Satisfaction comes in many forms. When the magical word Motown is uttered, most people are hard-wired to The Four Tops, the Temptations and The Supremes. But to reduce Motown to the effervescent sixties is only part of the label’s remarkable legacy. By the 1970s, a different sound was gathering. America was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The Vietnam War had been a disaster, urban street crime was epidemic, and the nation’s college campuses were alive with political resistance. The joyful hope that had inspired “Baby Love” now felt anachronistic and out of time.
The music industry was changing too. The vinyl pop single on 45rpm which had been the staple of Motown’s success was being challenged by concept albums. This was the era of Edwin Starr’s anti-war album War and Peace (1970), The Temptations mind-bending Psychedelic Shack (1970) and Marvin Gaye’s state-of-the-nation classic What’s Going On (1971). By the early 1970s Motown had a stable of male vocalists that was arguably the best in the world, among them former lead singers from The Temptations – David Ruffin, Dennis Edwards and Eddie Kendricks. Alongside them singer-producers like Leon Ware and Frank Wilson were asserting their presence. David Ruffin’s “Crime in the Street” captured the epidemic of violence in Detroit allowing his exquisite voice to quietly rage against gun crime. Recorded a few years before his underground classic “Rode by the Place”, both sound more modern today than when they were recorded. If there is a common thread here, it’s the mid-tempo shifting soul soon to be christened as “quiet storm” including groups on the margins of Motown such as The Originals and The Fantastic Four led by the impassioned “Sweet” James Epps.
Just to keep you satisfied, immerse yourself in the overlooked creativity of Detroit’s male voices in the early 1970s.
Text by: STUART COSGROVE
A1. David Ruffin - Blackmail
A2. David Ruffin - Crime In The Street
A3. Frank Wilson - Look At Your Window
A4. The Originals - Just To Keep You Satisfied
A5. Jimmy Ruffin - I Pray You Still Love Me
B1. Fantastic Four - I Hate Myself For Loving You
B2. Eddie Kendricks - If I Can't Love You Then I Can't Love Me
B3. Dennis Edwards - When The Lights Come Down On Love
B4. Leon Ware - You Are The Way You are
B5. Leon Ware - Don't You Wanna Come
