The Temptations - Wish It Would Rain

Wish It Would Rain closes out one of the most celebrated lineups in soul music history. Released on Gordy Records in 1968, it was the final album to feature the Temptations' "Classic Five", David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams, and the last record produced by Smokey Robinson before Norman Whitfield's psychedelic reinvention of the group took hold. Ruffin actually quit the band before the album was even finished, replaced by Dennis Edwards amid onstage confrontations and fans chanting for his return, making this record as much a farewell as a proper studio release.

Musically, it's a showcase for everything that made the Classic Five era so beloved. The aching title track, one of the group's signature performances, topped the R&B chart for three weeks and climbed to number four on the Hot 100, while "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)" also hit number one on the R&B chart. Both feature Ruffin's lead vocals at their most emotionally devastating, framed by the lush, string-laden production Robinson had refined across the group's run together. It's soul music at its most elegant, right before Whitfield would push the Temptations toward something far grittier and more experimental.

As a closing statement for a lineup that defined an era, Wish It Would Rain stands as one of the most quietly essential records in the Temptations' catalog.

This reissue is pressed on 140-gram virgin vinyl, a solid way to hear the last chapter of the group's original classic run.