Customer Reviews

In a Mellow Mood

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Despite what Ricky Wright has to say, Temptations in a Mellow Mood is a refreshing change of pace for the group with all of the Tempts wonderful voices tackling great standards of the day. It was this album that introduced me to most of the songs here and the album represnts a great balnce of leads from four of the most unique voices ever to be found within one vocal group! Out of the 12 songs here they are almost equally divided between the sweet voice of Eddie Kendricks ( A Taste of Honey, Try To Remember and With These Hands), the wonderful ache of the most underrated Temptation Paul Williams (For Once in My Life, Who Can I Turn To and That's Life), the great David Ruffin (Somewhere, I'm Ready For Love, What Now My Love and The Impossible Dream) and the group sharing vocals on a swinging version of Hello Young Lovers and the greatest bass singer in the world Melvin Franklin's Franklin's booming voice on Ol' Man River with the sweetest of harmonies behind him. This is a great album in which the Temptations interject great passion into songs that had originally been recorded with the soul-less voices of stage singers. A classic album!

When this album was released I was only 10 years old, but I grew up listening to the Temptations. I remember the album just like it was today. As I grew up I would listen to the album, and remember thiking how beautiful all the songs were. When I moved away, the album moved with me. As an adult I didn't just listen to the songs I understood and I cherised every word. To me its impossible to listen to this album and not feel every word thats being sung. There is so much love and feeling in this album. I wonder how anyone could listen to it and not be moved. This album is what makes the Temptations the "Temptations".

After reading Mr. Ricky Wright's review of this album I couldn't help but wonder how old is Mr.Wright and was he living when this album was released. This is a "CLASSIC" Temptation album that was the talk of the town when it was released. How can anyone question or discount the vocal harmonies on tunes such as "With These Hands or The Impossible Dream." Every rendition is done with that certain "classy silky smooth soulfulness" that only the Temptations and Motown could have pulled off during this time. What modern day vocal group could match this performance? When I was a kid, growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, every young black male in my neighborhood wanted to be a "Temptation." We still talk about how great they were and wishing the group had stayed together. This is still one of the best Temptation albums ever and I wholeheartly recommend it to anyone, Temptation fan or not.

Back in the fall and winter of '67, "In a Mellow Mood" was released around the same time "Wish It Would Rain" was riding the charts. It is, notwithstanding many folks aversion to the Tempts singing anything but soul music, a great great album! The harmonies so loved on their classic hits are all here. David, Eddie and Paul, (with Melvin's classic Ol Man River) are in excellent voice. "With These Hands", "Try To Remember", "For Once In My Life", "SomeWhere", and "What Now My Love" and "That's Life" absolutely shine. Martha and the Vandellas' "I'm Ready For Love" is curiously included here, but make no mistake, the original classic Temptations take these show and standard tunes and make them a vital part of their discography. Must listening for true fans of the Tempts.

Rickey Wright's lead review exactly encapsulates the initial reception to this late 1967 Temptations release, as in "what's this?" You had to take a completely different approach in your fondness of the group to 'get' this one. It was far removed from any Norman Whitfield grit-fest, or Smokey Robinson's tender, young-love poetry.

I was just on the verge of 14 when I first bought this in the early months of 1968 and, even then, it was filled with the kind of songs 'your mother would know.' You knew not to expect this to spawn a batch of hit singles. (Although then-prime Philadelphia stations WIBG & WFIL wisely gave substantial rotation to "The Impossible Dream.") We didn't know it yet, but at the end of a year after this LP was released, David Ruffin would be gone from the group - ending forever its 'classic' line-up. So there are all too few Temptations albums featuring the original five to foolishly dismiss any one.

