The Temptations – 1990

My favorite Temps album
Zoom just SPANKS yo ass so hard

Album Revolution # 9:

This is the LAST album of the "Psychedelic Soul" era, and it brings me a tear....It was my FAVORITE era by "The Temps", and even though they were still able to last 40 years later, Musically and Creatively. it just WASN'T THE SAME....

Instead of having great albums (except "A Song For You") they would have a song or two each album...The MAIN REASON behind it all is "The Temps" losing the BEST Producer they EVER had in "Norman Whitfield"....He MORE than anyone knew what to get out of the group, so "1990", to me was a swan song....

The "Title Song" (and 1st Crown Jewel) SHOULD HAVE been the first song on the album in my opinion....They, along with "Whitfield", learned so well to have songs with DRAMA on them in a way to deliver a message....

"Ain't No Justice" (2nd Crown Jewel) should have followed it...It WOULD HAVE been perfect!!!!

"Let Your Hair Down" and "You've Got My Soul On Fire" are the Hits on this album, even though they were not high on the charts....It didn't matter though, because they are GREAT songs....

"I Need You", the 3rd Crown Jewel, was that unexpected gem on the album....With the Drums and Orchestrations side by side, it is DEFINATELY a "Norman Whitfield" MASTERPIECE!!!!

The 4th Crown Jewel, "Heavenly", continued the trend of that Classic Slow Jam they were getting known for...

Then, the "Norman" swan song, the Ultimate, Ultimate, Ultimate Crown Jewel, "Zoom"!!!! 13 minutes and 45 seconds of PURE FUNK!!! It also displays what I always said, how this was the BEST era of their career....

"Norman Whitfield's" leaving to me was DEVESTATING!!!! Even though he was able to have a GREAT career with "Rose Royce" and in having his Record Label, that had NOTHING to do with "The Temps"!!!! They would come back together years later though....

Well, this is also the end of their Album Revolution, but the good thing is that it wasn't the end of the groups career......

By 1973, the once-fruitful union between the Temptations and producer Norman Whitfield was on the rocks. Ego grandstands, shady business dealings, unfulfilled artistic moves, and excess began to tear both parties apart. But they managed to let out one final gasp of heady psych-soul brilliance before splintering. The resulting album, 1990 is not one of the Temptations' widely known works. It didn't make much of an impression when it initially came out in the winter of 1973. But it's grown in stature as something of an unheralded classic. It's key to note that detractors accused the group of being carbon copies of their former selves, sticking too closely to Norman Whitfield's patented style by this point. Unlike much of their earlier Norman Whitfield-produced output, 1990 was conceived at a critical period in black music where funk and soul styles were becoming hedged by a nascent, underground sound that would soon explode in the mainstream: disco. And while Whitfield manages to dial back some of the pioneering experimentation that defined the Tempts' pysch-soul brand in favor of There's a Riot Goin' On-era Sly Stone funk, he looked deeper into the social despair and ruin that was rotting away in America. There are three stirring pieces of social commentary that sound frighteningly timely today as they did in 1973. One in particular, "Ain't No Justice" casts a downbeat, mournful light on the injustices and brutality that commonly avenges Black America day in and day out. It's a stone-cold trip of how far we've come and how far we haven't.

This is a nice album only no lyric sleeve was available unlike their later albums (Bare Back, Power and The Temptations 1981 album). If someone would post a sharper pic of the lyrics from the Japanese Import, that’d be great!

Peace

You've Got My Soul On Fire - BOOM! Moment alert!

-4 and chill!
To me this record needs to be cued down. We´re on our way to the moon...
Love the record. Several tracks are worth listening to- deep soul.

Super psychedelic funk, just listen to Ain't no justice and Zoom! peace