Sunday, September 11, 2016

The Heart of Rock and Soul # 854 The Temptations


'Their second single but the first one that really clicked, partly because Smokey Robinson provided them with the greatest rhythm track he'd conceived up to that point, a slowed down variation of the dance beat that powered the Contours Shake Sherrie. It's distinctively Smokey because of the way the words wrap around the beat (or is it the beat following the verbal groove?) It's unmistakably Temptations because the guys go through such snappy routines, your heart cries to see them dance it. And it's inarguably Motown because the bass and drums would punch you in the face if you tried to argue them out of it, and the horns and even the scraper that adds more sandpaper to Al Bryant's (pre-David Ruffin) lead would help them out, you damn betcha.'



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