Gettin’ Ready by Temptations

Gettin' Ready, the Temptations' fourth studio album, came out on Motown's Gordy label in 1966, and it catches the Detroit group at a hinge in their story. Smokey Robinson, their main producer up to then, was handing the controls to Norman Whitfield, and the record plays like a relay race between the two, each man delivering an R&B chart-topper.

Robinson's "Get Ready" glides on Eddie Kendricks's airy lead, while Whitfield's "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" turns David Ruffin loose, all grit and pleading, over a beat that lands like a fist on a table. Around them Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin and Paul Williams stack the harmonies, and the songwriting still leans on Robinson's fellow Miracles, Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, Ronnie White and Marv Tarplin among them. It also holds the original "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby", later a hit for Marvin Gaye in 1969, and it was one of the last Temptations albums with songs co-written by the group until 1976.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.