The ninth studio album by The Temptations for the Motown label, Cloud Nine was released in 1969 and marked a major turning point in the group’s career. It was the first full Temptations studio LP to feature Dennis Edwards as the replacement for David Ruffin (fired in June of 1968) and also marked the beginning of the group’s delve into psychedelic soul under the ambitious direction of producer Norman Whitfield. The change proved highly successful, with the album rising to number four on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart and earning the group their first Grammy Award. Cloud Nine received a ****½ AllMusic rating, with reviewer Amy Hanson stating that this is “an album that would become one of the defining early funk sets, with songs that not only took Motown in a new direction, but helped to shape a genre as well.”