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Motown M 1062 (A), July 1964
b/w Call On Me
(Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland Jr.)
Stateside SS 336 (A), September 1964
b/w Call On Me
(Released in the UK under license through EMI/Stateside Records)
The belated arrival of the Four Tops here on Motown Junkies feels somehow like the completion of a collection, and in more ways than one. All the players are now in place for a Golden Age: we’ve met all of the big protagonists of the drama that’s beginning to unfold as we sail on into the summer of 1964, and they’ve nearly all had hit records. But there’s more to it than that – the Tops bring a missing ingredient, something warm and fresh that Motown hadn’t quite mastered until now.
The Four Tops and the Temptations, the two great Sixties Motown male vocal groups, seem to have existed in a permanent state of yin/yang. I don’t know anything about the relationship between the two groups beyond what’s on the albums – were they friends? Rivals? Did they respect each other, did they have anything much to do with each other? Did they even listen to each other’s records? Can you profess to be a fan of one without admiring the other?
I’ve seen them referred to as the Beatles and Stones of Motown, the Ali and Foreman, with nobody quite sure who’s supposed to be who in that analogy, and yet that seems too simple when both groups so often readily and skilfully occupied what had previously been considered the other’s supposed turf, and when they so easily swapped right back again. A listener in 1970 might say the Tops were sweet and the Tempts were hot and loud, but a listener in 1966 might make the exact opposite observation. What of a listener in 1964?
The debate could rumble on forever. The Tempts were five Southerners who’d relocated to the North, the Tops were four Detroit natives. The Tops had their sound sweetened by the Andantes, giving them a unique vocal blend unmatched anywhere else in the Motown stable, and yet it’s hard to deny that, say, Standing In The Shadows Of Love sounds rather tougher than, say, My Girl, or that Levi Stubbs is pound for pound a rougher and harder singer than David Ruffin. The Tempts went down an aggressive, politicised, funk-influenced “psychedelic soul” path at the turn of the decade; the Tops covered the Left Banke and It’s All In The Game as they moved into more radio-friendly balladeering territory. The Tempts came back to their soft sound with Just My Imagination, at the exact same time the Tops started to cut some harder numbers. The two groups’ various albums of duets with the Supremes are endless food for debate. Who was best? They both were, obviously.
THE STORY OF THE FOUR TOPS
“The Four Tops”… a name from a bygone age. Contemporaries of the Drifters, the Platters, Phil Phillips, maybe, not Love or Hendrix or Sam and Dave. It sounds like something a group of amateur doo-wop wannabes might have called themselves as they got together to sing at a local party circa 1954. Which is, of course, exactly what they were.
When Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton, Duke Fakir and Obie Benson got up to sing at that party, they called themselves the “Four Aims” – because we’re aiming for the top!, they later told an unimpressed Roquel Davis, who gave them a new name that stuck for 43 years. Perhaps, if things had shaken out a little differently, the newly-christened Four Tops might have hit those heights right there in the Fifties, the nation’s newest teenage doo-wop sensation.
In 1956, after the boys had served a long apprenticeship, honing their craft and their harmonies through two years of increasingly well-received live shows and sock hops, Davis – by now their mentor and manager – got them a deal with no less a power than Chess Records. Congratulations, lads – it’s been a hard slog getting here, but you’ve finally reached the big time. But the single, the wholly excellent Could It Be You – Levi Stubbs sounding way older than his eighteen years, with more of a hint of both Elvis and Ray in his delivery – somehow failed to find an audience, and died an ignominious commercial death. Leonard Chess, not known for his patience, kicked the Tops to the kerb.
That setback was the start of a near-decade of thankless toil for the group. They were already as tight and professional a male vocal quartet as you were going to find, and so live bookings weren’t hard to come by – but taking that elusive next step, turning that success into a record deal and some real money, was always just out of reach. Instead, they spent the best part of eight years playing live shows, occasionally finding their way into a studio at the behest of some impressed A&R man (Lonely Summer, 1960; Pennies From Heaven, 1962) in between endless engagements the length and breadth of the country. If it’s Tuesday, this must be Landover. But they were left waiting in vain for the call that would change everything.
