The Temptations are an American treasure. One of the all-time great vocal groups of any genre. This album is chock full of great songs and every one of them is top tier. One of those songs is “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” which is simply a classic. My rating:
The Temptations had seen the departure of one of their stalwarts in Eddie Kendricks and their career was considered on a downturn until this monster album put them back in the spotlight.1 Some consider this to be The Temptations’ best album of the Seventies.2 The sound of All Directions departed from their signature sound of the Sixties and with songs like “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” “the band achieved a gritty realism that nearly compensated for their abandonment of their trademark violins-and-love-lyrics grace.”3
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Jim Harrington wrote:
…the album was an admirably ambitions work that built upon the experimentalism of 1970’s Psychedelic Shack to further embrace new avenues. Thanks mainly to the nearly 12-minute epic “Papa Was a rolling Stone,” the Temps were able to successfully shed their image as 1960s-style balladeers and latch on to the grittier soul and R&B sounds of the day.4
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 194. All Directions by The Temptations
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #25
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”, #16
• RIAA certification: Gold | October 12, 19997
Released on July 27, 1972. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers8
• Number one album: Honkey Chateau by Elton John9
• Number one movie: The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola10
• Most watched TV programs: All in the Family, The Flip Wilson Show, Marcus Welby, MD, Gunsmoke, Sanford and Son, Mannix, Here’s Lucy, Funny Face, Adam 12, Mary Tyler Moore11
• NYT bestseller, fiction: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach12
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: O Jerusalem! by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre13
Some other albums released that month
• American Gothic by David Ackles
• Waka/Jawaka by Frank Zappa
• The Harder They Come by Jimmy Cliff
• Chicago V by Chicago
• Son of Schmilsson by Harry Nilsson
• Super Fly by Curtis Mayfield
• Full Circle by The Doors
• Long John Silver by Jefferson Airplane
• Straight Shooter by James Gang
• I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash
• Never a Dull Moment by Rod Stewart
• The Slider by T. Rex
• Flying High Together by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
• Seven Separate Fools by Three Dog Night
• Toulouse Street by The Doobie Brothers
• Feel Good by Ike & Tina Turner
• Exercises by Nazareth
• Foghat by Foghat
• Music Is the Message by Kool & the Gang
• Saint Dominic's Preview by Van Morrison
• Moods by Neil Diamond14
Sport
• Jun 18 US Supreme Court, 5-3, confirms lower court rulings in Curt Flood case, upholding baseball's exemption from antitrust laws.
• Jun 18 US Open Men's Golf, Pebble Beach GL: Jack Nicklaus captures his 3rd Open title, 3 strokes ahead of Bruce Crampton of Australia.
• Jun 23 US President Nixon signs act barring sex discrimination in college sports.15
Notable Births
• Jun 19 Jean Dujardin, 1st French actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor (The Artist), born in Rueil-Malmaison, Île-de-France.
• Jun 23 Selma Blair, American actress (Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde), born in Southfield, Michigan.
• Jun 23 Zinedine Zidane, French soccer midfielder/Real Madrid manager (Champions League 2016-17-18, World Cup 1998), born in Marseille, France.16
Historical Events
• Jun 1 Iraq nationalizes Iraq Petroleum Company's (IPC) concession owned by British Petroleum, Royal Dutch-Shell, Compagnie Francaise des Petroles, Mobil and Standard Oil of New Jersey.
• Jun 17 Five men arrested after trying to bug Democratic National Committee office in Watergate Complex, Washington.
• Jun 23 US President Nixon & his Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman agree to use CIA to cover up Watergate.
• Jun 27 Legendary video game and home computer Atari, Inc. founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Sunnyvale, California.17
Notable Deaths
• Jun 20 Howard Johnson, American hotelier (Howard John's chain), dies at 75.
• Jun 23 Elton Britt, American country singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Saturday Night Jamboree), dies of a heart attack at 58.
• Jun 25 Nat Fleischer, American boxing writer (established Ring Magazine), dies at 84.18
Harrington, Jim, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 279.
Ibid.