Cloud Nine

The Temptations are a weird group. They were early pioneers in funk but they came out of the motown scene. Most bands who straddle the genre line like this produce songs that sort of smear the line between. Not The Temptations. Oh, no. The songs on this album are very solidly either funk or motown. I love the funk tracks so much. They hit the pocket and just grind. They're great. The motown tracks no so much. They're great examples of motown soul ... I just don't dig the genre.

I loved this album. After a long day at work getting back and putting this on whilst cooking dinner was an absolute winner

My vague knowledge of The Temptations remains vague, but now I know for sure that I love them

The A side could be an easy 5, but the back half drags into good but generic motown that brings the record down a bit.

(à lire impérativement avec la voix de Jacques Chirac) Écoutez, je dois dire que j'ai été très déçu par cet album. La pochette laissait présager une véritable bouffée d'air soul au milieu de tous ces albums de rock générés par Robert. De la soul, oui, mais de la soul psychédélique, j'émets des réserves.

👍🏼

Obviously, The Temptations Cloud Nine was groundbreaking at the time for its use of funk, but how does it hold up? To modern ears, the earnestness of the lyrics grates a little. Social consciousness is one thing, but these lyrics are pretty on the nose. But how about the music? The playing and arrangements of the first three tracks in the relatively new funk style are impeccable. They groove relentlessly. And sure enough, it's the Temps, so the vocals kick ass. After the initial blast of funk, the rest of the album reverts to the Temptations signature smooth soul. This is not necessarily a bad thing. There's a lot to be said for soulful and varied vocals, competent if conventional arrangements, and the solid songcraft and musicianship from the Motown stable. I've got to be honest. I prefer 70s soul to 60s soul, but Cloud Nine is one of the more solid efforts of the period. There is little of the outright filler, pointless covers of hit material, and outright pandering to crossover audiences that was all too common on Motown releases. I'll subtract half a point for some painful earnestness and out of subjective personal preference. 4 1/2 out of 5

I absolutely love this album. It's got a lot of funk to it, and it has a great groove. The instrumental choices were very nice and characteristic of the era, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Super 70s production - very wide stereo sound, funky bass lines, crunchy guitar and rhodes riffs, soulful singing - lots of love jams. Good to throw on and just vibe. Favorite song: Love is a Hurtin' Thing

I went on youtube for this shit. Like it was 2011. Maybe that's why I liked it so much. Sitting in a simpler time. Good energy. Ah. The Temptations!

Feel good album. Started very soulful and got heavy 50s-pop toward the end. Not a huge fan of their rendition of "Heard It Through The Grapevine". Otherwise, good stuff.

Pleasant but unremarkable.

Loved this. I’ve been hitting a wall lately — not wanting to keep up with this. But this album basically reinvigorated me haha.

I think people who don't like funk or soul music might just be racist. Favorite track: Hey Girl

The Norman Whitfield years are underway—epic songs, psychedelic soul. David Ruffin is gone, and Dennis Edwards takes over as lead, but the voices remain the standard—Kendricks, Williams, and Franklin take notable solo spots throughout. The cover of the Gladys Knight/Pips version of Grapevine is decent, as are the other b-side cuts, but the title track and Run Away Child, Running Wild set the tone for the Temps to come. Funk Brothers moving at full speed. A perfect encapsulation of the late 60s Motown era.

With the arrival of Dennis Edwards, the Temptations shift into a funkier direction while still keeping their Motown roots. Of its time, but that’s not a bad thing.

No. 234/1001 Cloud Nine 4/5 I Heard It Through The Grapevine 3/5 Runaway Child, Running Wild 3/5 (3x) Love Is A Hurtin' Thing 4/5 Hey Girl 3/5 Why Did She Have To Leave Me 4/5 I Need Your Lovin' 3/5 Don't Let Him Take Your Love From Me 4/5 I Gotta Find A Way 4/5 Gonna Keep On Tryin' Till I Win Your Love 4/5 Average: 3,5 Really fun soul album.

