A report on Psychedelic soul, Norman Whitfield, The Temptations and The Undisputed Truth

The Undisputed Truth was an American Motown recording act, assembled by record producer Norman Whitfield as a means for being able to experiment with his psychedelic soul production techniques.

He has been credited as one of the creators of the Motown Sound and of the late-1960s subgenre of psychedelic soul.

The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 10 hit single "Cloud Nine" in October 1968, pioneered psychedelic soul, and was significant in the evolution of R&B and soul music.

Pioneering acts working in the genre included Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Isaac Hayes, and the Temptations.

Whitfield worked extensively with The Temptations as a producer and songwriter, producing eight of their albums between 1969 and 1973.

Also important were the Temptations and their producer Norman Whitfield, who moved from a relatively light vocal group into more hard-edged and topical material like "Cloud Nine" (1968), "Runaway Child, Running Wild" (1969), and "Psychedelic Shack" (1969).

In 1970, Motown producer Norman Whitfield - partly as a response to criticism from Temptations fans that he was using the group as his personal plaything - put together Joe Harris, Billie Calvin and Brenda Evans to create his own recording act, The Undisputed Truth.

Acts that broke through with psychedelic soul included the Chambers Brothers with "Time Has Come Today" (1966, but charting in 1968), the 5th Dimension with a cover of Laura Nyro's "Stoned Soul Picnic" (1968), Edwin Starr's "War" (1970) and the Undisputed Truth's "Smiling Faces Sometimes" (1971).

The psychedelic soul records Whitfield produced for The Temptations and other artists such as Edwin Starr and The Undisputed Truth experimented with and updated the Motown sound for the late-1960s.

The blending of the Motown sound and psychedelic rock sound resulted in a new subgenre of music called psychedelic soul, also evident in the work of Diana Ross and the Supremes ("Reflections", "Love Child"), Marvin Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and music of the 5th Dimension, the Undisputed Truth, and the Friends of Distinction.