49 years ago today, on Motown's subsidiary label Gordy, the Temptations released their fourth studio LP, Gettin' Ready. The title was of course a reference to the Smokey Robinson-penned hit song of four months earlier, "Get Ready." Another hit from the previous month, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," written by Norman Whitfield and Ed Holland, was also on the record. "Too busy Thinking About My Baby" would later be a hit, when covered by Marvin Gaye in 1969.
The album features Eddie Kendricks on guitar, the Supremes on backing vocals for the song "Not Now I'll Tell You Later," the Funk Brothers as the backing band, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra backing a number of tracks as well. According to prolific author Ken Coleman's book On This Day: African-American Life in Detroit,the album "marks the transition of the group from having Smokey Robinson as its main producer to Norman Whitfield."
Metro Times music editor Mike McGonigal has written about music since 1984, when he started the fanzine Chemical Imbalance at age sixteen with money saved from mowing lawns in Florida. He's since written for Spin, Pitchfork, the Village VOICE and Artforum. He's been a museum guard, a financial reporter, a bicycle...
