In a Mellow Mood

Release type:What's this?
studio album
First released:
Nov 27 1967

Overview Edit

The Temptations in a Mellow Mood is a 1967 album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. Comprised primarily of pop standards such as "Ol' Man River" and "For Once in My Life", and similar songs written by Holland-Dozier-Holland and other Motown staff songwriters, the Mellow Mood album was part of Motown chief Berry Gordy's crossover plans for the group. Gordy wanted the Temptations, already the most popular male group among black audiences, to attract a large white fanbase and be able to secure playdates at supper clubs like the Copacabana, where the group had first performed in the summer of 1967.

The Temptations themselves, and Paul Williams in particular, where worried about appearing as sell-outs to their black fans and the radio DJs who had made them popular in the first place. However, both pop and soul fans responded to the Mellow Mood album, and the Temptations reached Gordy's desired goal of crossing over to white audiences. "Ol' Man River" was already present in the Temptations' performance repertoire as bass Melvin Franklin's solo spot, and "For Once in My Life" soon became a solo showcase for Paul Williams, who performed a particularly acclaimed version of the song for the TCB television special in late 1968.

The Overview appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Temptations_in_a_Mellow_Mood. Portions of this Overview may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.

This particular version Edit

Record label:
Catalog number:
unknown
Release dates:
  • Nov 27 1967 in United States

Genres

Hip-Hop, Motown, Rhythm & Blues, Soul. Vote on Genres

What do Amazon.com customers think?

5 stars Great vocal group handles great cleassics
Despite what Ricky Wright has to say, Temptations in a Mellow Mood is a refreshing change of pace for the group with all of the Tempts wonderful voices tackling great standards of the day. It was this album that introduced me to most of the songs here and the album represnts a great balnce of leads from four of the most unique voices ever to be found within one vocal group! Out of the 12 songs here they are almost equally divided between the sweet voice of Eddie Kendricks ( A Taste of Honey, Try…
Written by an unknown author
3 stars People don't know how to appreciate good music...
Even it's older standards, IN A MELLOW MOOD, was an album given to me in 1970, (fith grade), and I liked it from the beginning. Some of the songs didn't get me, but I learned to sing FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE(fantastic Paul William' rendition), David Ruffin's THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM, and the ensemble HELLO YOUNG LOVER'S within a month while working around the house. Not a typical Tempts album for sure, but a pleasant listen for any serious singing buff.
Written by Ron

Track listing Edit

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Other versions Edit

In a Mellow Mood 12 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Umvd Special Markets
release dates: Feb 25 2003
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