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PREMESSA: LA SUPERIORITA’ DELLA MUSICA SU VINILE E’ ANCOR OGGI SANCITA, NOTORIA ED EVIDENTE. NON TANTO DA UN PUNTO DI VISTA DI RESA, QUALITA’ E PULIZIA DEL SUONO, TANTOMENO DA QUELLO DEL RIMPIANTO RETROSPETTIVO E NOSTALGICO , MA SOPRATTUTTO DA QUELLO PIU’ PALPABILE ED INOPPUGNABILE DELL’ ESSENZA, DELL’ ANIMA E DELLA SUBLIMAZIONE CREATIVA. IL DISCO IN VINILE HA PULSAZIONE ARTISTICA, PASSIONE ARMONICA E SPLENDORE GRAFICO , E’ PIACEVOLE DA OSSERVARE E DA TENERE IN MANO, RISPLENDE, PROFUMA E VIBRA DI VITA, DI EMOZIONE E  DI SENSIBILITA’. E’ TUTTO QUELLO CHE NON E’ E NON POTRA’ MAI ESSERE IL CD, CHE AL CONTRARIO E’ SOLO UN OGGETTO MERAMENTE COMMERCIALE, POVERO, ARIDO, CINICO, STERILE ED ORWELLIANO,  UNA DEGENERAZIONE INDUSTRIALE SCHIZOFRENICA E NECROFILA, LA DESOLANTE SOLUZIONE FINALE DELL’ AVIDITA’ DEL MERCATO E DELL’ ARROGANZA DEI DISCOGRAFICI .

THE TEMPTATIONS
masterpiece

Disco LP 33 giri , 1973,  tamla motown / rifi , TSM ST 60037, italia

OTTIME CONDIZIONI, vinyl ex++/NM, cover ex+
                                            

The Temptations è un gruppo di cinque cantanti statunitensi che rifacendosi alla musica gospel, hanno fondato il genere Detroit Sound, fusione di R&B e rock psichedelico californiano.

Hanno cantato in squadra (l’etichetta Tamla Motow di Detroit) con le Supremes
(capitanate da Diana Ross). Come tutti i gruppi di successo hanno avuto
traversie e cambiamenti di organico, fino alla confusione più totale
culminata nelle sfida continua tra due gruppi di Temptations. Il Gruppo
veramente originale era quello capitanato da Otis Williams in quanto
all’interno aveva il più alto numero di membri originali. Del gruppo ha
fatto parte, per un breve periodo, anche Samuel J. Palmisano, attuale presidente e amministratore delegato della IBM.

Agli inizi degli anni 80, fu lanciato un LP “Reunion” e il brano
“Standing on the top”, ha avuto un discreto successo, ma l’evento
importante fu la “riunione” dei due gruppi in uno solo.

Ad oggi The Temptations continuano a cantare dal vivo, ma Otis
Williams è rimasto l’unico in vita della formazione originale.

Masterpiece is a 1973 album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, produced and – with one exception – written by Norman Whitfield.

• Interprete: The Temptations
• Etichetta: Gordy – Tamla Motown / Rifi Record
• Catalogo: TMS – ST / S 60037  ( G965L)
• Data di pubblicazione: 1973
• Data Matrici :  11/4/73

• Supporto:vinile 33 giri
• Tipo audio: stereo
• Dimensioni: 30 cm.
• Facciate: 2
• Copertina laminata / laminated sleeve, white paper inner sleeve

The title refers to the album being not the group’s intended
masterpiece, but Whitfield’s. Having already produced songs for the
Temptations such as “Smiling Faces Sometimes” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” which emphasized his instrumental tracks over the group’s vocals, Whitfield goes one step further here.

The title track, at nearly fourteen minutes long, includes only
three minutes of vocals from the group, who all share sections of the
lead vocal. “Masterpiece” shares space on side one with “Hey Girl (I
Like Your Style)”, a slow classic-styled ballad led by Richard Street which opens the album. Side two of the LP opens with “Ma”, an ode to a hillbilly mother led by Street, Damon Harris, and Melvin Franklin, which was recorded as the title track of Rare Earth‘s 1973 Whitfield-produced LP. “Law of the Land”, led by Dennis Edwards, Street, and Harris, was recorded the same year by The Undisputed Truth. The song is a message track in the tradition of “Don’t Let the Joneses Get You Down” from Puzzle People.
“Plastic Man”, with its lead vocal shared between Edwards, Harris,
Franklin, and Street, disparages “plastic people” who operate in
backhanded ways, while the eight-minute album closer, “Hurry Tomorrow”,
is a solo spot for Harris, which explores a hallucinogenic drug trip.