The call finally came in 1963. The boys, coming off the back of a tour backing Billy Eckstine, arrived in New York City for a supper club slot and ended up chatting backstage to one of the producers of The Tonight Show, recently taken over by Johnny Carson and looking for new acts to feature. The Tops were thus somehow able to parlay a good show in front of a few dozen diners into a live appearance on national television within the space of a few days, at which point Berry Gordy decided he had to have them for Motown.
Unlike any of their Motown contemporaries, the Four Tops were now seasoned veterans of the showbiz circuit, having impeccable stage credentials – almost ten years’ worth of shows in every possible kind of venue, including the sorts of places Berry Gordy wanted his acts to belong. They’d never gotten themselves in trouble, always carried themselves with dignity, kept their noses clean – and they were a tightly-knit unit, each of the original members remaining in the line-up for the rest of their lives. There’d be no trouble from these guys. And they sounded amazing.
Just a couple of months before I wrote this piece, Duke Fakir – the only surviving member from the original line-up – gave the secret of the Tops’ remarkable longevity and stability in an interview with the Holbrook Sun: “We learned at an early age that if we stuck together we could be as good as any other group. We had arguments and dealt with various tensions over the years, but we still always kept our pact to stay together. We had seen almost every group pull apart, usually because lead singers would leave. We always kept our vow to stay together. Levi would get offers to do things on his own, but he wouldn’t accept them.” Compare and contrast the Temptations, who – even with the Tops having a seven-year head start – have managed to feature 23 different full members in the same time.
But Gordy ran into the same problem every other label had run into when signing the Four Tops: they sounded good together, but they had no sound of their own, and no direction. He had them cut a version of Marvin Gaye’s Get My Hands On Some Lovin’ from the That Stubborn Kinda Fellow LP (Youtube sadly doesn’t have the Tops’ version available for your listening pleasure), but decided that though it sounded good, it still wasn’t the sound he was looking for. Like the Supremes over in the girls’ camp, Motown wanted to keep them on the books, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.
A&R director Mickey Stevenson eventually decided that since they’d done a lot of jazz gigs, and since they’d previously recorded for Riverside, then Gordy should assign them to his floundering Workshop Jazz Records subsidiary, and have them cut an LP of light-listening “jazz” numbers – show tunes, old standards, Stein and Van Stock pseudo-standards. Even that plan didn’t work out; having spent most of the autumn of 1963 in recording sessions with Stevenson at the Greystone Ballroom cutting tracks for the proposed album, they then had to watch as Workshop Jazz Records was shut down due to commercial irrelevance before the LP could hit the shops, meaning the luckless Tops were yet again almost back to square one. (Most of the material, with one exception, eventually surfaced on CD as Breaking Through in 1999.)
It was around this time that Brian Holland, long a fan of the group from their early days performing at local parties and functions, took the opportunity to use them as backing singers on a few records he was producing. Brian brought the Tops to see his production and songwriting partner Lamont Dozier, who turned out to be a big boyhood Tops fan too (“they were the top of the heap as far as vocal groups go”, Dozier later said), and both agreed the group had a different sound to the company’s usual male session singers, the Love-Tones. Whether by design or happy accident, Holland and Dozier also quickly noticed how beautifully the Four Tops’ voices blended with those of the Andantes, the female backing vocalists of choice at Hitsville, creating a wonderful sound that simply hadn’t been heard before, something between a heavenly gospel choir and a chanted mantra; sensuous, heavily secular, and yet somehow seeming to verge on the religious. They had to have that sound.
Doubtless they’d have liked to cut a Four Tops record right away, but the Tops were still assigned to Mickey Stevenson, and HDH had no permission – or funding – to pull them away. So it came to pass that the Tops were put to use on a variety of experiments, sketches and other ephemera Holland and Dozier were working on, matters reaching a head with the duo’s one and only Motown single as performers – the spectacularly daffy What Goes Up, Must Come Down – which is really just a workout for the Tops and Andantes to provide a lovely harmony bed behind Lamont Dozier performing a bizarre character skit.
Unlike some of their labelmates, the Tops were no callow teens – they were all in their late twenties by this point, and moreover they were used to waiting it out. So there was no rebellion, no angry demand Motown release the Breaking Through sessions; they went along with the plan, continuing to rack up live appearances in between Hitsville sessions. And so we come to May 1964, when finally, finally, the Four Tops caught their break.
