50th Anniversary: The Singles Collection (1961-1971)

The Temptations were the greatest of the Motown groups, and for a label that also had the Four Tops and the Supremes, that’s really saying something. Blessed with a succession of great singers like Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, and Dennis Edwards, any of whom could have easily fronted their own group, the Temptations racked up countless hits between 1961 and 1971, helped immeasurably by Motown's astounding songwriting stable. Songs like “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Since I Lost My Baby,” “Get Ready,” “Ain’t Too Pround to Beg,” “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” “I Wish It Would Rain,” “Cloud Nine,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Psychedelic Shack,” and “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” are enduring classics that still sound fresh and vital all these years later. This lavish box set, released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Temptations' first single in 1961, collects all of the group’s singles from Motown Records between then and 1971 on three discs, and it’s an amazing legacy, with classic song after classic song rolling by one after the other, the essential playlist of one of the greatest singing groups in the history of pop.