The Temptations - Sky's the Limit

Sky's the Limit closed a golden chapter for The Temptations, and it holds the song many still consider their finest moment.

Released in 1971, it was the last Temptations album to feature falsetto Eddie Kendricks and baritone Paul Williams, both of whom left the group that year. Producer Norman Whitfield, still riding high on his psychedelic soul experiments, balanced the group's lush balladry with long, brooding grooves that let the band and orchestra stretch out.

Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) floats on strings and Kendricks' heavenly falsetto, a daydream of a love song that has rarely been bettered. Smiling Faces Sometimes stretches past 12 minutes into a slow, simmering warning about false friends and hidden motives, while Ungena Za Ulimwengu (Unite the World) carries a pointed call for togetherness.

Elsewhere, the harmonies remain immaculate, gliding between sweet romance and social conscience with the effortless polish only Motown could deliver. Whitfield's arrangements give every voice room to shine, and the sequencing moves from tender to tense and back again with real flair and patience.

It is a bittersweet farewell for one of the great Temptations line-ups, and on vinyl it plays like a beautifully lit snapshot of a group at the very peak of its powers.