THAT LUCKY BREAK IN FULL
It’s not mentioned much now, but Baby I Need Your Loving was not written specially for the Four Tops. Or, rather, it was meant to have the Four Tops on it, but the artist credit would be Holland-Dozier, a potential follow-up to What Goes Up, Must Come Down, Brian and Lamont perhaps planning to use the Holland-Dozier name as an outlet for their ideas, or a generic “brand name” for unassigned internal demos (see also Lead Me And Guide Me from A Cellarful of Motown Volume 4) – a plan which could never really have been viable once the Motown hit machine got cranked up to full speed and HDH were set to working on an almost 24-hour production line of new material.
The complete indifference with which What Goes Up, Must Come Down had been received by everyone – DJs, the public, Motown staffers, everyone – meant that Gordy wasn’t enormously keen on his hottest up-and-coming songwriting/production team wasting any more time, money and creative juices on pointless vanity projects. As a result, when Brian, Lamont and the Andantes – and possibly the Tops themselves, too, though nobody seems to know for sure – convened in April to record a largely instrumental backing track for a new “song” – as yet without a title, but conceived by Brian as a love song for his little-mentioned first wife, Sharon – that mainly consisted of a series of Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh harmonies over a surprisingly tough rhythm bed of horns, strings, guitars and piano, all coming together for a beautiful, soaring choral refrain of Baby, I need your loving! / Got to have all your loving, nobody at Motown took much notice.
Holland and Dozier originally appear to have intended to record it themselves, but then instead put it forward as a possible Motown début for Johnny Nash, who was allegedly close to joining the company at the time. When Nash decided to stay where he was in Chicago, the half-finished track went back on the shelf. But then fate intervened; Berry Gordy, declining to issue the already-recorded Breaking Through LP on one of the main Motown labels, instead tasked the Holland-Dozier-Holland team, who were currently on a hot streak, with “doing something on the Four Tops”. Brian Holland, giddy with excitement at finally getting the green light to cut an actual Four Tops single, knew just what that “something” would be; he got together with Lamont and his brother Eddie, and they picked up the track, finished some proper lyrics, started bouncing some ideas around, and got more and more excited. Brian hurried down to the Twenty Grand, where the Tops were watching – what else? – a show by the Temptations, to unveil the plan. The Four Tops were in the studio by 3am recording their new vocals over the track.
AND NOW, AN ACTUAL REVIEW
It would have been a crime had this song been left unused, but I doubt that could ever have happened; surely HDH must have known, just as with Where Did Our Love Go, that they’d stumbled across a great tune. (And it is a great tune, certainly the best they’d yet come up with, arguably the best they’d ever come up with.) As with so many of HDH’s top tunes, there’s more than one killer hook you could plausibly call the song’s best moment – is it the opening ooh-ooh-ooh riff, the amazing call-and-response interplay between seven different people in the verses, Levi’s semi-barked interjections, or that operatic leap up the scale in the chorus? – and they’re all so deceptively simple that you can whistle them in the shower. This one could never have been kept under wraps for long.
The song is so strong as to be bulletproof, even Tom Clay’s wavering stentorian karaoke rendition in 1971 not enough to ruin it, but the vocals – and their brilliant arrangement – take everything to a whole new level here. The six backing singers – Obie, Duke and Lawrence joined by Marlene, Jackie and Louvain – form a bond so beautiful and all-enveloping that you could listen all day, but all six don’t always appear together at once, instead each taking different parts (the Tops the opening riff and the calm, subdued first verse, the Andantes the high notes and reverb in the chorus, all six at the start of the second verse in hypnotic fashion, building to an incredibly complex exchange of vocal lines in the last verse with mantra-like chanting, whispers, soft cooing, harmonising and all sorts of other things going on under Levi’s lead)… and then dovetailing them all together, quite seamlessly, to provide something we’ve not heard before on a Motown record – traditional in its inspiration, sure, but beautifully executed, and as fresh and new in its way as Where Did Our Love Go.
Levi, too, is on the form of his life, every inch the star frontman here. Those Breaking Through sessions all sound good, Stubbs in his comfort zone showing off his fine, rich tone, but they’re not really the Levi we’ve since come to know. But Baby I Need Your Loving was never intended for him to sing the lead, and consequently it’s pitched quite some way outside his natural range, leading him to do what would become his trademark delivery, a sort of sing-shout-bark capable of conveying more sheer passion than any other Motown vocalist while still somehow coming across as sweet and harmonious, just because he’s such a fucking amazing singer.
