JOHN NORTH

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FRANKLIN — Introduced as “Motown’s original boy band,” The Temptations Review Starring Dennis Edwards performed  a 90-minute Aug. 31 show that delighted the  crowd that filled about two-thirds of the 1,500-seat Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts.

With no intermission, the five singers — backed by the group’s tight eight-piece orchestra — not only sang the group’s classics and a few songs by others, but added some vocal pyrotechnics and awe-inspiring ad-lib jams — to many of The Temptations’ top songs, while executing classic Motown choreography, 

The group — through its urging of the crowd — frequently had the audience clapping and on its feet. As the crowd loosened up, some audience members spontaneously shouted their appreciation for the group and its songs through the remainder of the concert. While the crowd was mostly older, many younger fans were in attendance, too.

The concert sparkled with spine-tingling vocal performances of two “rain” songs —  “I Wish It Would Rain,” a Temptations hit; and “Rainy Night in Georgia,” made famous by solo vocalist Brook Benton — and a silky-smooth rendition of “Lady Soul.”

On the critical side, the group was not near as high-stepping or high-energy as were the original Temptations in their prime. However, given that Edwards, the lead singer, just had had prostrate surgery,  another group member was recovering from recent knee surgery, and that the group — as a whole — is much older than the originals were in their prime, the choreography was more than adequate.

Also, Edwards appeared early in the concert to be a bit irritated with a technical problem   — a barely audible microphone.However, that problem was resolved and that distraction dissolved.

The show started with the lively and funky “Standing on the Top,” followed by “Hello, Young Lovers” from the Broadway musical “The King and I.”

At that point, Edwards announced that the group was “going to go back to the beginning” of The Temptations — and blasted away with early hits, including “Get Ready” and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” revving up the crowd.

Slowing the pace, the group then performed a drop-dead gorgeous version of “Lady Soul,” which, to that point, got the most applause of the show.

Next, Paul Williams Jr. sang a particularly soulful version of “Don’t Look Back,” which was the most memorable Temptations song on which his late father sang lead. 

The pace picked up again with “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” with Edwards singing lead on a song for which he and The Temptations won their second Grammy.

Edwards then dedicated his group’s poignant rendition of “Rainy Night in Georgia” to “all the lovely ladies in the audience. The crowd members,  a number of whom drove from Georgia (especially the Atlanta area) to see the show, applauded wildly, topping even the applause for “Lady Soul.”

“I’m going to take you way back to 1968,” Edwards said, noting that he and The Temptations won Motown’s first Grammy for their performance of “Cloud Nine,” which the group followed with “I Can’t Get Next to You” and “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today).”

Edwards then said that “when we have a special audience (such as Franklin’s), we’d like to perform a special song. The group then did its ultra-soulful version of “Old Man River.”

“I know this is Franklin,” Edwards said, teasingly. “Do we have any Motown fans here? I mean any real Motown fans?” If so, he said they would recognize the next few early Temptations songs, including “The Way You Do the Things You Do.” 

“Ladies and gentlemen, thanks to you, we had so many hits,” Edwards said. He noted that Motown writer Roger Penzabene, who wrote a song that became a hit and was one of The Temptations’ most emotional and mournful — “I Wish It Would Rain.” Edwards said Penzabemne “was like many of us — he was in love with a woman” who rejected him.

Sadly, Penzabene committed suicide on New Year’s Eve 1967 because of the misery he felt over the breakup described in the song, Edwards noted.

Edwards’ Temptations Review then launched into a heartfelt and extended rendition of “I Wish It Would Rain,” in which the group added a jam, as well as having the crowd participate.

At that point, Edwards noted that four of the “classic five” Temptations “are no longer with us,” including Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks and that his group aimed to honor them through the show. (Otis Williams, who still performs with his group that holds The Temptations name, remains the sole orginal).

“Some of y’all may have seen a TV miniseries special on The Temptations and, even though it was very, very, very, very good, it was made for television,” so some parts were dramatized.

Edwards noted that when the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he felt “very lucky” to be included with the “classic five.”

He added, I remember when I joined The Temptations in 1968 — I was a very young lad from the inner city (of Detroit). I replaced the great David Ruffin” as the lead singer.

During his first rehearsal with the group, Edewards said he felt overwhelmed, but he said the late Paul Williams “took me under his wing” and said he would help him in every way possible to be successful with the group.

To that end, Edwards said he is proud that Williams son, Paul Jr., is a member of his group today.

As for the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts and Franklin, Edwards said, “This is a real nice place. Y’all have a nice secret” scenic mountain hideout — and he urged the crowd to keep the center and Franklin secret, to avoid spoiling the area.

Edwards also told of some medical issues he suffered recently, but that he did not let them from keeping him from performing in Franklin. He also said another group member just had had knee surgery, but nonetheless was on his feet, giving his all for the concert.

The group then did a medley of “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” and “Stay,” before returning to a final refrain of “My Girl.”

The crowd cheered, applauded and asked for an encore, to no avail.

Afterward, the group — as announced — showed up in the lobby to sign autographs and chat with fans.