Back to Basics (The Temptations album)

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Back to Basics
The Temptations - Back to Basics.jpg
Studio album by
The Temptations
ReleasedOctober 1983 (1983-10)
Recorded1983
Studio
  • Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • Ritesonian Studio, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, United States ("Hollywood")
Genre Soul
Length41:27
LanguageEnglish
Label Motown
Producer
The Temptations chronology
Surface Thrills
(1983)		Back to Basics
(1983)		 Truly for You
(1984)

Back to Basics is the second of two studio albums released by American soul group The Temptations in 1983. The album saw the group reunited with former producer Norman Whitfield, and would also be the first to feature Ron Tyson as first tenor, who would eventually become the second-longest serving member in the group’s history. It would also be the last studio album with longtime frontman Dennis Edwards before his second departure and the first appearance of Edwards’ successor Ali-Ollie Woodson.

Contents

Recording

The Temptations had briefly left their long-time home of Motown for Atlantic Records in the late 1970s, but the two studio albums they released there were not successful and Atlantic released them from their contract. The band returned to Motown in the early 1980s and still struggled to be commercially viable, so they returned to record producer Norman Whitfield, who had recorded several of the band's hits in the 1960s for this album. [1] The group performed at the Motown 25 anniversary concert and then immediately went to the studio for these sessions, but experienced problems with Dennis Edwards being unreliable due to partying and drug abuse. To compensate, the group brought in Ali-Ollie Woodson (who only performs on one track) to replace Edwards. [2] Former member Glenn Leonard is featured on "Isn't The Night Fantasic" (originally from their Power album).

Reception

Editors at AllMusic Guide scored this album 2.5 out of five stars, with reviewer Jason Elias writing that "what's here is worth listening to" for the Norman Whitfield-produced tracks. [1]

Track listing

Back to Basics track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead singer(s)Length
1."Miss Busy Body (Get Our Body Busy)" Norman Whitfield, Angelo Bond Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin 4:48
2."Sail Away"Whitfield, Bond Ron Tyson 5:05
3."Outlaw"Whitfield, Bond Richard Street, Tyson4:36
4."Stop the World Right Here (I Wanna Get Off)"Whitfield, Bond Ali-Ollie Woodson 5:25
5."The Battle Song (I'm the One)" Willie Hutch, Berry Gordy Edwards, Tyson, Franklin, Levi Stubbs 5:21
6."Hollywood" Otis Williams, Tyson, Victor Castarphen, David English Tyson, Edwards3:59
7."Isn't the Night Fantastic"Edwards, English, Glenn Leonard, Street, WilliamsStreet4:59
8."Make Me Believe in Love Again"Whitfield, BondTyson6:12

Personnel

The Temptations

Additional musicians

Technical personnel

Chart performance

Back to Basics spent nine weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at 152 on June 9, 1984, [3] and spent 30 weeks on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums (then named the Black LP's) chart, peaking at 30th place on June 16, 1984. [4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Elias, Jason. "The Temptations – Back to Basics". AllMusic Guide . Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  2. ↑ Williams, Otis; Bashe, Patricia Romanowski (2002). Temptations. Cooper Square Press. pp. 212–213. ISBN   9780815412182.
  3. ↑ "The Temptations". Billboard . Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  4. ↑ "The Temptations". Billboard . Retrieved May 5, 2023.
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