My Whole World Ended by David Ruffin (Vinyl record album review)

Album name: My Whole World Ended

Artist name: David Ruffin

Year: 1969

Number of discs: one

Label: Motown Records

Collection: Friedman

Buy it on Amazon: $69.95

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have never listened to this record before, but it appears to be a solo record by a former member of The Temptations.

What I expected

Soul.

What it was actually like

Despite this record by a former member of The Temptations being on the Motown label, I did not think that it would sound like “Motown” at all, since it was from 1969, and my impression was that styles had evolved a lot by then. I was very pleasantly surprised, however, as it was much more of a Motown style than I guessed. It sounded more like 1965 to me than 1969.

I loved listening to Ruffin’s scratchy voice and enjoyed the record overall, but you know how you can sometimes listen to a record and it’s solid, but there’s no song on it that’s memorable enough to listen again? That was this: I liked every song, but nothing sounded at all like a hit to me, except his cover of Everlasting Love.

The title track My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me) sounded the most like a Temptations single, though it definitely would not have been one of their best.