Sun Feb 28 2021
5
The level of this (the musicianship, the artistry of the lyrics) rises so far above some of the indie crap that had come up in this list so far...
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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
All Directions
The Temptations
1972
- Album Summary
All Directions is a 1972 album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, produced by Norman Whitfield. It reached number two on the Billboard 200, making it the band's most successful non-collaborative album on the chart, and became their twelfth album to reach number one on the Top R&B Albums chart.
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Date
Mon Jan 18 2021
5
Groovy. Interesting lyrics for 'Run Charlie Run' but a powerful message. 'Papa was a rolling stone' is a phenomenal single from this album and I know it well. Even though this song sits on permanent rotation in my spotify playlist, I enjoyed every second of this version. It holds it's breath in suspense, setting the mood with anticipation. When the lyrics finally fly, it's the most powerful they've ever felt. Love the ending riff for Do Your Thing. This album is criminally short. Such is the nature of the vinyl record.
Sat Jan 16 2021
5
An incredible album. Many have heard of Papa Was A Rolling Stone, but many of the tracks on this already short album are striking pieces.
Fri Mar 26 2021
5
this is such a great album. absolute classic soul. all of their voices are incredible. even the 10 min song was perf. MWAH
Mon Jan 18 2021
5
old school R&B. I like it.
Wed Jan 13 2021
5
Funky, surprisingly topical, and filled with the feeling of grooving in the summer in your youth.
Wed Jan 19 2022
3
Man, the Temptations... What a wildly schizophrenic band. I feel like most of their albums have the same issue. You'll be grooving along to some truly quality funk and then, all of the sudden, it switches to track after track of doo-wop, Jackson 5 style R&B. Just stick with the monster funk, guys! It's so good when you're just funkin' it up.
Sat Aug 21 2021
2
Maybe because I'm used to their more upbeat songs but this album was a drag. Maybe the songs work on their own but together it was a single melody, slow and depressing.
Tue Feb 23 2021
5
Classic - loved hearing papa was a rolling stone. Really funky. And surprised to hear “the ni**as are coming”
Fri Jan 15 2021
5
Pure funk. Very cool.
Tue Feb 09 2021
5
Super funky and socially conscious. I can dig it.
Thu Dec 09 2021
5
Funky rollercoaster of emotions? Yes please! To think they almost didn't include "Papa" and "Run Charlie Run", and that they expected the album to flop because of these songs, is completely insane. Papa is the only song in this album that I was already familiar with (and love!). Discovering the others was an absolute treat. Was dancing and groovin' from the first track. "Do your Thing" will probably be the soundtrack to those days when I need a little extra motivation from the heavens. And boy does Otis Williamses' baritone voice get me every time. Don't know another voice like it.
Tue Apr 26 2022
5
I always knew Papa Was a Rolling Stone was a Certified Banger™, and I am very happy to see the rest of the album has no trouble matching it's prowess.
Fri Mar 24 2023
4
Nicely understated and surprisingly enjoyable. Of it's time great vocals and musicianship.
Mon Feb 01 2021
2
Good songs here and there, but overall really not my style...
Thu Nov 12 2020
5
A perfect blend of Motown and Funk. Solid 5. Every song is a fucking goddamn gorgeous banger. Run Charlie Run and their cover of First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is to die for.
Mon May 31 2021
5
Love the temptations and a few of my favourites are on this album.
Fri Jun 18 2021
5
Classic
Tue Jan 26 2021
5
Loved Papa was a rolling stone and run Charlie run
Sun Apr 18 2021
5
Wow this was a surprise, knew a few of the tunes, the entire album was great though
Tue May 04 2021
5
Fantastic
Fri Jun 11 2021
5
So good.
Fri May 28 2021
5
Interesting
Fri May 14 2021
5
Beautiful
Mon May 17 2021
5
Absolutely fantastic album. Same thing - heard of Temptations but never went through the album. Even the unknown songs are great. And both ends - pure happy funky, to very relaxed and chill R&B motown. Great great great.