I’ve no hesitation at all in declaring Levi Stubbs to be the best lead singer Motown would ever sign. Just listen to him here, and tell me anyone else could do the things he does on this record. I could quote any part of it, but the exceptional section at the one and a half minute mark is perhaps my favourite bit of any Motown single so far, Levi out-Brenda Hollowaying Brenda Holloway by shifting effortlessly from raw-throated pain and anguish (that WHOA! verging on a James Brown scream) to the softest, warmest, most heartfelt quiet asides (you can almost hear the tears on his face), all without missing a beat:
EMPTY NIGHTS
ECHO YOUR NA-AME
WHOA! SOMETIMES I WONDER
WILL I EVER BE THE SAME?
Oh yeah…
When you see me smile, you know
Thi-i-i-i-ings have gotten worse
Any smile you might see
Has a-a-all been rehearsed
DARLIN’, I can’t go on without you
This EMP-ti-ness won’t let me live without you
Thise LONE-li-ness inside me, darling
Makes me feel half alive…
There aren’t many Motown singles you wish were twice as long, but I always find part of myself wishing that this one was, just because I want to hear more of it. That’s the wrong reaction, though. The real brilliance of the whole thing is that it’s structured to be a 2:45 pop song, not a rambling End of Side One epic – it’s built for the radio, and it’s all built around that phenomenal chorus. The energy starts up right from the beginning of the record, with a crashing drum fill and the Tops’ blending with first the horns and then the strings to provide that opening riff, but then it all becomes very sparse, chugging along with handclaps, tinkling piano, subdued rhythm guitar and the Tops chanting like a Polynesian mantra in the background while Levi takes the first verse head-on.
But it’s all building and building to that chorus, picking up steam, getting louder and fuller and faster, Levi stoking things up shovelling in more and more coal, and then it’s upon us, that chorus, good God that chorus, exploding out of the song with the biggest sound we’ve ever heard on a Motown sngle, the Tops anchoring it to the ground, reverberating with bass, the Andantes’ incredible soprano “bounce” soaring up to the clouds, and Levi calling on all this sonic splendour as his allies to persuade us just how much he means what he says – it’s all about making sure we know Levi doesn’t just need your loving, he needs it more urgently and and more sincerely than any man has ever needed anyone’s loving since the world began.
Everything about this is right on the money. Levi’s narrator wants to win back the love of his life, so he sets about doing it not just through his words (which he means from the bottom of his heart), not just through the pain and pleading in his voice (which would melt anyone else’s heart), but by putting together the grandest gesture imaginable, a massive production full of massive performances, all with one thing in mind, all working towards the same goal: it’s not I want you back, it’s not even I need you back, it’s Without you, I’m nothing, and I’ll do anything to put things right. If this doesn’t work, nothing ever will.
As we move into Motown’s mid-Sixties Golden Age proper, we’re going to be encountering a lot of my favourite records, and so the top marks are going to start clustering around these next few years, coming with increasing frequency. I hope you all won’t get bored if there are rather more 10s, awarded rather more freely, between now and 1968. There’ll only be fifty in total, and once they’re gone, they’re gone, so I’m painfully aware of the consequences of using them all up too fast or giving them out too cheaply. This, though, was an absolutely nailed-on choice, the first time on Motown Junkies we’ve come across a record that on its very first play, right out of the box, made me think it might be the best record that’s ever been made.
It is wonderful, almost unspeakably so. Of all the 10s so far, it’s both the most exhilarating and the most inspiring. It’s also possibly the best.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
(Or maybe you’re only interested in the Four Tops? Click for more.)
Mary Wells “Guarantee (For A Lifetime)” |
The Four Tops “Call On Me” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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Ed Pauli said:
There is certainly more emotion here than “Where Did Our Love Go”–maybe H-D-H were thinking so when they later presented it to the Tops — with a brand new set of lyrics and a brand new beat….
This is a 10 for sure—making WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO a possible 9.5.
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mndean said:
The only thing I couldn’t understand about this song is how it never got in the top 10 charts here, especially considering what did at the time.
