POP MUSIC REVIEW : Temptations Await Spark

Replacing a cog here, a valve there, the Temptations are one Detroit model that has managed to keep running strong for almost 30 years--and a few weeks ago the definitive Motown soul group was awarded a designated parking place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But even a classic car won’t yield peak performance if it is missing a spark plug. The absence of Melvin Franklin on Friday at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim left the four remaining Temptations without the distinctive bass voice that has powered the group from its start.

Franklin has been convalescing since surgery last spring for a perforated colon, according to Ken Harris, the Temptations’ road manager, but is expected to rejoin the group within a month. Even without him, the current edition of the Temptations still has a collection of road-worthy voices, and a brimming tankful of some of the most memorable pop hits ever recorded. The biggest problem in their early show at the Celebrity was in the steering system.

Rather than charting a coherent course through their musical history, one that might allow full exploration of some representative moods, styles and periods, the Temptations veered all over the map. They built their 65-minute performance around medleys and song-snippets that allowed for inclusiveness while sacrificing depth and emotion. The result was a set that seemed rushed and perfunctory and squandered some strong singing by failing to let songs unfold so that the audience could relish them fully.

When the Temptations did allow a segment to stretch out a bit, it was for some pleasant but dispensable shtick: long, hokey introductions of the group members and an amateur-hour extension of “My Girl,” in which six audience members were given a chance to create their own song-and-dance routines. In all, it was a night adrift for the Temptations in a sea of Hall of Fame material. But that could easily change when they get their deep-voiced anchor back on board.

The O’Jays, who have an even longer history than the Temptations, may face longer odds of eventual induction into the rock Hall of Fame. But founding lead singers Eddie Levert and Walter Williams and their longtime harmonizer, Sammy Strain, sang like a Murderer’s Row of soul in their opening set.

In a fiery, but beautifully honed performance full of adventurous vocal weaves, the O’Jays were equally incendiary on old hits like “Back Stabbers” and “Love Train,” and on some solid ballads from their ‘80s repertoire. Levert was a leaping, bounding dynamo, working the apron of the circular, rotating stage while working his superb, husky voice into a controlled frenzy.

“It’s so good, so doggone good,” Levert cried during one paroxysm of romantic balladry. It was all of that, and more.