Cloud Nine (Temptations album)
| Cloud Nine | ||||
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| Studio album by The Temptations | ||||
| Released | February 17, 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 1968 – January 1969 | |||
| Genre | Soul, psychedelic soul | |||
| Length | 31:35 | |||
| Label | Gordy | |||
| Producer | Norman Whitfield | |||
| The Temptations chronology | ||||
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| Allmusic |   |
Cloud Nine is the ninth studio album by American musical group The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1969.
The album is a watershed for several reasons. It is the first regular Temptations studio LP to feature Dennis Edwards as the replacement for David Ruffin, who was fired in June 1968. In addition, it marks the beginning of the Temptations' four-year delve into psychedelia recording, at the behest of producer Norman Whitfield, in a fusion genre referred to as "psychedelic soul." The album went to number four on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart and the group received their first Grammy Award in 1969.
Norman Whitfield took the Temptations into psychedelic territory after a suggestion from the group's de facto leader, Otis Williams. Williams had been discussing Sly & the Family Stone's music, and the changes it brought to the soul music industry, with his friend, producer Kenneth Gamble. Gamble agreed with Williams that Sly Stone's funkier production style and multi-lead vocals was here to stay and that it was time to learn to adapt to it.
While Williams, Whitfield, and Williams' then-wife Ann Cain were standing outside of the Casino Royale nightclub in Motown's home city of Detroit during the summer of 1968, Williams suggested that Whitfield might try to produce something like Sly & the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music" for their next single. The Temptations had been successful with romantic ballads such as "My Girl" and mid-tempo numbers such as "(I Know) I'm Losing You", but Williams, taking Gamble's advice, felt that it was time to update the group's sound. "Man, I don't want to be bothered with that shit," remarked Whitfield, who regarded the Family Stone sound as a "passing fancy".
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