Tue Jun 29 2021
5
Sho’ Nuff it was funky "'Cause funky music sho nuff turn me on" "Look, the niggers are coming" "I watch you go to church on Sunday But you forget all you learned on Monday Well, you see your smiling face can't hide Well well well, how you hate your brother inside" "He came into this world with a mind so clean You took it, molded it, and made it mean" Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone always love this when I hear it a lot of Motown songs of this era and definitely earlier would pretty much be finished before the first vocals in this one love the "whammy" style or whatever you call it although considering the era probably just the production not sure but sounds great had to look it up and it was played by "Wah Wah Watson" so a pedal presumably Shoo-wop-shoo-wop The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face I love every single version of this song but had yet to hear this version, I cant believe that is a guy singing Isaac Hayes - Do Your Thing "version" is a fantastic closer
Fri Sep 17 2021
5
Quite a lot in here that I had heard without realising what it was, superb album I will definitely return to.
Mon Sep 20 2021
5
groovy, too short 8c 5/5? mm probably
Thu Oct 21 2021
5
Vraiment tres bon. Un album que je reviendrai assurement
Mon Nov 08 2021
5
Funky MF! Altså Papa was a rolling Stone er 3 stjerner i sig selv, og så lidt flere numre giver 4-5 stjerner
Tue Nov 09 2021
5
Classic Motown, "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" & "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" stand out tracks but not much wrong with all of this Album. One for the collection deffo!
Tue Nov 16 2021
5
I'm discovering as I'm going through this list that I have a previously unknown affinity for funk music. This would be a five star album of it was literally just 'Papa Was A Rollin' Stone'. Everything else is just a bonus.
Sat Dec 04 2021
5
Кайф!
Mon Jan 10 2022
5
Very soulful! Heavy "Shaft" vibes.
Tue Jan 11 2022
5
It was the third of september! Papa was a rolling stone
Sun Feb 13 2022
5
This album is everything!
Tue Feb 15 2022
5
This album is timeless, and shows the absolute staying power the Temptations have in the American canon. absolutely stunning.
Thu Feb 24 2022
5
Strong open with Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On. I normally hate a live track, but this gets the nod. I wasn't expecting social commentary either - this is ace (Run Charlie Run). And despite my much chronicled loathing of overlong songs, Papa Was a Rolling Stone is such an exercise in moody groove, I can't not love it. It gets a bit more old school with Love Woke Me Up, but that's almost a relief after three very different and brilliant tracks. I Ain't Got Nothing shouts back to The Flamingos, and is moody and ace again. The First Time is trad again, and while not the best version of such a lovely song, definitely a great one.
Tue Apr 26 2022
5
I'll be honest, Run Charlie Run shocked the shit out of me based on the time period. This album bumps, and has no fluff at all.
Tue May 03 2022
5
Was gonna give it 4 stars, but after hearing it again, with the current state of music, I've changed it to a 5
Fri May 27 2022
5
Groovy and funktastic.
Sat Jun 18 2022
5
Every fish has bowl, every shoe has a sole. Brilliant.
Sat Jun 18 2022
5
Apart from singles I am not so familiar with the Temptations output in the seventies and had just overlooked this 1972 album. In short, it turned out to be another great Temptations/Whitfield album - with one mega-classic song of twelve minutes - while the other songs, including a cover of a very familiar song - are excellent too, in particular I liked their version of Isaac Hayes' Do Your Thing. Definitely 5 stars.
Sun Jun 19 2022
5
Wow - that was a storming Motown album, far grittier and sharper than I expected. Hats off to them, that's a brilliant set of songs and amazingly delivered.
Mon Jun 20 2022
5
idk yet
Fri Jul 08 2022
5
Flawless first half, should listen to more of their full albums.
Mon Jul 11 2022
5
todas as direções!
Wed Jul 20 2022
5
Didn’t know what to expect. Took me in all directions.
Tue Jul 26 2022
5
The fact that thus album contains the finest ever version of Papa Was A Rolling Stone makes it 5. And Run, Charlie, Run is still confronting today. Inspiring decision to include a politically charged track.
Sat Aug 06 2022
5
Motown goes funky, what's not to love?
Fri Sep 09 2022
5
Worried this was going to be a one song album however every song was great.
