Damn if that song doesn't kick like a mule on steroids.
Ball of Confusion, one of the finest singles put out by harmony masters The Temptations and written by Motown mainstays Norman Whitfield and Barret Strong, nearly didn't happen. The band were originally slated to release the anti-Vietnam number War (also penned by Whitfield/Strong), however concerns from on high at Motown mooted the release. The label worried the song's defiant stance would alienate more conservative listeners, and so War was passed on to Edwin Starr. Whitfield and Strong then wrote Ball of Confusion for The Temptations as a replacement and good God almighty thank the lord they did.
The song growls open with a bumping bassline from Bob Babbit, a member of the famous session musician group The Funk Brothers who have played on nearly every soul and Motown release worth mentioning (including Heard It Through the Grapevine, My Girl, and Ain't No Mountain High Enough). As Babbit's bass oozes out of your speakers echoing guitar lines spindle and flux from dark alleyways as The Temptations begin laying the world to rights like a group of harmony loving street preachers. And all that's before we even get to the harmonica solo from a little known musician named Stevie Wonder.
Politics you can groove to. That's what the world needs today.
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