My Girl: The Best of
In Motown hierarchies, the Temptations occupied pretty much the same  exalted place at the legendary label as the Lincoln division did at Ford; both  had a marquee reputation for class and quality that endured time and trend for  decades. The group was also a tribute to the glorious possibilities of an  erstwhile assembly line: the early hits here (including the signature song that  gives this 36-track, double-disc anthology its name) were penned by fellow  legendSmokey  Robinson, supervised by label founder Berry Gordy, and backed by one of  music's greatest house bands. But even as Robinson's role segued into Norman  Whitfield's as the 1960s rolled into the '70s, and asDavid RuffinandEddie Kendricksleft the group for solo careers--echoing the splintering of their superstar  label counterparts theSupremes--the  Temptations' juggernaut rolled on through a rich series of hits that were by  turns traditional ("Just My Imagination"), timely ("Ball of Confusion"), and  hard-edged ("Papa Was a Rolling Stone"). But if the hit Motown sound they so  long personified became displaced by waves of funk and middle-of-the-road music  on the R&B; charts, the Tempts adapted remarkably well, scoring hits like theP-Funkcollaboration "Shakey Ground," 1984's "Treat Her Like a Lady," and 1998's  million-seller "Stay," the last cut nearly 40 years after the band's first  Motown session. This collection chronicles their journey across several  disparate epochs of soul music history, and includes a concise historical note  for each song, as well as track-by-track commentary from founding Temptations  memberOtis Williams.--Jerry  McCulley