While you won't be getting out of your seat to shake and stomp to this one, it is a magnificent showcase for the group's different voices, and instrumentally each song is superbly handled. Ruffin builds 'Dream' to such a shattering and commanding crescendo it's like listening to a prophet. Anyone who'd heard Eddie Kendricks ethereal delivery here of "Try To Remember" was then not the least surprised in '71 when he made "Just My Imagination" sound almost like a prayer. Hard-core Temptations & Motown fans are long settled on the matter of "For Once In My Life" being Paul Williams' showcase, even though we also like Stevie Wonder's punchy, 'popped up' single version too. All these years later, I still can't decide if I like Melvin Franklin's delivery of "Ol' Man River" best here, or on the live version released earlier the same year. The solution? Make sure you have BOTH in your collection.

Only Otis Williams doesn't have a solo among these 12 tracks. But in his wonderful 1988 biography of the group (with Patricia Romanowski), he takes clear and evident pride of the work he and his brothers in song delivered here. And well he should. He mentions also that in 1988, original vinyl copies of this album were going for $50. Thanks for the tip, Otis - I have two pristine pressings myself.

In spite if Rickey Wright's obviously lack of perception and good taste, In A Mellow Mood did exactly what it was designed to do. He (Wright) probably was not around when African American groups still were not allowed to perform in clubs like the Copa.
This album sold well, not only in the African American community,
but also sold well with cross over appeal. The great sales of this album opened the door to the Copa for them, which opened
the door to the rest. At home, it gave the African American community exposure of music we were not accustomed to hearing in our neighborhood. Which elevated our exposure and made us more receptive to more of the same music put out by others of non color!

Paul's singing lead on Who Can I Turn To When Nobody Needs me is heartfelt. The ensemble singing Hello Young Lovers is catchy. And the rendition of Paul singing lead on That's Life is wonderful. David does an excellent job singing lead on I'm Ready For Love and The Impossible Dream. Wonderful cd I first purchased this album when it was first released I now have it on cd and the sound quality of the cd is well worth my purchase.

This album of classic songs is quite a different style for the Temptations. They are not normally associated with this particular genre, but that does not mean they don't understand it. If they had not become the incredible Motown sound, they all could have found their niche in almost any style of vocals. "Old Man River" is rich and powerful, while "With These Hands"is emotionally moving. The orchestration on all the material is top notch. The only truly strange thing about the LP is that the intro is written by Soupy Sales. Go figure. It's too bad that this album remains almost totally unknown, even to Temptations fans.

ricky wright (whoever he is)may think it's the worst, but i think it's the absolute best. as a black kid growing up in the sixties, i wasn't familiar with a lot of the old standards and show tunes, until i heard them by the tempations. since i've become an adult, i've heard the tunes such as "hello young lovers", "impossible dream", "old man river" and "with these hands" in movies and other places. but i heard them first from the tempts. In later years, i heard deborah kerr sing "hello young lovers" in the king and i and i will tell you it was just not the same as when the tempts sang it. they definitely added soul to it. although i enjoyed all the song on the album, my favorite was eddie singing "try to remember". that was when eddie could hit the high notes. even though in later years, he practically lost his voice, he (as were the other tempts) was in his prime on this album. even though listneing this music now makes me sad because all of the group except otis is gone, i still enjo it as much to day as i did back in the sixties.

Despite what Ricky Wright has to say, Temptations in a Mellow Mood is a refreshing change of pace for the group with all of the Tempts wonderful voices tackling great standards of the day. It was this album that introduced me to most of the songs here and the album represnts a great balnce of leads from four of the most unique voices ever to be found within one vocal group! Out of the 12 songs here they are almost equally divided between the sweet voice of Eddie Kendricks ( A Taste of Honey, Try To Remember and With These Hands), the wonderful ache of the most underrated Temptation Paul Williams (For Once in My Life, Who Can I Turn To and That's Life), the great David Ruffin (Somewhere, I'm Ready For Love, What Now My Love and The Impossible Dream) and the group sharing vocals on a swinging version of Hello Young Lovers and the greatest bass singer in the world Melvin Franklin's Franklin's booming voice on Ol' Man River with the sweetest of harmonies behind him. This is a great album in which the Temptations interject great passion into songs that had originally been recorded with the soul-less voices of stage singers. A classic album!