This was fun. I know this album gets pegged as the Temps' big funk and psychedelic turn, but much of it is not. It's more that they took their signature sound and tweaked it slightly to go with the tone of what was on the charts at the time. It actually works pretty well. The more funk-driven tracks of side 1 are the real deal. The title track is a stone cold classic. I'm just realizing "Runaway Child" clocks in at 9+ minutes. It's pretty awesome as well, and kind of surprising coming from this group. Honestly the only side 1 song that left me a little cold was the cover of "Grapevine," which brought nothing new to the song. Dennis Edwards absolutely deserves credit here for making his mark as a vocalist in the wake of David Ruffin's departure. He was never going to top Ruffin, but he sounds great here, his grit balanced nicely by Eddie Kendricks’ splendid vocal. The album could have been a flat-out failure, and it's actually a really fun listen. I'm actually digging several of the more conventionally Temptations-y romantic songs. They're lovely, classic Motown songs, which are always a delight to hear. Fave Songs: Cloud Nine, Run Away Child Running Wild, I Gotta Find a Way (To Get You Back), Why Did She Have to Leave Me, Love is a Hurtin' Thing

Don't think I've ever sat down and listened to a Temptations record before. Production sounds amazing, crisp and warm, it does the slightly disorienting 60s stereo thing where the drums are hard panned to one channel, so it's not a headphones record. Pretty ballsy putting a 9-minute track third, but it mostly worked here. Sounds like it's straddling the line between classic Motown and 70s soul - I preferred the Motown-style tracks. Really refreshing to hear another version of Grapevine that hasn't been played to death

The funky version of the Temptation works for me. There were times when I thought the mix could have been a bit better. Sometimes the falsetto stands out a bit too much from the rest of the arrangement. The songs, though, are top notch 4/5

not as good as the last temptations album, but still a 4

Pretty good. “Runaway Child, Running Wild” took me by surprise.

It was okayish funky. I enjoyed it but I didn't love it

a good time :) missing that standout track to give it a 4 other than i need your lovin' though

I feel like there’s a whole group of people who find the Temptations really, really historically important but no one ever said anything and they just expect us to know? They don’t run around trying to insert the Temptations into ever conversation, it’s more like ‘whatevz, yer loss.’ Strange.

Grosse erreur de la part des Temptations, qui n'ont pas eu la présence d'esprit, a la sortie de leur album, de le rendre disponible sur les plateformes de streaming. Ceci plafonne par consequent directement leur note a 3/5. A l'heure du digital, il est tout bonnement scandaleux de ne proposer un album qu'exclusivement disponible sur Youtube. J'ai d'ailleurs alerté mon bon ami robtouillère de ce petit scandale, qui s'est empressé de le signaler directement à Robert Dimery, grâce à sa proximité extrême avec ce dernier. Des mesures devraient etre prises très bientôt, à bon entendeur.

smooth and warm. OK

Meh. I liked the first song. Hated their grapevine cover.

The funk. The Motown. Such a great album to just vibe to.

Some solid funk and Motown, will absolutely be listening to this again sometime

Me gusto un chingo este álbum tiene una buena vibra y en escala de fumable esta mega top

Good.

Banger after banger. Cloud Nine is funky fresh from start to finish. Clean tasty bass

Unsung heroes of history: The Funk Brothers was the studio band for motown records during this period where motown records was re-defining soul and r&b and basically creating the playbook for american music for the next century. Soak in James Jamerson grooving the hell out of the bassline and Uriel Jones locking down the kit with that hi hat on the title track. try not to nod your head! oh to be a fly on the wall for these recordings...

10/10 based af

Strong funky numbers in the first few tracks, followed by Motown R&B. Love the James Jamerson bass lines as always

Bloody lovely for a chill quiet, cold morn

Awesome!

Hard not to give this iconic album 5 stars

Absolutely pioniers

Pleasantly surprised by this album. Sort of thought they were all my girl type music (not that thats bad, i just dont need a whole album of it). but this album was funky and cool

This little pitstop on the evolution of soul into funk through Motown is everything I needed. It's uplifting and melodic but also raw at times. The title track as an album opener is such a heavy hitter.

classy soul

Fantastic album

Music for knocking boots.

Wow - I was blown away by this - I was expecting some pretty generic Motown standards but the funk and soul really shine through. Love the bass vocals and the instrumentation as well.

Więcej!

Some of the original cool cats of music. What a group. I'm down for the groovy-ness of this album. Easy listening.

Loved it! So many good songs

It was interesting love to dance to that kind of music...

You may have to resort to YouTube to find this as it doesn't appear to be listed on either Tidal or Amazon Music. Once you do find it though, well, what a cracking lite album. The music, the voice, the pace - all spot on.

This album is great, all around fantastic.

Funky fresh soul

Just a little funk but a still solid feel of the past Classic Five

Classic Motown. Each voice is rich and unique.

It was good, at least the few tracks I could find on streaming services!

