Real Gone Music

When David Ruffin left The Temptations in 1969, he took a swan dive into psych-soul pool he and his former partners were dabbling in on albums like Cloud 9 and Puzzle People, as this essential two-fer collection of his finest solo works from Real Gone Music testifies.

Though The Temps got a headier and funkier as well going into the 1970s with their heavily treated classic collaboration from ’70 with Norman Whitfield Psychedelic Shack, their former lead singer’s third solo album, David Ruffin, is infused with a newfound earthiness in Ruffin’s voice that truly echoed the sound of a man at the end of his rope. No longer able to afford the spoils of a full ride from Motown, David would turn to Bobby Miller, the celebrated producer/songwriter instrumental in the success of The Dells in the late 60s. And the combination of Ruffin’s drug-and-alcohol-weathered timbre and Miller’s complex, inner city supplied arrangements made for what has been largely hailed as a masterpiece in psychedelic soul, punctuated by definitive versions of Gamble and Huff’s “I Miss You (Part 1)” and an asphalt-scraped spin on the Luther Ingram hit “(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right”.

Meanwhile, 1974’s Me ‘N Rock ‘N Roll Are Here to Stay, is at long last making its debut appearance on CD after literal decades in out-of-print limbo. saw Ruffin reunite with Whitfield to craft one of the toughest, grittiest records Motown had ever put their logo on. It was almost as though Whitfield took what he was doing with The Temptations on Psychedelic Shack and elevated it to a whole new level, punctuating the evolving heft in Ruffin’s voice against rough-hewn blaxploitation style arrangements enhanced by the razor-sharp guitar work of the great Dennis Coffey on bluesy versions of “Smiling Faces Sometimes” and “Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are).”

Few two-albums-on-one-CD sets make much sense. But the pairing of these essential gems from the deepest corners of the Motown sub terrain makes for the ultimate David Ruffin listening experience.