temptations - i cant get next to you (1969)
i once heard this song referred to as "the most intense 2 minutes & 30 seconds on any motown record." i cannot tell a lie nor can i disagree with this statement. if you dont feel like you should be in church confessing youre love crawling on your knees by the end of this song...well i dont know what to say. this song so easily over looked especially since we are all so used to experiencing the tempts in a different light of love's expressions. usually too smooth for the groove, the tempts hit this track hard with the gritty voice of dennis edwards added to the mix, oh lawd, i get hot just typing about it. the sound reflects the influence of the northern soul sound that overpowered the mid-east in the late 60s. just like what quincy jones & rod temperton did for mj in the 80s, norman whitfield did for the temptations by shedding that school boy crush persona. the tempts were men & men arent afraid to beg which is one of the reasons why this is definitely one of my favorite "beggin" songs off the motown label. another reason is that this our introduction to mr. edwards as lead after crack head david ruffin left...i love me some dennis. it maybe the 1st time a group successfully replaced a lead singer without backlash. well naturally they lost their following to the "black movement", but thats for a future post... til then, enjoy the poetic / soulful sounds of pleadin & beggin. love-joy
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