Ali and the Emperors of Soul at the Mohegan Sun

[MikeNYC]

Ali-Ollie's coming to your neck of the woods.

[Ivory Fair]

No, he's already been here and gone. Boy did we have fun! Well, respectively anyway.

I don't see a phone number, email him I bet he can give you the hook up....
[e-mail]

Tell him we want to hear you two debate the legitimacy of all of these splinter groups.

[MikeNYC]

What's the pay ? ;D

[sukkafu]

the payoff is satisfaction-so you can shut up all these folks pestering you with ignorance!

[MikeNYC]

I do that anyway. ;D

[sukkafu]

YES, I KNOW!

The Mohegan Sun is a pretty place to gamble, even though I dislike multi-deck shoes.

[sukkafu]

why ss-are they full of multi deck cards to cheat with? ;D

[AKA THE FUF]

Hey Ivy, did you go to Ali's show again, hummmm. Did he give you his famous hug? Or is that a secret? Tell me anyway. ;D

[sukkafu]

HE WAS JUST TREATING HER LIKE A LADY! ;D

[Ivory Fair]

Nope, no show for me! No hugs either. But trust me, just one hug is enough to last a girl a life time.

[AKA THE FUF]

Hummmmm...

[Nish]

This is a great thread guys!

I had a chance to see 2 leads - Dennis Edwards and Ali-Ollie at the show I went to last week. Dennis of course had his Review, and they did a very authentic sounding medley of psychedelic hits. Mr. Woodson sang no Tempts songs. Rather, he was Aretha Franklin's featured duet partner on a gospelized version of "Freeway of Love." I will say that I am classic 5 all the way. The reason why I love Richard so much is because he is "ORIGINAL" in that he was with motown for a long time, he's a stalwart to me. And he fits right in with the classic Motown tenor class that makes Motown's male vocalists a cut above.

I like Dennis, but i don't like the psychedelic stuff, so you know, the voice is great to me, the songs, not so hot.

Ali-Ollie - as a child of the 80s, one would assume he was the first Tempt I saw. But no, I saw the classics first. I was lukewarm about him at first - you know, good voice, but since I didn't like much of the Tempts 80s output, I wasn't really paying much attention.

Then I heard his duet with Freda Payne and came to appreciate his vocal ability, which is astounding. But when I heard him talking so passionately about David Ruffin, I can't help but accept the cat. I'm sure David would have, Ali owes so much of his style to him, and he acknowledged him so I'm okay with it.

Just like I love Damon Harris because he's a great singer, and he acknowledges the master high tenor's influence on his style. I like that.

I can't ever see David Ruffin live, but I think Dennis and Ali come close to capturing his spirit. Not because they sound like him... WHO CAN SOUND LIKE AN IDEAL? NO ONE CAN. David is the IDEAL! But, when they sing one of his songs, I hear the love for his singing and his person flow forth, and that makes me okay with the performance. if that makes any sense.

[Aba21]

That must have been some show. Let me see....Dennis, his style suited the musical direction the Temptations took in the seventies. As a child of the sixties, I thought David was and is the best but Dennis won me over in a hurry. He can sing the ballads like the other stuff, A song For You, Do You Wanna Go With Me?, Shadow of Your Love. And at this point he still pretty much has his voice. I saw them from the beginning and Dennis ain't no slouch on the other songs like My Girl and Ain't Too Proud to Beg.

Damon was too young to be a Temptation to me and his voice sounded that way when he first joined. But it was perfect for Pappa... and he tried to sound too much like Eddie. How you gonna replace Eddie James Kendrick? Same with David except Dennis brought his own game to the dance. Damon does have a beautiful voice but the second best 1st tenor in the group goes to Glenn Loenard. Most on this board disagree but they talk about the music during his time and I talk about the voice. He also has some great tunes, Can't You See SweetThing, I'm On Fire to name two. Damon sounded much better fronting his group Impact which I was crazy about.

Ali was a great singer with the group also. Lady soul, Treat Her Like A Lady and Special being great songs. He seemed to be annoyed when Theo joined the group because in my mind Theo was the next great voice of the Temptations. Listen to the For Lovers Only cd and Stay and see if you agree with me.

I was just talking about Richard. He was There. He was professional. And he was good. I was saying that my only beef with him was with what he(the group) did with My Girl when he sang it. It is the national anthem and should be sung the right way. Your word stalwart is correct when talking about Richard. And you just made a friend for life when you put David up there at the top! Right Mike? ;D

[Nish]

Oh my, I am like Ruffinatic #1. I get misty-eyed when I hear "My Baby" for crying out loud, a happy song! That's how much I love David!

But Damon earned my everlasting respect when he sang the honey-coated words "I may not be the one you want, but I'm sho the one you need." Just melt a girl's heart, you know?

And Ali, well, Ali is Ali, and that's all right with me. He's a great singer. I'm not too familiar with anything past "Just My Imagination" quite honestly. But between the Spinners and the Tempts, it should be illegal to have so much talent belong to just one group. I mean, the Spinners go from Bobby to Chico to GC to Philippe to John Edwards. Then the Tempts have David, Paul, Eddie, Dennis, Richard, Ali, Theo all as members at some point. I can make a pretty strong case that these 12 names represent some of the greatest soul singers of their respective eras. Well, for David, I just have to say he's the greatest soul singer ever. Epitome of Soul.