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144man said:
Although the Tops got heavy airplay on pirate radio, the cover by the Fourmost reached 24 in the UK and split sales enough to deprive them of the chart entry they deserved.
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Vintage Spins said:
Your excitement at reviewing this absolutely brilliant song came across loud and clear! Thank you so much.
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Dave L said:
In retrospect, it may seem surprising that teens eating up bubblegum like Hermans Hermits and Gary Lewis & the Playboys would also make Tops records disappear from store bins, but it was easy. With the possible exception of “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever,” I don’t think the Tops hit any real bump until after HDH leave.
Given Levi’s facility for drama, Gordy could have doubled his own favor to himself in the 1970s convincing Hollywood Stubbs belonged in front cameras like Ross. No man who can pull you into his romantic dilemmas so thoroughly is going to fail on film either. And he had the looks, too.
I’m glad of the fact “Baby I Need Your Loving” was climbing the charts at the same time as Roy Orbison’s “Oh Pretty Woman.” They did and still sound wonderful back-to-back on a record changer. Neither dumbs itself down for teen ears, yet each masterpiece was irresistible to teen buyers.
🙂 You did a beautiful job by this record and this group, Nixon, and of course, I fully concur with a ’10.’
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mndean said:
J. Frank Wilson was nearly at #1 with “Last Kiss” around the time this was on the charts, too. Kids those days sure loved their dead girlfriend songs.
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Dave L said:
You can say that again. Not only “Last Kiss” but any number of Shangri-Las tragedies too, with doomed motorcycle riders, runaway lovers. and girls who can never go home anymore. We could probably make a hefty list. In retrospect, they now sound like they’re preparing little-future soap opera watchers of tomorrow, and in any fair world, Procter & Gamble should have been underwriting their production.
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Michael said:
Nixon, you have redeemed yourself! After the harsh treatment of Guarantee For A Lifetime (like some I think it better than that), this is rightly a 10. A great song and a great review.
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MichaelS said:
Another superlative essay, Mr. Nixon! And a well-deserved “10” for the Tops and everyone else involved in the making of this classic recording.
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Bob Harlow said:
The first time I heard the record (On KRLA in Los Angeles) I couldn’t believe my ears. I rushed down to my local record store and bought it. I played it over and over
for the better part of the day. The next day I heard Casey Kasem play it on the radio and when it was over, he played it again! That never happens. I think this is the best Motown record of the golden age ( 1964-68 in my opinion) There’s one on Gordy from early ’65 and one on Tamla from late 68 that come come close, but for me , this is the one!
It has not worn out it’s welcome, only gotten better with age. The mono mix is the way to hear this one.
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Steven said:
The review itself rates a 10. This song had been ruined for me by a couple of terrible covers, but Nixon’s essay has reminded me of what is great and indestructible about the Four Top’s performance and the song itself. Thanks.
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Robb Klein said:
Great song. I’d give it 10 as well. I bought it immediately. I was shocked, because they were Supper Club Jazz style singers with Columbia and Riverside, after their Doo-Wop days with Chess. I hadn’t expected such an emotional Soul song.
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W said:
Great point! The Four Tops switching to Motown was like Aretha’s moving to Atlantic from Columbia: suddenly the lights went on.
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Matt W said:
Glad to hear I’m not the only one who thinks this is the best Tops record. It too often gets ignored in favor of some of the other great Tops records (esp. I Can’t Help Myself and Reach Out, great songs but they don’t hold a candle to this one!) I agree about the lousy covers… I suppose the other songs I mentioned didn’t suffer those same indignities (as far as I can remember anyway).
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MichaelS said:
Donnie Elbert had a sizable hit (#22 Pop, #14 R&B) with “I Can’t Help Myself” in early 1972.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Bloody hell. He crops up everywhere. Was he just attempting to cover the entire HDH catalogue for a bet, or something?
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Landini said:
Mr. N, you are so funny my man! I actually kind of like Donnie Elbert’s Motown remakes in a Bizarro World sort of way. If forced at gunpoint to choose, I would take his remakes over Linda Rondstants! Ouch! My ears!
