On This Day in 1977: The Temptations up and leave Motown

November 10, 1977 – The Temptations leave Motown

The year was 1977 and The Temptations were a mess. Yes, THE Temptations, the act that nearly defined soul music in the 60s and early 70s. But the loss of Dennis Edwards and Eddie Kendricks, combined with a series of mediocre, uninspired albums on Motown in the mid-decade, left them increasingly irrelevant on R&B radio. Blaming much of the problem on dysfunction at Motown in the years following its relocation to SoCal, the quintet joined former labelmates The Four Tops, Gladys Knight and The Spinners in bolting for a new recording home.

For the Tempts, it was Atlantic Records, the iconic label that made The Spinners and Aretha Franklin stars, but which by 1977 was not showing the kind of commitment to R&B radio that The Tempts had enjoyed during their decade and a half at Motown. With the change, founding members Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin wanted to make a statement that The Temptations were a contemporary force, so they teamed with hot Philadelphia producers Baker, Harris and Young (Philly’s other Big Three after Gamble, Huff and Bell) for the label debut, Hear To Tempt You.

Unfortunately for the Temptations, Hear to Tempt You was not an intimate collaboration between artist and producer. The Tempts, trying to assimilate new lead singer Louis Price and falsetto lead Glenn Leonard, arrived at the recording studio in New York to find the album’s nine tracks completed, simply awaiting the vocals. For a group that was, itself, in a bit of disarray, this was not an ideal experience.

Part of the greatness of the Motown machine was in the competitive matching of songs with groups — and vocalists within groups — and following with dynamic recording sessions on Grand Boulevard in Detroit.  Hear To Tempt You was clearly less tailored in its approach, and it showed in the results. Baker, Harris and Young were best known for their work with the Trammps, and parts of Hear to Tempt You sound like outtakes from a Trammps session, even though the two groups were markedly different acts.

Despite a solid first single, the Latin-tinged disco song “In A Lifetime,” on which newcomer Leonard showed himself to be a perfect fit, Atlantic didn’t really know what to do with the new Temptations sound, and Hear to Tempt You disappeared from radio almost as quickly as it came, dying an undeserved death that prevented even “In A Lifetime” from hitting the R&B top 10. The follow up album, Bare Back, did even more poorly.

The positive result of the Temptations’ two year fling with Atlantic was that the group and Motown made up nicely in 1980, resulting in a re-signing and the issuance of the excellent single and album Power, with Motown head honcho Berry Gordy, Jr. taking the production reins himself. It began a strong two decade second run for the Tempts on Motown that led to several hit albums and another #1 song, 1998’s “Stay.”