Psychedelic Shack | ||||
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Studio album by The Temptations | ||||
Released | March 6, 1970 | |||
Recorded | November 1969 – February 1970 | |||
Studio | Hitsville USA, Detroit | |||
Genre | Psychedelic soul, rock, soul | |||
Length | 36:35 | |||
Label |
Gordy GS 947 |
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Producer | Norman Whitfield | |||
The Temptations chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | Allmusic review |
Psychedelic Shack is the twelfth studio album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1970, which represents the Temptations' full-blown submergence into psychedelia. Completely written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield, Psychedelic Shack almost completely abandoned the "Motown Sound" formula for this LP; hard rock guitars, synthesizer sound effects, multitracked drums, and stereo-shifting vocals giving most of the album's songs a harder, less traditional feel than the Temptations' previous work.
Psychedelic Shack was one of the last albums completed before the third incarnation of The Temptations (Dennis Edwards, Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams) broke apart. During the recording of the album, Paul Williams, already possessing a fragile condition because of sickle-cell disease, was now also fighting complications from five years of heavy alcoholism. Williams would frequently be unable to record or perform, and the Temptations had to resort to hiring Richard Street, an old friend of Otis WIlliams' and lead singer of minor Motown act The Monitors, as a stand-in for Paul Williams. At the same time, Eddie Kendricks' growing animosity towards Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, and the group's general frustration over their lack of creative control and their treatment at the hands of Motown, resulted in an increased amount of infighting and set the stage for Kendricks' imminent departure in early 1971.