Tempts songs and albums etc

[Cadeho]

Lately I've been using www.dftmc.info/main.html to help me order my Temptations songs chronologically. As far back as 2000 I had ordered the 1961 - 1963 songs and put them on tape. Then a few years later I added more songs and then more songs thanks to some reissues with extended versions and alternate versions. Now I find out "Lonely Lonely Man Am I" was recorded 12/27/63.. and I am trying so hard to squeeze it onto a 80 minute CD... the song puts me over 9 seconds! The thing about that song is, I swear I hear David while it's fading. Either he was a member at the very end of 1963 or they remixed the song and added him to it.

But then too, it amazes me how much of the albums are just collections of songs in the old days. Some songs on "Sing Smokey" are younger than those on "Temptin' Temptations" and "Gettin' Ready" covers three years and was put out the year after! I've found that there are gaps in between recording times in some years, are these times they were on tour or are there even mroe stuff in the vaults? I found an odd song from 1966 listed with not much info on dftmc, "Part Time Lover" by the Tempts... GAH! Why won't Motown just release its entire vault!? I have also found 1967 to be an extremely busy year with over 30 songs recorded that span 3 albums. I do wish I knew when "Fan the Flame" and "He Who Picks a Rose" had dates on dftmc so I can finish 1967.

If any of you can remember on Ed's site, the 1961 - 1963 disc I named "The Legacy Begins: 1961 - 1963. Well, for the 1964 and 1965 sets, I've named them "The Smokey Era" and the 1966 one "The Norman Whitfield Era Begins." The collection for 1967 runs a little long with "The Last Ruffin Year." I know, sounds silly... ideas are welcomed.

[Beej]

cadeho said:

Now I find out "Lonely Lonely Man Am I" was recorded 12/27/63.. and I am trying so hard to squeeze it onto a 80 minute CD... the song puts me over 9 seconds! The thing about that song is, I swear I hear David while it's fading. Either he was a member at the very end of 1963 or they remixed the song and added him to it.

Hey, <Cadeho>...

I see we're cursed with the same affliction...the uncontrollable need to put songs in their proper chronology. I swear, everything I own is either categorized, alphabetized or numerically sequenced.

Anything less would be pure anarchy. ;D

An easy fix to your nine second overrun is to trim a few of the songs with an audio editor (I use a great free MP3 editor called Audacity.) Virtually every song has between two and five seconds of silence at the end to create a break between tracks. You can cut a second or two off the songs with longer breaks to get the time you need.

Regarding Ruffin, it's always been my understanding that he officially joined the group in December 1963. The exact date, I don't know. Supposedly, the annual Christmas show at the Fox Theater was Al's last performance with the Temptations. Assuming the date listed for "Lonely, Lonely Man Am I" is correct, it's unlikely that Al's voice appears on that track. Whether they recorded with only four, David or an uncredited fill-in is anybody's guess. The Tempts recorded "The Way You Do The Things You Do" just two weeks later, so there's a pretty quick turnaround between Al's dismissal and David's hiring.

The conventional belief has always been that TWYDTTYD was the recording debut of the C5 lineup, but that doesn't necessarily make it true.

What gives me pause at accepting that recording date without any other information to confirm its accuracy is this note on the DFTMC site:

Release Dates

Where possible, dates of release have been taken from information supplied by Motown, e.g. on album/CD liner notes. Otherwise dates have been taken from published discographies; where these disagree, a "best guess" has been taken.

That's not terribly reassuring. Liner notes aren't the most accurate resource in the world as it is. If "published discographies" is intended to include fan sites, as well, then we're really in trouble. Their "best guess" may be just that...a guess. I can't be certain one way or the other, though...I'd need to know where they got that bit of information and do my own research.

They also credit Melvin with the lead on "Lonely, Lonely Man Am I"...which is obviously incorrect.

That said, their information appears good enough to give users a ballpark time frame to work with...month and year, at least. Trying to pinpoint an exact day -- especially when we know that tracks were often recorded over a span of days, if not weeks -- might be a bit ambitious, however.

[MissTara]

Hey (((((((((((Krispy)))))))))))! Been a while. Just wanted to interrupt, please continue...