![]() Meshell Ndgeocello performed the song live in the excellent Funk Brothers tribute/documentary “Standing in the Shadows of Motown.” The song has also been covered by reggae artist Carl Dawkins, Latin musician Mongo Santamaria and Rod Stewart. “Cloud 9” was run through the Motown stable and covered by Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and Edwin Starr. The song paved the way for later psychedelic hits “Runaway Child, Running Wild,” “Psychedelic Shack.” These songs placed the Temptations on the vanguard of soul music and helped clear the way for Funkadelic, Earth Wind and Fire and the funk movement of the 1970s. The new category was just in its third year and had previously been awarded to Ramsey Lewis and Sam and Dave. “Cloud 9” brought Motown its first Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental. ![]() For him, the key line is when Eddie Kendricks explains that cloud nine is “a world of love and harmony.” Williams has denied that the songs glorifies drugs as an escape to the world’s problems. The socially conscious themes of poverty, abuse and danger in the urban core would be repeated in the hits “Ball of Confusion,” “Run Away Child, Running Wild” and several other album tracks. The lyrics also hit on what would become another touchstone of the post-Ruffin Temptations. Williams and Whitfield’s early interest in Sly and the Family Stone is betrayed by the arrangement, which mirrors the San Francisco group’s No. Instead of featuring one vocalist, the number finds all five Temptations passing the lead around. The wah guitar and flat cymbal sound that opens the song was completely unlike anything Motown had issued before. Although producer Norman Whitfield was reluctant to change the band’s sound with something “that ain’t nothing but a little passing fancy,” he eventually relented. Free of their troubled lead singer and his drug dependence and egocentric demands to rebill the quintet “David Ruffin and the Temptations,” founding member Otis Williams decided the psychedelic stylings of Sly and the Family Stone were the sound of the future. When the Temptations kicked David Ruffin out of the group in 1968, they cleaned house. ![]() Temptations – “Cloud 9,” Pop # 6, R&B # 2 ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |