The first song sounds like it was recorded live. If this is a real live album, they've instantly committed the worst sin a live album can by making the audience way too loud in the mix. Nobody listens to a live album to hear how great the audience thinks you are. The audience can add flavor to the proceedings but should never be a star of the show.
Thankfully this is not that kind of live album, or a live album at all. This is a funk album, as pure as a funk album can get. I'm not sure how I feel about them singing, "The niggers is comin'" on the second track, but it's from a different time and sounds like satire. "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" is an epically long track that I'm sure lots of people consider amazing simply for its length. But the nature of its simple bass and drum track makes it sound more like an 11-minute introduction to a much more complex piece of music. And when that doesn't come it feels really cheap. Talk about padding. It stands in real stark contrast to "Love Woke Me Up This Morning", a beautiful short funky ballad that is expertly arranged. It was a welcome treat.
I think All Directions works much better when The Temptations are focused on short ballads than funky jams. About half the album was really solid in this sense and the rest just OK. 3 stars.
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