Orange County Pop Music Review : Temptation Proves Too Great to Roll Out a Rushed Hit Parade

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

But even a classic car won’t yield a peak performance if it’s missing a spark plug or if its steering system is out of whack, as was the case at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim Friday night.

The absence of Melvin Franklin left the four remaining Temptations without the distinctive bass that has powered the group from its start.

Franklin has been convalescing since last spring from surgery 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 has a collection of road-worthy voices and a brimming tankful of some of the most memorable pop hits ever recorded. But instead of charting a coherent course through their musical history, one that might allow full exploration of representative moods, styles and periods, the Temptations veered all over the road at Friday’s early show.

They built their 65-minute performance around medleys and song snippets that allowed for inclusiveness but sacrificed depth and emotion. The result was a set that seemed rushed and perfunctory and that squandered some strong singing by failing to let songs unfold so the audience could relish them fully.

Most of the vocal leads rendered by former members Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards during the Temptations’ peak years in the ‘60s and early ‘70s now fall to Ron Tyson and Ali-Ollie Woodson, both of whom joined during the ‘80s (founding member Otis Williams and Richard Street, a Temptation since 1972, appeared mainly in supporting roles).

Tyson displayed a smooth, soaring falsetto on “Just My Imagination,” one of the few numbers allowed to run a full course. Woodson provided gritty soul-growling on such numbers as “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “Treat Her Like a Lady,” the only ‘80s hit in the set, but his high-energy bursts often sounded forced, as if he were in too big a hurry to make a big impression (which is understandable, given the abbreviated song settings in which he generally had to maneuver).

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, a fey Michael Jackson impersonation by Street 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 aboard.

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 at the Celebrity, founding lead singers Eddie Levert and Walter Williams and their longtime harmonizer, Sammy Strain, sang like a Murderer’s Row of soul.

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

The 55-minute set included a medley of hits, but it was the sort of medley that lets the singers bite deeply enough into each song so the savor comes through.

The O’Jays’ stagecraft was also exemplary: They turned in some sharp dance steps and displayed a warm, witty between-songs rapport with their audience and with each other.

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