STILL HERE is an absolutely fantastic CD with a refreshing collection of new songs. The CD demonstrates The Temptations' ability and tradition to record excellent ballads as well as socially conscious and relevant songs using five-part harmony. I congratulate and thank Otis Williams for being the "glue" to hold the concept and tradition together throughout the years despite their rather frequent change in group membership due to a variety of reasons. The Temptations have once again gathered a terrific membership in which fans can look forward to hearing their next new CD and in concert. Each member is wonderfully featured by singing lead in segments of songs.
I have always enjoyed The Temptations songs when their co-leads are featured such as the historic David Ruffin & Eddie Kendricks, then Dennis Edwards & Damon Harris/Glen Leonard (with periodic leads by Richard Street), then Ali-Ollie Woodson & Ron Tyson. Often these duo performances included periodic leads by Richard Street, the smooth voice narration (i.e., rapping) of Otis Williams and the deep bass contributions by Melvin Franklin in order to provide full harmony at all levels.
Well once again, the greatness is back!!! The Temptations have returned with their use of three stellar lead singers of Ron Tyson, Terry Weeks and Bruce Williamson while also including the use of Otis Williams' smooth rapping and Joe Herndon's deep bass contributions. When listening to both their new CD "STILL HERE" and their previous one "BACK TO FRONT" of classic cover songs, it's obvious that The Temptations have embraced and are committed to putting out quality music with ol' skool flavor.
The new CD has new songs titled "Listen Up" and "Change Has Come". Listening to these songs harken back to the good ol' skool days the Tempts performed socially relevant songs such as "Ball Of Confusion," "Message From A Black Man," "Cloud Nine," and "Runaway Child, Running Wild" All of these songs have socially meaningful lyrics as fantastic rhythms.
The ballads on the CD titled "Still Here With Me," "Woman," and "Hold Me" are absolutely wonderful.
FInally, just in case any of The Temptations happen to read this review, I beg of you to please remain together and continue performing as a group. At long last, The Temptations have compiled a group of members who obviously compliment each other's vocal talents. The song writers and producers of the CD were perfect for the overall concept and inclusion on the CD. The resultant quality clearly comes through with each song for each of the two consecutive CDs most recently released. Your fans have awaited the return of such consistent excellence for many years. Please do not disappoint us again by going through another membership change.
Great job!!!!!