''Surface Thrills'' is the first of two

1983 albums The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginnin ...

released by the American R&B vocal group,

the Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

, on

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

' Gordy label.

Overview

In this album the group attempts to fuse their vocal harmonies with

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and ...

production, resulting in a radical departure from the Temptations' signature soul sound. It was produced by Dennis Lambert and

Steve Barri Steve Barri (born Steven Barry Lipkin in Brooklyn, New York on February 23, 1942) is an American songwriter and record producer. Career Early in his career, Barri was a staff writer with Dunhill Records. He produced such huge hits as "Dizzy" b ...

The Temptations- ''Surface Thrills'' vinyl LP (1983) back cover. Accessed 8-24-2010. and features musical contributions from

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on ...

Toto Toto may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Pets * Toto (Oz), Toto (''Oz''), a dog in the novel and film ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' * Toto, in Japanese ''The Cat Returns#Plot, The Cat Returns'' Characters of agency * a ...

Raymond Lee Brown Raymond Lee Brown is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. Brown was a longtime member of the Earth, Wind & Fire Horns. Influences Brown was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. While in high school, Brown was friends with Ga ...

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million r ...

, and longtime James Brown collaborator

Fred Wesley Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s. Biography Wesley was born the son of a high school teacher and big band le ...

. ''Surface Thrills'' yielded two singles, the title track and "Love on My Mind Tonight", with only the latter being moderately successful. This is the last Temptations album to feature falsetto

Glenn Leonard Glenn Carl Leonard (born June 11, 1947 in Washington, D.C.) is an American R&B and soul singer best remembered for serving as the first tenor/secondary lead singer of the Motown quintet The Temptations from 1975 to 1983, and for the last 15 y ...

, who departed from the group after eight years. Leonard's replacement would be singer-songwriter

Ron Tyson The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 1 ...

, who made his Temptations debut with the following album, ''Back to Basics'', though the group previously worked with Tyson when they were with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most ...

on the '' Hear to Tempt You'' album where Tyson co-wrote a majority of the songs.

Track listing

''Superscripts denote lead singers for each track: (a)

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations, on Motown Records. Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968, replacing David Ruffin and sang ...

, (b)

, (c)

Richard Street Richard Allen Street (October 5, 1942 – February 27, 2013) was an American soul and R&B singer, most notable as a member of Motown vocal group The Temptations from 1971 to 1993. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Street was the first memb ...

, (d)

Melvin Franklin David Melvin English (October 12, 1942 – February 23, 1995) better known by the stage name Melvin Franklin, or his nickname "Blue", was an American bass singer. Franklin was best known for his role as a founding member of Motown singing gr ...

, (e)

Otis Williams Otis Williams (born Otis Miles Jr.; October 30, 1941) is an American baritone singer.Ribowsky, Mark (2010). ''Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Endearing Soul of the Temptations''. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 7–9 He is ...

''. ''All tracks produced by Dennis Lambert and Steve Barri except where noted.''

Side one

# "Surface Thrills" (Lambert, Harold Payne) – 4:30 ^a # "Love on My Mind Tonight" (Lambert, Peter Beckett) – 4:57 ^a # "One Man Woman" (Lambert, Beckett) – 5:13 ^{a, b, c, d, e} # "Show Me Your Love" (Terry Skinner, J.L. Wallace, Ken Bell) – 4:02 ^c

Side two

# "The Seeker" (Lambert, Michael Price, Dan Walsh) – 4:30 ^a # "What a Way to Put It" (Steve Dees,

Ron Kersey Tyrone Garfield Kersey (April 7, 1949 – January 25, 2005), known as Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey, was an American keyboardist, songwriter, producer and arranger most known for writing the music to "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps. Kersey was born in Ph ...

) – 4:37 ^a
(produced by the Temptations and

Benjamin Wright Benjamin Wright (October 10, 1770 – August 24, 1842) was an American civil engineer who was chief engineer of the Erie Canal and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. In 1969, the American Society of Civil Engineers declared him the "Father of America ...

) # "Bringyourbodyhere (Exercise Chant)" (Otis Williams, David English, Benjamin Wright,

Louis Price Louis Bernhardt Price (born March 29, 1953) is an American R&B, soul singer, and actor notable for being the lead singer of the first post-Dennis Edwards led version of The Temptations from 1977 to 1980. Price lived in Chicago as a child and at ...

) – 5:13 ^{a, b, c, d, e}
(co-produced by the Temptations and Benjamin Wright) # "Made in America" (M. Price, Walsh) – 3:58 ^a

Personnel

Performers *

- vocals ( baritone/

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors i ...

) *

- vocals (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

) *

- vocals (tenor/

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentou ...

) *

- vocals (tenor) *

- vocals (tenor/baritone) *Clydene Jackson, Julia Waters, Maxine Waters - background vocals ("Bringyourbodyhere") Musicians *

, Nolan Smith - trumpet *

George Bohanon George Roland Bohanon, Jr. (born August 7, 1937) is a jazz trombonist and session musician from Detroit, Michigan. In the early 1960s, he participated in Detroit's Workshop Jazz ensemble, with Johnny Griffith, Paula Greer, David Hamilton, Lefty ...

- trombone *

Robbie Buchanan Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob or Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003. People Given name Robbie *Robbie Amell (born 1 ...

- drums, Linn computer, Moog bass, synthesizer, Fender Rhodes synthesizer, percussion synthesizer * Paulinho da Costa - percussion *Richard Elliot - saxophone, lyricon *Gary Herbig, Terry Harrington - saxophone, flute, piccolo * Paul M. Jackson, Jr. - guitar, rhythm arranger *Gabe Katona - synthesizer *

Dennis Lambert Dennis Earle Lambert (born 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Lambert began his music career in 1960 when he signed to Capitol Records as a recording artist. By the mid-1960s, he was w ...

- vocal arranger, synthesizer, percussion synthesizer *Roger Nichols - percussion synthesizer-Wendel *

John Robinson John Robinson may refer to: Academics *John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist *John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood'' *John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist *John ...

- drums * Freddie Washington - bass *

- arranger

Charts

Singles

References

External links

''Surface Thrills''
at

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''Surface Thrills''
at

Rate Your Music Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online collaborative database of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also feat ...

{{Authority control 1983 albums The Temptations albums Albums produced by Steve Barri Gordy Records albums