838 The Temptations - Anthology (1995)

Compilation - Soul/Disco

About the Act:

The Temptations are a long-running vocal group from Detroit, who started in 1960, and have metamorphosed in style almost as often as they have had new members. Only Otis Williams,  owner of the name, is left of the original members. First they were 60s Soul, then they were Psychedelic Soul, then Funk, then Disco, then "Adult Contemporary", and then they settled into performing the old hits for an extended career. They are one of the most successful pop groups worldwide.

About the Album:

This is a compilation of some of their tracks/hits. There have been various incarnations, 1873, 1986 and 1995. I am reviewing the 1995 version with 46 tracks. I listened twice. Phew.

My History with this Album:

None.

Review:

The album runs more or less chronologically through their career. It starts as 60s Soul, of a Motown variety, moves into more psychedelic stuff before morphing into Funk and Disco for the 70s. There are a LOT of tracks here.

The Soul stuff is OK, but not supremely exciting - I would not rate is as high as Diana Ross. The lead singer has a voice I find a little irritating at times, and the tracks are ones that in the main I don't know, but are typically trite, romantic and slushy. The stand-out hit is "My Girl" which is very recognisable, but not really one of my favourites from that era. That pretty much sums up the first CD, although the last track "The Impossible Dream", is different. It is taken from the musical The Man of La Mancha (I had to look it up!) and consequently sounds like a Musical song. I know it. Again, not a huge favourite of mine.

Disc 2 is much more interesting, as they slide out of the 60s Soul into a funkier world entirely, and slowly putting aside the romantic slush at the same time. I don't know many of these either, but the standout classic here is Papa Was A Rolling Stone, an awesome extended funk-fest. Some of the other tracks are quite interesting, some with a sort of social conscience vibe, like "Don't Let The Joneses Get You Down", and "Power" and "Ball of Confusion". Towards the end this descends into more electronic-like Disco, which is not as good as the Funk (to my ears) but still better than the Soul.

As a whole, it's a bit odd as only a long compilation can be, due to the style changes. In fact, I don't think it works well as an album except either as a curated history of The Temptations (for which you would have to be truly interested) or (more likely) as a collection to dip into individual tracks as you want want them. I would happily stick disc 2 on sometimes to listen to, but the whole thing is long, and changes too much to treat like you mostly treat albums. 

It's kind of hard to pull a number out. I guess let's compromise between disc 1 (maybe a 6/10) and disc 2 (about 7.2/10 maybe) so that gives us...

6.6/10

I'm ready for a break from 60s Soul now if that's OK

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/41hgqTeK1jmDXreeCQJneV

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4kwP_-JrhRUBJ6axGvWMU6q75D_Cpg5-

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthology_(The_Temptations_album)