl...law of the land...(love his lines in MASTERPIECE)

damon harris-eddie's replacement...loved him. sounded like
eddie.

ali-woodson...a great gospel singer in david's mold.
and OTIS WiLLAIMS...still leading the a new era of TEMPTS.

otis was and is a fine tenor: i ain't got nothin' is a great otis showcase...
his background vocals were always first class...

TEMpts forever!!!

best SCENE in the tempts movie when LEOn did SHOUT at the
new year's party.

Have any of you guys got their 5-CD box set 'Emperors Of Soul'? I've been thinking about getting it.Give me your views...

UptownDeb said:

u-deb what a great pic...eddie's as cool as he wanna
be...man...what a group.

deb get the BOX set...its a classic.

Now i like openin doors
pickin up the hankey off the floor
treat her like a lady
(treat her like a lad..)
Light the cigarette if she smikes even
(help her with her coat)
help her out
trat her like a lady
(treat her like a laddyyy)


the first song that had ever got me in2 them and still is fresh 2 me till this day.

I cant believe a thread with such a powerhouse group got only this many threads.

youngca said:

Eddie shoulda been my baby daddy.
And yes, I have the box set. The Temptations One by One is cool too. I bought it specifically for all the Eddie Kendricks cuts, but it also includes David Ruffin, Paul Williams, and Dennis Edwards.

Okay, they're lookin' like pimps here...even Dennis is in the mix!

paisleypark4 said:

I never knew what they were saying on this part of the song!!! Thanks, PP4!!

UptownDeb said:

hey deb...did you know that dennis edwards went with aretha
franklin for a while? and almost married her?
dennis blew it cuz he was a playboy!!!

also otis said in this one book that he fined dennis more than he did anybody including ruffin!

youngca said:

Oh, snap! I didn't know that! Maybe "Respect", and "Do Right Man" were about him. I've always thought ladies loved David Ruffin.

UptownDeb said:

i lost some respect for David Ruffin when it was found that He used to beat on Tammi Terrell and it was rumored that those said beatings contributed to her Brain tumor cus she used to get beat upside the head. and when Marvin saved her from that,Tammi was getting sick

UptownDeb said:

Deb...the song that was kinda about him was this classic:
Daydreaming,i was thinking of you...

ruffin was flawed. crazy as crazy gets!!!

oh yeah mary wilson had a serious crush on eddie!

youngca said:

What about Natalie Cole? LOL homegirl Nat was a groupie back in the day(no disrespect intended tho lol) but she was really a groupie.

She was hitting it off with Dave, then Marvin Gaye. After she got sick, she married Rufus' drummer Mr.Andre Fisher.

I'm not sure about the David Ruffin thang since I only read it from a newsletter but I'm sure about Marvin Gaye, she spoke about it in her book!

youngca said:

Maybe I shouldn't judge a singer by the songs she sings, but Aretha strikes me as a sister who's had mad issues with men.

As for Mary Wilson's crush... She's lucky I wasn't of age back then. I would've gone (jerry) Springer on her ass.

Harlepolis said:

Oh, snap! I didn't know that about Natalie! I thought she was a "Sophisticated Lady."

UptownDeb said:

deb...aretha does have issues with men! glynn turman...was her man for a while...and she had 2 kids as a teen!!!
natalie? hmmm that's a good one harley!

ruffin was real NUTS. he did use tammi terrell as a punching bag as did JAMES brown in the early 60's.
tammi was cute and sexy but got dogged by men big time.

a cool story on eddie was in darlene love's book.
eddied tried to make the moves on her...its wa sfunny. darlene didn't bite...(bill medley of the righteous brothers
did have a long relationship ith her!!!)

oh yeah diana ross was messing with SMokey behind CLAudette's around the 62-63? period i think. according to mary wilson's book dreamgirls..

otis was with patti labelle for a while. now that was a
surprise! its in o's book that the TV movie was based on!

oh yeah...one funny thang. anybody who saw the tempts tv
movie...give me your best scenes...

here's one...leon's ruffin's performing tempts songs just before otis and melvin come to tell him he has to shape up!!

heres a classic line: "the tempts without david ruffin
are a group in search of...(i'm paraphrasing but you all know this one!!!

youngca said:

Wow! Now, there's some old school dirt, right there! Talk about "Who's Zoomin' Who?"

What's with Ruffin and Brown mistreating the ladies? Were they in competition with Ike Turner!?

Juicy stuff, youngca!

The Temptations grew with Motown and I love every song. Pick a version of the band line-up at anytime, the Temptations were great performers.

The Temptations...


(......

...Wow...

......

...wow...

......

...what?...!...

......

...what a great thread...Wow!...)


Hi, Deb


Good morning everyone...

