The Temptations -- "Ball of Confusion" (1970)

Another sad death this week -- Norman Whitfield, one of Motown's most brilliant producers and songwriters. His best work was with the Temptations, and I wrote about an earlier hit they did with him, "Can't Get Next To You" from 1969.

Whitfield pioneered Motown's "psychedelic soul" era, stripping away the orchestrated slickness and love obsessions of Smokey Robinson and Holland-Dozier-Holland, and taking it right to the street, where race riots, poverty and war could no longer be ignored. "Ball Of Confusion" was a turning point for all involved, as this was Whitfield's first step into raw territory.

Whitfield altered his production techniques to suit the new mood, while keeping Motown's in-house session band, the Funk Brothers, raw and heavy. More distortion and certainly more in-your-face.

All centered on pretty much one chord, "Ball of Confusion" had a killer bass riff based on a seventh pattern, the kind you know instantly the way you know Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." With a clean electric guitar strumming a hard funk riff in time, legendary falsetto Eddie Kendricks grabs you by the collar with the very first two sentences, then Dennis Edwards' tough rasp for the next part of the verse, and you know, this ain't no typical Motown love song.

People moving out, people moving in.
Why, because of the color of their skin.
Run, run, run but you sure can't hide.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Vote for me and I'll set you free!
Rap on, brother, rap on.
Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher.
And it seems nobody's interested in learning... but the teacher.
Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration,
Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation.
Ball of confusion. Oh yeah, that's what the world is today. Hey, hey.

This was a song of rage and paranoia, of complaint and observation. It was a whole new world, with brothers being shipped off to Vietnam, cities burning down, anger and cries for justice and freedom. Nothing like the Motown for the past several years, when it was "I Second That Emotion" or "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch." The times were changing and Whitman used the Temptations to drag them along into it.

Whitfield's production was ingenious. Chugging on that one chord funk groove, the song shifts a few times to what I call "the circus break" -- a united horn section cranking a three note I-IV-V progression, percussion cooking, and a wailing harmonica and then an intense wham with the whole group shouting: Hey oogabooga, can't you hear me talking to you, just a ball of confusion. That's what the world is today... hey, hey!

Rest in peace.

The Temptations -- "Can't Get Next To You" (1969)

The Temptations are my favorite Motown group because I got into their style of "psychedelic soul." For all the trouble Stevie Wonder got for addressing contemporary topics, Temptations producer Norman Whitfield had no problem jumping right into poverty, crime, taxes and the Vietnam War.

However, there was nothing topical about "Can't Get Next To You." There was also nothing traditional about it either, since Whitfield created one of Motown heyday's most unusual arrangements in about two minutes and 30 seconds. I always put this song on my party tapes for guaranteed dancing.

The song doesn't even start off with music, but a door slowly creaking open, wild party screaming, and suddenly Dennis Edwards hushes them and says: "Hold it, hold it, listen...." There's a low slow and bluesy piano riff, and then a horn section does three powerful blasts, the piano does a quick little twist and then right into the song.

Way before the "pumping effect" was used in electronic music, Whitfield somehow created a similar effect with this driving beat and "suction" feel of the instrumentation. This is not the Temptations of "My Girl" and "Since I Lost My Baby," but their new era of fuzzy electric guitars and funky rhythms.


Each member of the Temptations takes a line of the verse, with practically no space in between, so it's wonderful to hear them showing off their individual styles:

(Dennis Edwards): I can turn a gray sky blue.
(Melvin Franklin): I can make it rain, whenever I wanted to.
Oh...
(Eddie Kendricks): I can build a castle from a single grain of sand.
(Paul Williams): I can make a ship sail, uh, on dry land.

After two verses, the song segues into the "train section," where the beat smoothes out into a major key break, and the Temps vocalize their "ooo" that it damn well sounds like a choo choo to me. Then right back to the beat with verse three, and a showstopping pause -- "Cos' I-I-I-I-I... woah, I-I-I-I-I...." and the group comes in like the military with "Can't get next to you!"

What is notable about the two videos below is that Eddie Kendricks is in one and missing in the other. Kendricks left the group to go solo in 1970, so this black and white live video must have been done at that time, considerably after the song was a hit. It's fun to see the group covering for Kendricks trademark falsetto lines.