Sun Sep 25 2022
5
amazing. A+. 10/10. Papa Was A Rolling Stone, and First Time Ever I Saw Your Face were favorites, but ever song is a winner. i mean, it’s The Temptations, come on
Wed Oct 05 2022
5
Papa was a Rolling Stone is a masterpiece that occupies most of this album but the other songs are worth listening to as well. I would call this one of the genre defining albums of Soul.
Fri Oct 14 2022
5
Pretty much everything you want from a record by The Temptations, including Papa Was a Rolling Stone, an obvious but correct choice for best song.
Tue Oct 25 2022
5
Solid 5 for 'Love Woke Me Up This Morning' alone, let alone 'Poppa was a Rolling Stone'.
Mon Nov 07 2022
5
I love funk music so much. It just hits different, for sure
Tue Nov 29 2022
5
Funky music sure enough does turn me on
Sat Dec 03 2022
5
Way more psychedelic than I was expecting, in a great way. A fantastic album.
Thu Dec 08 2022
5
Excellent timing for this considering I just bought a Best of Temptations album from a $2 record fair at a local classical radio station in Coorparoo.
Tue Jan 03 2023
5
What fine voices, how they convey emotion, gives the chills! Intense and beautiful. First Time Ever I Saw about my favorite version so far, that voice, ahhhhhh.
Thu Jan 19 2023
5
This is great! I think they took kind of a chance making this record, it’s way different and much darker than their other poppy motown hits and ballads.
Sat Jan 21 2023
5
Amazing, I enjoyed every minute of it. So groovy and funky.
Wed Jan 25 2023
5
nostalgic jams
Fri Jan 27 2023
5
The Temptations’ All Directions feels to me like a quietly brilliant encapsulation of a specific era in music, one that succinctly wove the political with the mundane; one that treated love as do-or-die (a specific thematic concept that boy bands for decades to follow would run and soar with). of course the album is anchored by the breathtaking “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”, a funk-filled soul monolith that would wear an entire generational story in its transcendental bassline, but i keep finding myself returning to The Temptations’ ruminations on love and life: “Run Charlie Run”, for one, is an evocative telling of weaponized whiteness, and “I Ain’t Got Nothing” as well as the borderline perfect “The First Time I Saw Your Face” are love songs so touchingly sweet and moving that love itself would be proud. The Temptations are not afraid to challenge their sound here — they open the record with psychedelic and funk inclinations that rear their heads throughout the album, but the jazz and soul (that sunday morning soul, you know the sound) glisten with powerful effect. here’s a generation-defining sound bottled up in not even 40 minutes, and time has no hold on it whatsoever.
Fri Jan 27 2023
5
This was really a nice surprise! For some reason I knew nothing about this band (but of course I recognized many of the songs), but this really is music with feeling.
Fri Feb 03 2023
5
This is such a great R&B/funk album and it really shows how great The Temptations are compared to their lackluster representation in the Rolling Stone Top 500 albums. (An anthology album? Really?) The obvious centerpiece is the 12-minute ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone’, which is just such an amazing song, but there are other highlights as well. ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ is a beautifully sung Roberta Flack cover, ‘I Ain’t Got Nothin’’ is well-produced, and ‘Run Charlie Run’ is surprisingly poignant social commentary.
Tue Feb 14 2023
5
Did you know that The Temptations were some of the all time greats? I did
Mon Feb 20 2023
5
This is a tour de force in early '70s funk and soul. Everything about the sound and production of this album are top notch. Almost every song hits it out of the park. The long version of Papa Was a Rollin' Stone stretches out the parts that make this song so good without making it boring and repetitious. I Ain't Got Nuthin' and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face are just dripping in romance. Scale: 5 - My absolute favorites. 4 - Albums I like. 3 - It was ok to listen to but I wouldn't seek it out. 2 - Didn't like. 1 - Absolute shit.
Thu Feb 23 2023
5
5.0 - “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” continues the trend in R&B towards longer orchestral arrangements that build quietly to an emotional apex, similar to Isaac Hayes’ work on “Hot Buttered Soul” released 3 years earlier. Epic! Every song on here is great. Other standouts: “Love Woke Me Up…” and “The First Time…”
Thu Apr 13 2023
5
Fantastic funky soul
Sun Apr 16 2023
5
Slaps.
Thu Apr 27 2023
5
Great
Thu Apr 27 2023
5
Perfect.
