1973 The Temptations – 1990
1990 is a 1973 album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, their final LP written and produced by Norman Whitfield.
The LP was the center of a number of problems. The Temptations were dissatisfied with Whitfield’s socially conscious message tracks, which were by now failing commercially, and desired to get back to singing ballads. Whitfield relented some here, placing message tracks such as “1990” and “Ain’t No Justice” alongside love songs such as “Heavenly” and “You’ve Got My Soul on Fire”.
The album’s first single, the Rose Royce-backed and Dennis Edwards-led funk track “Let Your Hair Down”, was its only Top 40 hit. The ballad “Heavenly”, sung by Richard Street and Damon Harris, was caught in the center of a disc jockey boycott against Motown. A Motown executive did not thank the United States’ DJs while accepting an award for the Temptations at the 1974 American Music Awards, and, as a result, the DJs refused to play “Heavenly”. “You’ve Got My Soul on Fire”, another Edwards-led funk track, also stalled out on the pop charts.
The Temptations remained dissatisfied with Whitfield’s “slave-driver” like production mentality and his tendency to overshadow the Temptations’ contributions to their own records by emphasising his production techniques and creating extended instrumental tracks with only a few verses of vocals. Group leader Otis Williams complained to Motown chief Berry Gordy, who replaced Whitfield with Jeffrey Bowen for their next LP, 1975’s A Song for You. Whitfield left Motown soon afterward, and started his own label, Whitfield Records, which released several hits from Rose Royce.
Tracks
1 Let Your Hair Down (Norman Whitfield) 2:40
2 I Need You (Norman Whitfield) 3:05
3 Heavenly (Norman Whitfield) 3:57
4 You’ve Got My Soul On Fire (Norman Whitfield) 3:53
5 Ain’t No Justice (Norman Whitfield) 6:08
6 1990 (Norman Whitfield) 4:07
7 Zoom (Norman Whitfield) 13:42
Biography
Musicians
Bass | James Jamerson Sr |
Bass | Lequeint Jobe |
Bass | Ron Brown |
Drums | Ed Greene |
Drums | James Gadson |
Drums | Henry Garner Jr |
Drums | Aaron Smith |
Guitar | Dennis Coffey |
Guitar | Eddie Willis |
Guitar | Kenji Brown |
Guitar | Wah Wah Watson |
Keyboards | Earl van Dyke |
Keyboards | Mark Davis |
Keyboards | Victor Nix |
Sax | Michael Moore |
Trombone | George Bohanon |
Percussion | Jack Ashford |
Trumpet | Freddie Dunn |
Trumpet | Kenny Copeland |
Percussion | Bobbye Hall |
Percussion | Terral Santiel |
Liner Notes
Producer – Norman Whitfield
Arranged By – Paul Riser
Assistant – Asari Graham
Engineer (Mastering) – Norman Whitfield, Russ Terrana
Engineer (Recording) – Art Stewart, Cal Harris, Larry Miles, Russ Terrana
Cover, Photography – Jim Britt
Design – Desmond Strobel, John Cabalka, Terry Squire
Phonographic Copyright Motown Record Corporation
Copyright Motown Record Corporation