A really enjoyable pop album infused with just the right amount of Soul and funk to make every song enjoyable. A great Sunny days album walking about and dancing. Cloud Nine, I heard it through the Grapevine and Runaway Child, Running Wild are my favorites, super strong opening for the apbum... 5/5 for my tastes.

Really enjoyable. 9/10

Awesome

👍👍👍

Great album. I wasn't familiar with individual songs, but it's a great mix.

obsessed

Funky, groovy, great album. Couldn't stop myself from tapping my feet to just about every song. Favourite Tracks: Cloud Nine, Love is a Hurtin Thing, Dont Let Him Take Your Love From Me

Funk and soul will just forever hold my heart. The Temptations have done it once again with this one. I was hooked from the instant I started this album, and it didn't let me go until the end. What a treat. Favorite track: Runaway Child, Running Wild

So fun went by p quick

Great album, would love to own the vinyl

Beautiful album. Can definitely see why it would make the list

I love the temptations and I love this album cover and I’d like to get one of their albums for our record player but yeah big slay loved

I have never heard any of the songs on this album. Some have less than 100k listens on spotify. For all wiki says about this being a wildly successful album and it earning them a grammy, has this been lost to all but the super fans? Only their previous super hits get play any radio play? Anyway, this is one of those gems I do this for. From the first notes I knew this album would crush it.

Absolute fire. Shame a number of the tracks are greyed out on Spotify…

very cool

Great album. Too bad it's not available on Youtube Music.

Every song is a gem. I’m sad I spent my life not listening to this album.

overall rating: 8.5/10 favourite song: i heard it through the grapevine ( 9/10 ) runner up favourite: hey girl ( 8.5/10 ) least favourite: love is a hurtin thing ( 6.5/10 ) album cover: 7/10 vocals: 10/10 instrumentals: 9/10 would i recommend ? : i’d randomly bring it up to people , i don’t know any soul fans though other: i’ve never listened to soul before this album. this album is so fun, the vocals are incredible and the instrumentals are so catchy and funky.

I have always loved the Temptations. 10/10.

Sing-along favorites for all time

(rounding up to 5, because I want to rememebr to listen more to thise guys) Tempatations cloud 9 - tight. but ti not the GREATESt HITS... its a new sonbd maybe,.., makes me want more"1001" is a wide ranging tour and education, .. and even this is new for me. I know the name. thats it. ...You can enjoy the breakthrough unique sound and just imagine how amazing it would have sounded "in the day" when I captured the sound of that summer and excitement of the time. plus is beautiful to listen too. vocals. tapping beat and a sound so often imitated...

Físicamente en mi casa, mentalmente en cloud nine

This album is amazing. The sounds are quintessential soul, the rhythm is tight when it needs to be and buoyant when it can be. The vocal harmonies are old school cool. I love the versatility of the musicians to play it slow and keep it cool or ramp it up and chug.

Very eventful songs, never boring, a lot of the interplay between the singers can be repetitive sometimes but i still enjoyed it all the way through the album, great framework for motown beats and feel. Great vibe altogether and really enjoyed that one. This is an easy 5 star for me

This is a hell of a good album. Top 10 tracks throughout, amazing theme, and perfect music. 5/5

Unfortunately only 4 songs available to listen on Spotify. I found the rest on Youtube. A great album, very funky. I love it!!

What a back catalogue

Ace!

ovindo

A but more intense and “issues” driven than your classic “My Girl” Temptations. Predicting some of the classic sounds of the 70s quite early. But hey, when I see Temptations I do a 5 star

Dude..... i LOVED this.

Voi juma, et kannatti palaa näihin Spottarissa-vajaata-levyihin! Mä ehkä joudun ostaa levysoittimen ja tän albumin (jos löytyy ja on varaa). Saatana. Huh.

Really love

Very fun

Classic.

classic album

Weird version of Grapevine but still interesting. Amazing playing and great vocals. Can anyone in the world dislike classic rnb?

Great sound. Truly an album of its time.

Even though I’m not normally an R&B fan, this album is incredible. The vocal harmonies are perfect, the emotions are a vibe, and the soul can be felt in every note. Just listen to it and tell me I’m wrong. Standout songs are I Heard it Through the Grapevine and Why Did She Have To Leave Me.

Perfect Temptations album, very diverse songs that never get bored: great album in every aspect

4.5/5. Quite solid. some lengthy cuts, but no skips

The temptations got me on Cloud 9. And I think the main guy is a Eunique

Had to get a free trial with Apple Music to listen to this. And very glad I did. Fascinating, almost 'concept' album bordering soul and psychadelia. Definitely caused me to re-evaluate The Temptations, and for the better