On March 21 Elemental Music concludes the impressive string of reissues that constitutes the label’s Motown Sound Collection with a 180-gram edition of The Temptations’ Psychedelic Shack, the groundbreaking Norman Whitfield-produced LP from 1970. It’s an appropriate finale for a series that has divided its focus between the classic Motown approach to pop R&B and the company’s later forays into funkier and more expansive sonic terrain.
Psychedelic Shack isn’t Motown’s first dive into the style whose impetus for Barry Gordy’s enterprise has often been attributed to Sly and the Family Stone, although that’s somewhat reductive, as in terms of pop sophistication, the 5th Dimension almost certainly served up some inspiration to Gordy, and just as importantly to Norman Whitfield, as from a contemporary vantage point, psychedelic soul is the innovation upon which the producer’s reputation largely rests.
Attempts to cash in on trends can frequently age like a deli tray left out in the desert sunshine, with the sounds often reeking of the retrograde at the moment of first release. Aging poorly is really not the case with most of Motown’s psych soul output, though that shouldn’t suggest that the company’s intentions weren’t mercantile in nature.
But of course, Motown’s aims were far from purely financial, and the label’s excursion into psychedelic soul set as many trends as it followed them. Often it was both at once. For one example, Psychedelic Shack features two longer numbers, “Take a Stroll Through Your Mind” and “Friendship Train” that set a standard for Motown album tracks to follow (even as some were released as singles in shorter edits) while likely being influenced by The Chambers Brothers “Time Has Come Today.”
Motown’s strain of psychedelia came adorned with aspects of social commentary (“You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth”), increased awareness (“Psychedelic Shack”), community uplift (“Friendship Train”), and legit expansions of consciousness (“Take a Stroll Through Your Mind”) rather than going overboard with a bunch of banana peel ludicrousness.
It’s true that many of the lyrics weren’t especially eloquent, but that weakness is certainly not unique to Motown, and Psychedelic Shack’s original version of “War” (which became a big hit for Edwin Starr later in 1970) drives home that plain spoken directness is preferable. And it’s notable that the album only produced one single, the title track, and to be specific that single preceded the release of the full-length.
Psychedelic Shack is certainly an ambitious affair, but it does seem like “It’s Summer” and “You Need Love Like I Do (Don’t You)” were singles in waiting. These two tracks also effectively emphasize the group’s undiminished singing talents in a way that the largely wordless (but not vocal-less) “Hum Along and Dance” does not.
“Hum Along and Dance” flows directly into “Take a Stroll Through Your Mind,” and it’s this track, side one’s closer, and “Friendship Train,” the album’s finale, that present the Funk Brothers at their best, though the opening title cut also delivers an instrumental bang. Psychedelic Shack isn’t a perfect album, but it’s aged better than it’s numerous detractors surely expected, and it makes a fine capper to Elemental Music’s Motown series and is a strong showing by The Temptations from just prior to Eddie Kendricks’ departure.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
