Released: 1982
The respite of Power (B) aside, the Temptations had been in a funk since 1975. You know who else was in a funk? Former Temptations Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin. So naturally, Motown had the bright idea of reuniting the two former Tempts with their bandmates.
Commercially this was successful enough. Reunion reached #2 on the R&B charts where it stayed for five weeks. Ruffin’s erratic behavior, which got him booted from the group in the first place back in 1968, resurfaced during the reunion tour and cut the whole endeavor short.
Well, if the reunion tour didn’t go well at least the Reunion album was great? How about very good? Okay, just good? Average? Oh boy…
In 1981, the Temptations had been guest vocalists on Rick James’s hit “Super Freak”. And Melvin Franklin also gave memorable backup vocals on “Give It To Me Baby” and “Ghetto Life”.
The king of Punk Funk returned the favor by writing, producing, and singing on the album’s lead single “Standing On The Top”. Dennis Edwards gets the lion’s share of singing with Ruffin the co-lead. Other Tempts getting brief vocal appearances are Kendricks, Franklin, Glenn Leonard, and Richard Street. You know, everyone but Otis Williams.
The song itself is standard Rick James funk for the period. Nothing outstanding, nothing embarrassing. A danceable groove. It reached #6 R&B and #66 pop giving the group their first top 10 R&B hit since 1976.
The lyrics are actually kind of interesting for a bit before the song devolves into a lengthy jam (more on that in a second). Having these soul survivors recall the perils of stardom and fame really does work. But then there’s an abrupt switch where they just start singing about wanting “the funk, nothing but the punk funk”. Clearly that’s where the song goes from a Temptations song produced by Rick James to a Rick James song being sung by the Temptations.
The single version is superior since it knows when to quit at around four minutes. The album version is nearly 10 minutes. That’s fine for a 12” club mix, but putting that on the regular album was a waste of precious space considering we weren’t likely to get all these Temptations together on an album again.
SPOILER: We wouldn’t get these Temptations on an album again.
On “You Better Beware” Ruffin gets the lead vocal and his voice is in good shape all things (drugs) considered. It’s a mid-tempo R&B ballad written by old Motown friend Barrett Strong, who’d co-written many of their earlier hits like “Cloud Nine” and “I Can’t Get Next To You”.
Side One of the album concludes with the trying-too-hard faux new wave of “Lock It in the Pocket”. Edwards gets the lead again with Leonard and Franklin augmenting his growls.
Side Two begins with the corny “I’ve Never Been To Me”. It’s absolutely horrendous. Skip.
Hey! Our old friend Smokey Robinson shows up to write and produce “Backstage”. Sadly that song sucks too despite Edwards sharing the lead vocal with Street. Skip.
Smokey gives it a better go on “More On The Inside”. Still not very good, but you can actually listen to it.
And the album concludes with yet another Dennis Edwards vocal feature: “Money’s Hard To Get”. The vocal arrangement most closely resembles the classic Motown antics of the Temptations. The song tries a bit too hard to be funky, but it’s also kinda funny. In the end, it grows on you.
ALBUM GRADE: C-
I’ll be generous and give this a C- since only two songs are horrific, two are average, and three have some redeeming value.
Still pissed about this LP, though. We get this reunion album and Edwards gets almost all the lead vocals. Wasted opportunity exemplified. Edwards is my favorite Temptations singer, but we got top-notch vocalists all over the place. And they let Rick James sing a shitload on one of the songs.
Not the best use of time or resources. Oh well.
Song Scores
Standing on the Top: 7/10
You Better Beware: 7/10
Lock It in the Pocket: 5/10
I've Never Been To Me: 0/10
Backstage: 3/10
More On The Inside: 6/10
Money's Hard to Get: 7/10