Solid Rock (The Temptations Album) - Overview

Overview

The Temptations group's paranoia-laced "Smiling Faces Sometimes", a Kendricks-led tune from the Sky's the Limit LP, was already slated as the follow-up to the number-one hit "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)". With Kendricks now gone, and with the group lacking a first tenor to take his place, Norman Whitfield was forced to change plans.

Whitfield took the temporarily four-man Temptations and re-recorded "It's Summer", the b-side to "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)", as a replacement release. "Smiling Faces Sometimes" was instead released as a single for The Undisputed Truth, and became a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, "It's Summer" peaked at number fifty-one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first Temptations single to miss the Top 40 since 1963's "Farewell My Love".

Although Paul Williams kept up an alliance with the Temptations, Kendricks and fellow ex-Temptation David Ruffin vocally spoke out against the group (and Otis Williams in particular) in several 1971 interviews. As a result, the Temptations and Norman Whitfield released the single "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)", which addressed the rivalry and called Kendricks and Ruffin out as sell-outs. "Superstar" was the first Temptations song to feature Eddie Kendricks' and Paul Williams' replacements, Damon Harris and Richard Street. Ricky Owens from The Vibrations had been the Temptations' original choice for a new first tenor, but Owens only remained with the group a few weeks before being replaced.

Solid Rock's third single, "Take a Look Around", was a Top 30 hit which showcased Harris' Kendricksesque falsetto voice alongside the leads of Richard Street, Dennis Edwards, Otis Williams, and Melvin Franklin. "Take a Look Around" and several of the album tracks, including "What It Is?" and "Stop the War Now", were more of Norman Whitfield's psychedelic soul recordings. By 1972, such songs were being seen by critics and the public as outdated or heavy-handed, and the Temptations themselves became uninterested in the psychedelic songs. Whitfield began adding stronger soul and funk influences to future message tracks, reducing the psychedelic influences present in these and earlier such songs.