Temptations Visual And Listening Experience
by Bill Rice, The Times Record, June 25, 1973
Most of the popular music groups that were on top in the early sixties are now either defunct or playing in rock revival shows.
Not so the Temptations.
The five member, all-male group. which was heard at The Saratoga Performing Arts Center Sunday evening, has remained one of the most popular singing combinations in the business, and surely ranks as one of the very top black groups in popular music for all time.
Reasons for the group’s success were in ample evidence at Saratoga Sunday evening, although perhaps for too short a period of time. The concert ended all too early for most of the 4,100 fans in attendance, this figure given by SPAC promotional director Ed Lewi.
While the Temptations were on stage for little more than an hour, they probably put forth as many minutes of music as groups on longer, because of a nonstop routine which takes them from one song to the next without waiting for applause to subside.
A Temptations concert is as much a visual experience as it is a listening one, with the singers going through elaborate and slickly choreographed movements which accompany every song.
This is a technique which can fall flat if not done well, but the Temptations are probably as polished as anybody who ever tried.
When the Temptations are not dancing they are generally grouped around a cluster of four microphones, with the singer featured at the moment using a single mike set to the side. Their fast-paced act combines the musicianship of the Fifth Dimension with the showmanship of the Harlem Globetrotters.
The group has a vocal range which is surprising, thanks to the deep bass tones of Melvin Franklin, and the girl-like falsetto voice of Damon Harris. In between, making the most of all harmonic possibilities, are Otis Williams, Dennis Edwards and Richard Street.
The Temptations, weaving in and between mikes with clockwise precision, delighted their made-to-order audience with such favorites as “My Girl,” “Smiling Faces, “In the Ghetto,” and “Pappa Was a Rollin’ Stone.” The latter won them a Grammy Award in 1972.
There were some surprises too, such as Richard Street’s outstanding version of Roberta Flack’s big hit, *The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”
The Temptations were accompanied by a small orchestra from Motown Records, which maintained a sensible dynamic level at all times, letting the stars shine as they should.
They were, however, preceded by a rhythm and blues band led by Bobby Womack, which played far too long and loud.
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