Many critics, and the Temptations themselves, remarked that much of Masterpiece, and especially its title track, sounded more like Norman Whitfield/Funk Brothers
solo recordings rather than Temptations recordings. Fans complained
directly to the Temptations themselves, and some music journalists
began snidely referring to the Temptations as “The Norman Whitfield
Chorale Singers” and other such names.

Despite the criticism directed towards the LP, “Masterpiece” became a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart, and a #7 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Its follow-up, the “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”-like “Plastic Man”, hit
#40 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Hey Girl (I Like Your Style)” also
became a Top 40 hit in the late summer/early fall of 1973.

Masterpiece was the final Temptations LP recorded in Detroit at Motown’s Hitsville USA studio. By 1973, Motown Records had completed its migration to Hollywood, California, and beginning with the next release, 1990, the Temptations would record in Los Angeles-area studios.

Track listing

All selections written and produced by Norman Whitfield

Side one

1. “Hey Girl (I Like Your Style)” – 4:39
2. “Masterpiece” – 13:54

Side two

1. “Ma” – 4:46
2. “Law of the Land” – 5:08
3. “Plastic Man” – 6:06
4. “Hurry Tomorrow” – 8:08

Personnel

Norman Whitfield
was always the Motown producer who had the most daring creative vision
for The Temptations; he was the man who helped them turn psychedelic
(well, sort of) with “Cloud Nine” and “Psychedelic Shack”, and when the
group’s career had hit a slump in the early 1970’s, he brought them
back to the top of the charts with the brilliantly realized “Papa Was A
Rolling Stone”. After the latter tune had become a smash, Whitfield and The Temptations set out to make their most ambitious project to date, but in many ways, Masterpiece sounded more like a Norman Whitfield solo album with the Temps
adding occasional vocals; the album’s long, carefully layered tunes,
complete with sweeping string charts and cleanly punctuated horn lines,
have the widescreen splendor of a big-budget movie, and while it’s
inarguably impressive to hear, the featured artists often seem to be
lost in the shuffle. It doesn’t help that while the album is musically
impressive, several of the songs are lyrically cut-rate, especially the
cliche-ridden “Ma” and “Plastic Man”, a ho-hum critique of hypocrisy,
and while The Temptations deliver their material with conviction and
typically peerless vocal skill, it’s not enough to disguise the fact
this album overshoots its target. While still better than the average
Motown effort of the period, Masterpiece never quite becomes
the triumph it obviously wants to be, proving once again that a
“Masterpiece” usually occurs as a matter of serendipity rather than
careful design.

The Temptations (sometimes abbreviated as The Temps or The Tempts) are an American vocal group that achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group’s repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.

Formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1960 as The Elgins,
the Temptations have always featured at least five male
vocalists/dancers. The group, known for its recognizable choreography,
distinct harmonies, and onstage suits, has been said to be as
influential to soul as The Beatles are to pop and rock. Having sold tens of millions of albums, the Temptations are one of the most successful groups in music history and were the definitive male vocal group of the 1960s. In addition, they have the second-longest tenure on Motown (behind Stevie Wonder),
as they were with the label for a total of 40 years: 16 years from 1961
to 1977, and 24 more from 1980 to 2004 (from 1977 to 1980, they were
signed to Atlantic Records). As of 2009^[update], the Temptations continue to perform and record for Universal Records with the one living original member, co-founder Otis Williams, still in its lineup.

The original group included members of two local Detroit vocal groups: The Distants, which featured second tenor Otis Williams, first tenor Elbridge “Al” Bryant and bass Melvin Franklin; and first tenor/falsetto Eddie Kendricks and second tenor/baritone Paul Williams (no relation to Otis) from The Primes. Among the most notable future Temptations were lead singers David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards (both of whom became successful Motown solo artists after leaving the group), Richard Street (another former Distant), Damon Harris, Ron Tyson, Ali-Ollie Woodson, Theo Peoples, and G.C. Cameron. Like its sister female group, the Supremes, the Temptations’ lineup has changed frequently particularly in recent decades.

Over the course of their career, the Temptations have released four Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and 14 Billboard R&B number-one singles. Their material has earned them three Grammy Awards, while two more awards were conferred upon the songwriters and producers who crafted their 1972 hit “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone“. The Temptations were the first Motown
act to earn a Grammy Award. Six Temptations: Dennis Edwards, Melvin
Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Otis Williams, and Paul
Williams were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. Three classic Temptations songs, “My Girl“, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg“, and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”, are among The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.