The Temptations: David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin.
Producers: Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Norman Whitfield, Andre Williams, William "Micky" Stevenson.
Includes liner notes by Harry Weinger.
All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.
MEET THE TEMPTATIONS is several years and a whole world away from The Temptations' later incarnation as the socially conscious face of Motown with such hits such as "Ball of Confusion" and "Cloud Nine." First released in 1964, most of the songs included here are fairly innocuous if impeccably performed '60s pop R&B, some of them ("May I Have This Dance," "Isn't She Pretty") carrying the faint but unmistakable whiff of '50s doo-wop.
The inclusion of the group's later hit "The Way You Do the Things You Do" in this subsequent stereo version highlights how far the group and Motown had come in available material and technical ability in just two years. Most of the thrill here is hearing voices such as those of Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin that would soon become synonymous with the golden age of R&B in their earliest incarnations, transmuting even the most unpromising material into something exceptional.
- Format: Vinyl
