Wings of Love is a 1976 album by The Temptations

The Temptations

The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...

 for the Gordy (Motown) label. The album was an unsuccessful release, both commercially and critically. Wings of Love's only single, "Up the Creek (Without a Paddle)" was co-written by Sly Stone

Sly Stone

Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...

, the inspiration for many of the Temptations' late 1960s/early 1970s "psychedelic soul

Psychedelic soul

Psychedelic soul, sometimes called black rock, is a sub-genre of soul music, which mixes the characteristics of soul with psychedelic rock...

" records; because of tax reasons, he could not take a publishing credit on the song. Stone and other members of the Family Stone

Sly & the Family Stone

Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...

 appear on "Up the Creek", as well as "Sweet Gypsy Jane" and "China Doll"

Producer Jeffrey Bowen

Jeffrey Bowen

Jeffrey Bowen was a songwriter and record producer, notable for his work at both Motown Records and Holland-Dozier-Holland's Invictus and Hot Wax labels. He is best known for his work with the Detroit male vocal groups Chairmen of the Board and The Temptations...

 preferred Dennis Edwards

Dennis Edwards

Dennis Edwards is a soul and R&B singer, most noted for being one of Motown act The Temptations' lead singers replacing David Ruffin. He is the father of Issa Pointer, whose mother is Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters.-Career:...

 to the rest of the group, and wanted to produce an Edwards solo album instead of a group album. As a result, Bowen de-emphasized the rest of the group's vocals and placed them at levels far below Edwards' leads, prompting his dismissal as the Temptations' producer after this album's release. Unsurprisingly, Edwards sings lead on all but one of the songs on the album, leaving "China Doll" in the capable hands of Richard Street. The upshot of Bowen's obsession with Edwards is that fans will enjoy hearing Edwards exercise a greater vocal range than normal, particularly on the album's ballad-heavy second side.

Track listing

1. "Sweet Gypsy Jane"
2. "Sweetness In The Dark"
3. "Up The Creek (Without A Paddle)"
4. "China Doll"
5. "Mary Ann"
6. "Dream World (Wings Of Love)"
7. "Paradise"

Personnel

• Dennis Edwards
  Dennis Edwards
  Dennis Edwards is a soul and R&B singer, most noted for being one of Motown act The Temptations' lead singers replacing David Ruffin. He is the father of Issa Pointer, whose mother is Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters.-Career:...
  
  : vocals
• Glenn Leonard
  Glenn Leonard
  Glenn Carl Leonard is an American R&B and soul singer best remembered for serving as the first tenor/secondary lead singer of the Motown quintet The Temptations from 1975 to 1983.-Biography:...
  
  : vocals
• Richard Street
  Richard Street
  Richard Allen Street is an American soul and R&B singer, most notable as a member of The Temptations from 1971 to 1993...
  
  : vocals
• Melvin Franklin
  Melvin Franklin
  David Melvin English better known by the stage name Melvin Franklin, was an American bass singer. Franklin is best known for his role as a member of Motown singing group The Temptations from 1960 to 1994....
  
  : vocals
• Otis Williams
  Otis Williams
  Otis Williams is an American baritone singer. Nicknamed "Big Daddy", he has also acted as a sporadic songwriter and record producer. Williams co-founded the Motown vocal group The Temptations in early 1960 as The Elgins, a group in which he continues to perform...
  
  : vocals
• Sly Stone
  Sly Stone
  Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...
  
  , Truman Thomas: clavinet, organ and ARP
• Freddie Stewart: bass, guitar
• William "Billy Bass" Nelson
  Billy Bass Nelson
  William "Billy Bass" Nelson is a U.S. musician, who was the original bassist for Funkadelic. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic....
  
  : bass, guitar
• Rusty Allen
  Rusty Allen
  Rustee Allen is an American musician best known as the bass guitar player for the influential funk band Sly & the Family Stone from 1972 to 1975...
  
  : bass
• Ollie E. Brown
  Ollie E. Brown
  Ollie E. Brown is an American drummer, percussionist and record producer. A prolific session musician, Brown has performed on over a hundred albums in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Brown was also half of the American dance-pop duo Ollie & Jerry, which had a Top 10 hit with "Breakin'.....
  
  : drums and percussion
• Pat Rizzo
  Pat Rizzo
  Pat Rizzo is an American saxophonist and flautist, best known for his work with funk band Sly and the Family Stone from 1972 to 1975.During this period Rizzo also performed with Tito Puente and Frank Sinatra. He started performing in the sixties with The Cufflinks...
  
  , Steve Madaio: trumpet
• Donald Charles Baldwin
  Donald Charles Baldwin
  Donald Charles Baldwin is a United States musician, arranger and composer who achieved significant commercial success with recordings he wrote, arranged and performed for Motown Records and Invictus/Hot Wax Records from 1970 to 1980...
  
  : Moog, Moog Programming, Keyboards, Rhythm and Vocal Arrangements