Wednesday, August 3, 2011

I wish it would rain . . .



No one quite like David Ruffin and the Tempations by the way. At least for those of us who grew up in the Philly area in the '60's.

Share:

4 comments:

Francis Shivone said...

Thanks Jake, btw, My high school buddies and I saw them live in Philly in 1970. Probably 30,000 or so at the concert.

Thomas Beyer said...

I didn't happen to grow up in Philly in the 60s. Nevertheless, there is something mesmerizing about those doo-wop groups.

I think it may have something to do with the simplistic, old-world themes and style, and the choreography. It's almost like there are still forms and an order to things or something. Miss Manner would still fly, instead of being dismissed as an impediment to self-expression.

Francis Shivone said...

Thanks for the comment Thomas. And if you'll forgive a slight correction, the Temptations were "Motown" and probably listened to and developed their style on doo-wop. Motown was the label for the best popular "soul" performers and was played on all the pop music stations. I would put doo-wop about 10 years before the Temps. Now that's just my observation, I may be wrong. Technically, Motown is not doo-wop but soul and R&B.

Finally, the video doesn't do justice to their music, their vocalists were tight in harmony and soulful. They could do no wrong.

Again, thanks for visiting. Who knew you could have a discussion on doo-wop.

Thomas Beyer said...

Thanks for the correction. I actually had a pretty hard time choosing between Motown and doo-wop.

I love that there are points of conversation (even erudite and elevated conversation) lurking around every corner. But that's what old-CSTM's classes will do to a person. You start to see the meaning implicit in everything. Even doo-wop and Star Trek.