SHANNA said:

Hey, mama! Good morning to you too!

UptownDeb said:

This is the greatest incarnation of the Temps wow, the music they created here with the arrival of Dennis Edwards, without doubt there greatest lead vocalist was simply breathtaking...raised their game another notch.

UptownDeb said:

deb...ike was all the way CRAZY!!! seriously i read a lot of the music bios and books a lot...and i check this shit
out cuz in a lot of the books the same stories are told...
(especially in the r& b books)

this stuff makes me crack up.
ok deb ...here's more: james is messed up. he's a Meglomaniac with the guys in his band and the girls.
witness this one. "Jb once beat up singer MARVA whitney cuz
he thought she tired to out perform him on a show!
(and he went with her too)

ruffin was just tortured. they said david was only alive on stage. away he was miserable.

etta james has a story in her book is too crazy...well one
has to do with...johnny guitar watson.

she said johnny was 'built bad!" he was a close friend of hers.

ok here's one that will kill you.

bo diddley,and some other r 7 b stars from the 50's-60
all in a car trying to get to a gig back when groups didn't
fly airplanes ands drove to each show.

this one is probably in BO's book.

ray charles tells the driver to stop the car. and let him
drive!!! straight up y'all...get this one...

bo said he nearly had a stroke...here's ray charles (blind a
he wanna be) behind the wheel driving and he tells this
guy next to him: "tap me on da shoulder so many times when
i should make a left turn and so many times when i have to
make a right!!!'

i'm paraphrasing this but this appears to be true,

bo said he wanted to leap out of the car...ray was driving crazy...welll...you know this one is funny as hell!

i read someplace stevie does this too. he will drive too.

these are crazy ones...there's some on the isley's too.
i just gotta remember them...

peace deb..youngca

OMG young! This is the stuff of music television. Like the top 100 wildest moments is rock-n-roll history, or something like that. Maybe you should call up BET with a proposal. Better, yet you need to compile all this R&B drama in one book!

youngca said:[quote]UptownDeb said:[quote]

youngca said:

Steveland Morris got mad jokes,,,lol did you read about him and Chaka Khan in her book? Hell, I even saw them once arguing about some b&w movie's line in a BET interview lol he got tired and grabbed her by her face and pushed it(they do that alot when they're 2ghether live btw) lol "Man, this woman makes a cat lose 5 pounds just by arguing with her" Chaka:"PLEEEAAASE believe that I'll make you lose 10 motherfuckin' pounds if you won't stop yo nagging" lol caught RIGHT on family tv


I really don't understand why all those mofos(Miles, Stevie & Prince) get a kick of seeing her get all heate up. Its not such a pretty scene at all, some of them might lost a thang or two along with the cussing!

Speaking of Chaka, I heard that Quincy Jones got so tired of her absence(during the recording process of MasterJam) that when he met her again, he actualy grabbed her by the neck and wrestled her tiny lil' ass down the floor and made her promise to attend the recording session lol its funny in some scary way.

Alot of WAR stories between that woman and her friends

Harlepolis said:[quote]youngca said:[quote]

UptownDeb said:

aisha...chaka's a funny person-even when she's MAD.
stevie's an intriguing guy. he's not easy to work with.
and Q...read his book. that guy couldn't even pretend not to be a DON juan. playa playa...oh yeah he's has stories about ray charles,too. they GO way back.

UptownDeb said:

well deb they'd sue me cuz most of these are in other peoples book!!! (smiles)
but i gotta think of more.
the isley one is funny too.
the 3 brothers (this was when o kelly was living...i miss kelly) i'm trying to think who's book was this?
gladys...no...maybe patti l's...no i'll hab=ve to do some
checking...i know they tried to somebody stranded in a crib
with all 3 brothers!!! (i wish i knew who the lady was)

one cool tempts story was richard street (who i liked more
than dennis in the 70's tempts) admitd to having a MAD
crush on diana ross back in their teen years.

also eddie didn't particularly like melvin. and although
eddie was thin otis claims eddie could be a MEAN brotha...
of course otis was a bit MUCH as the leader so it depends
on who's side you want to be on.

if you think about it smokey messed david up when he gave him the lead vocal chores in MY girl!

before this the leads were paul and eddie (paul waa one hell
of a singer...check out the first tempts album,,,mett the temptations) whendavid got a taste of the spotlight it was
OVER!!!

still he's one fo the best leads i ever seen or heard.

the facial expression,the long legs doin' splits and he had
hand gestures that were just 2cool.

eddie was my man though. i dig all the high voice brothas...
and he dressed really SHARP.

A QUICK QUESTION...if we took an informal poll between the 4
main tempts leads: david,paul,eddie,dennis...who would
win?

i'm guessing david would. but i could be wrong...