A few weeks ago the great Norman Whitfield passed away and the word genius is bandied about a bit too much nowadays but this was a man who genuinely fitted the billing. He worked with everyone from The Temptations to Marvin Gaye and had his hand in just about every seminal moment from one of the greatest and most influential labels of all time, Tamla Motown. If you're not aware of the man's work then you should go out immediately and buy whatever you can find on sight as everything he ever produced is absolutely all killer with no filler whatsoever. I'm an old soul boy at heart and I remember reading an article on him when I was in university many years ago that described his sound as 'psychedelic soul' and that was enough for my 18 year old self to run off to the local second hand store and rummage away looking for records by him and it wasn't until I found things like Ain't Too Proud To Beg, Ball of Confusion and this gem that my thirst for the deepest of records was quenched. He's a man whose impact on modern music is absolutely immeasurable, a once in a generation musician who will be sorely missed. RIP Norm.
The Undisputed Truth - Smiling Faces Sometimes
