I’ve been trying to write a piece on The Temptations’ Wings of Love for some time now and have never been able to squeeze in the time to say something profound about it. I can’t say anything super-profound about it now, other than it serves as a cautionary tale to those adhering to critical and commercial consensus as their barometer for what they like. This record is a monster, but Wings of Love was a somewhat famous critical and sales flop, given the level of talent assembled. Funkadelic bassist “Billy Bass” Nelson shows up as do Freddie Stewart and Pat Rizzo from the Family Stone. Producer Jeffrey Bowen guided the Temptations to No. 1 R&B chart success with the serious jam “Shakey Ground” and “Happy People,” and they were looking to capture that again. More ยป
