MOTOWN’s HOT ’67 TEMPTATIONS: WITH A LOT O SOUL



THE TEMPTATIONS * WITH A LOT O SOUL (COMPLETE LP) * GORDY * 1967


ABOUT THIS ALBUM

___

 

The Temptations’ With A Lot O’ Soul is the fifth studio album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1967. Featuring four hit singles, With a Lot o’ Soul is the most successful Temptations album from their “classic 5” era, during which David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams constituted the Temptations’ lineup.

The four singles from the album, all Top 20 pop/ Top 10 R&B hits, were “(I Know) I’m Losing You“, “All I Need“, “You’re My Everything“, and “(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It’s You That I Need“. Three of these four songs also reached the Billboard Pop Top 10 as well. Norman Whitfield produced most of the tracks here, supporting the Temptations’ vocals with a hard-edged soul sound with elements of the music of James Brown.

(I Know) I’m Losing You“, already a nine-month-old hit by the time With a Lot o’ Soul was released, opens the album. The rest of the album expands upon the template established by Norman Whitfield with “I’m Losing You”. Whitfield and the other With a Lot o’ Soul producers, including Ivy Jo Hunter, Smokey Robinson, and, on “All I Need” (in which Ruffin portrays a man who admits to his lover he has been unfaithful and begs her forgiveness), Whitfield’s protégé Frank Wilson, supply the group a more modern sound than was present on previous or contemporary Motown releases. Most of the tracks on side A of the album feature brass-heavy, dramatic backing tracks with more prominent uses of electric guitar lines (Whitfield’s “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and Ivy Jo Hunter’s “Sorry is a Sorry Word” (from side B) and shifts in dynamics Whitfield’s “Ain’t No Sun Since You’ve Been Gone“, the single “(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It’s You That I Need“, and the Eddie Kendricks-led “Save My Love For A Rainy Day“.

(Source: WiKipedia and AllMusic)



A MCRFB Note: For the complete track listing on this album GO HERE.



Loading

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *