Historically Valuable-Musically Marginal

Remembering the days back in '66 when I would sit for hours and sing along with the Tempts as that purple Gordy label spun endlessly on the turntable, I can lay some claim to being a serious fan.

With that said, In my humble opinion, most of the items on this CD are "Grade B". It's historically interesting, since we've not heard them before, but they don't measure up to the stuff that made them legends. With a few exceptions, the melodies are poorly defined, and the lyrics are often a "force-fit" to the music (e.g. "Happy Landing"). Also, the additional strings on "Ain't Too Proud..." are a bit too "schmaltzy". The execs. at Hitsville knew what they were doing when they kept these in the can.

On the positive side, who would have guessed that the guys singing "My Pillow" were the Temptations? Great doo-wop!
And, "What am I Gonna Do Without You?" could well have been a hit.

Buy this disk for the history. Listen to it for a while, then quickly pop in their Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and watch the smile come on your face. This disk is interesting, but it isn't "Get Ready", "The Way You Do. . ." or "My Girl".

Hits from a parallel world

The Lost And Found series has featured unreleased masters by the Four Tops (a complete debut album of standards in a wholly different style from their norm), Marvin Gaye, the Miracles and others, all demonstrating the same thing - that the Motown machine was a mighty force that threw up far more goodies than it could handle.

This Temptations collection is no exception to that rule. The period between 1962 and 1968 had them quickly rising to fame and fortune with the relatively stable line-up featuring Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams and David Ruffin (who joined in 1963) as lead and harmony tenor vocalists, with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin adding baritone and bass.

After a few plays, some of the tracks here already sound so much a part of the Temptations repertoire that is almost impossible to believe that they have languished in a vault unheard for all this time, and one cannot escape the suspicion that some of these would have made better album tracks than those that made the final track-list. Perhaps some internal politics came into play; producer pressure, or a ruling from Berry Gordy on high.

There are two versions of one song written and produced by Berry Gordy. Camouflage is first heard in a recording from February 1962, the earliest recording on the disc, and then in a supercharged version from March 1967.

Three of the songs are familiar from other versions. You've Got To Earn It is known from Temptin' Temptations, but turns up here in an alternative fast version. Ain't Too Proud To Beg is one of their best known songs, a US Top Twenty hit in 1966, but minus the seductive but possibly inappropriate string section that fascinatingly adorns it here. Their magnificent signature tune, My Girl, closes the album in an on-stage version performed without ceremony just 10 days after its release as a single.

One star is lost as all but three have been mastered from mono mixes.

Maybe there is a parallel world where some of these tunes were singles and were part of the fabric of everyday life as they so easily could have been here

The Best

Great CD! The alternate versions are priceless! I wonder why some of these tracks didn't make it out of the can? "Dinah" is an excellent track as well as "What am I Gonna Do Without You". The late great Paul Williams is truly an underated singer on "Tear Stained Letter and "I Can't Think of a Thing At All". And you also get to hear Eddie Kendrick's raw tenor in "Camouflage Version 1". Truly a CD to put in your collection!