Thu May 25 2023
5
I was a big fan of The Temptations before listening, and I'm an even bigger fan afterward. This is more slower and relaxing compared to the other things I have heard from them, but I loved it. Lyrics were flawless, and Otis Williams is a vocal legend. Papa Was A Rolling Stone is a certified classic, and Love Woke Me Up This Morning has been in my rotation for the entire day. Amazing all around.
Sat May 27 2023
5
Papa was a rolling stone!
Wed May 31 2023
5
hell yeah B)
Wed Jun 07 2023
5
So good, every track. 👏🏼♥️
Sun Feb 28 2021
4
Great mood music for weekend mornings!
Fri Nov 20 2020
4
Great album, lots of covers but all done in that great temptations groove
Tue Dec 08 2020
4
Nice and easy, good vibes
Tue Nov 17 2020
4
Lots of good soul, including Papa Was a Rolling Stone
Fri Apr 09 2021
4
Good, led me down a nice path in Spotify after it finished. Better for that than the full album was but still enjoyable.
Wed Jan 13 2021
4
I do like the sound of funky music
Wed Jan 13 2021
4
Classic funk album
Mon Jan 25 2021
4
Loved the vibe on this album. Check out James Blake's cover of "the first time ever i saw your face".
Wed Jan 13 2021
4
This album restored my life rhythm from the clutches of enveloping bedridden mental isolation. At the onset of their overtly sensual first song, I could tell the whole album was going to radiate a bonafide groove. While listening to Papa Was a Rolling Stone and I Ain’t Got Nothin, I could imagine the lyrics being sung by an old scratchy banjo player with a minimal banjo part (the lush string parts would be missed though) and raspy, saturated singing. “And when he died, all he left us was alone.” The four minute intro to this song was a story in itself. Aside from these two songs, Mother Nature stood out to me as well. This plastic world is sho nuff killing us all!
Tue Feb 09 2021
4
Yeah great, this version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is an excellent effort.
Thu Mar 18 2021
4
Soul! Fun!
Tue Mar 02 2021
4
I'm not into the slower jams, but when it's going (which is most of the album) this is solid. Definitely worth a listen.
Wed Jan 13 2021
4
The album has some weak songs here and there, but most of the songs are nice and fun to listen to. I also liked the varied topics that were in these songs. Topics like love, having nothing, black power and more. Really Liked it. Favorite songs: - Run Charlie Run - Love Woke me Up This Morning - I Ain't Got Nothing - The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face - Do Your Thing
Fri Mar 05 2021
4
Pretty good nice variation while keeping the same sound and lyrical content is nice
Wed Jan 13 2021
4
I feel like these guys have been slighted by what music has passed through time, like I only remember the chorus of papa rollin' stone instead of the heartfelt lyrics or the ' first time I ever saw your face' ballad but not the black power run Charlie and the heavier feelings of Mother Nature. and the producing of it. lots of creativity. it's Motown but not the glossy happy. geez does this happen to every genre where the culture that follows only remembers the pop and not the underbrush. when this happens in classical music, we assume it's the 'quality' that keeps certain music above the rest,, but I have always found it more interesting to listen acrooossss and under and now I've talked too much which is not honoring this music.
Tue Jan 26 2021
4
Listened 26/1/21
Thu Jan 14 2021
4
Funky. And I recognised a few songs so can see why it’s here.
Tue Mar 16 2021
4
LOVE IT!!!
Tue Feb 02 2021
4
Fantastic music. Always makes me think of my dad and his love for old soul.
Wed Jun 16 2021
4
Papa Was a Rollin Stone is a Magnum Opus. The rest of the album is funky good.
Sat Jan 30 2021
4
Funky
Tue Feb 09 2021
4
The Temptations are awesome - sugary poppy doo-wop group turned psychedelia-embracing politically conscious funk superstars! Fave track - "Papa was a Rolling Stone" 12 minutes of prog funk, what's not to love!
Thu Mar 04 2021
4
Great stuff. Run Charlie Run shocked me - not what I expected from The Temptations... Papa Was a Rolling Stone is a great groove. Love the opening track. This is another album that slowed down a little as it went on. But that seems to just be how the cookie crumbles.