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Robb Klein said:
Maybe he did it to build up his career by taking advantage of The large British Motown cult following and also that of Western Europe in the very late ’60s and early ’70s, and also to take advantage of the Northern Soul appeal of those songs? He DID succeed in getting a large following in The UK, and to live off it for many years. I don’t think it was an accident. In USA during the ’50s and early ’60s, he was known mainly for his big ballad hit, “Have I Sinned”. I don’t think that he preferred to sing “stompers’ over ballads. I just think he was practical, and knew he could profit from the Eastern hemisphere’s cult dance club scenes and growing love for Motown music.
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John Plant said:
Your passionate hymn of praise to this splendid song is another triumph! – In regard to the comparison with the Temptations, I recently acquired a DVD of Four Top performances, with many treasures – but the negative revelation was how
atrociously they danced, if one can call it dancing – it was most upsetting to see Levi’s
desperate Shakespearean depth of emotion in ‘Standing in the Shadows of Love’ coupled with such preposterously inadequate and even contradictory choreography – while the Temptations’ dancing always served to sharpen and intensify the song… They did come up with some passable moves for ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ (one of my top two or three Motown songs) – but why couldn’t Cholly Atkins (if that’s who it was) just leave them alone, let them sing, and focus on the Tempts? – But bravo for the post – this will certainly be the definitive study of Motown when complete.. and it should make a really glorious book!
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Dave L said:
I’ll let you in on a little secret: when any of our Motown favorites back in the 60s turned up on TV, I wouldn’t have given a damn if they’d sung their newest record relaxing in a LazyBoy recliner chair. In fact, I sort of felt bad for them having to ‘perform’ the happiness, sadness or drama of their lyrics with their feet.
After all, it’s what wound up in the grooves and on the radio air waves that sent us scurrying to the record stores. I’ve yet to meet the Motown fan whose purchase choices were dictated by whether this or that singer was a good dancer.
Even today, there’s contemporary footage of Martha Reeves on stage, quite animated and strenuous with the music, and God bless her. But ask me what I’d like? How about video of Martha on a comfortable stool, in a pin spotlight, taking one of the old, slow chestnuts like “Old Love Let’s Try It Again,” “He Doesn’t Love Her Anymore,” or “No More Tearstained Makeup” -which are not, in the least, forgotten- and going at it as tenderly as doing a lullaby for one of her grandchildren.
To me, the more at ease the performer is, the better it fosters a sense of one on one intimacy with the attentive fan, particularly when the experience is visual as well auditory.
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John Plant said:
Ah, but it’s just that there was so much poetry in the Temptations when they danced; the dancing seemed to me in perfect harmony with the song, and it was part of the pleasure of watching them. I loved to watch Smokey and his Miracles move too – and I even enjoyed some the corny illustrative moves made by the Supremes (Stop!) and the Marvelettes (Danger!) What you say about Martha strikes a very responsive chord, however… the interviews with her were one of the highlights of the ‘Standing in the Shadows of Motown’ film, which I’ve just seen; she lights up the screen with her benevolent presence, and I very fervently second the wish so beautifully expressed in your post! – Of course, the great pleasure of the Temptations’ dancing is that they do seem at ease – and the agony of the Four Tops, who were clearly not at ease, was doubly painful for that reason. – I recall the TAMI show, in which Marvin Gaye’s performance was rather hilariously submerged in an ocean of dancing go-go girls….
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Dave L said:
Many times here at Motown Junkies I’ve referenced Nelson George’s wonderful 1985 work on Motown’s Detroit days, Where Did Our Love Go. It’s a terrific book, one I’ve surely re-read 15 times since I got my copy in 1986.
Every time I’ve known Nixon was approaching one these masterpieces -and “Dancing In The Street” is at the last day of this very ‘month’- I’ve worried for the enormous demand on any skilled writer’s power to summon the most deserving words not only for the record, but the story of the artist and the path to get to the moment of a given great work’s creation.
It’s plenty clear now I can put that worry to rest. With “…Memories,” “Heat Wave,” “My Guy,” “Where Did Our Love Go,” a good number of surprises, and now “Baby I Need Your Loving” it’s reassuringly evident Nixon is a music historian and biographer of the first order. 🙂
Though we don’t hold Motown Junkies in bound, printed pages with a colorful dust jacket, Nelson George’s efforts have without a doubt been surpassed. Simultaneously scrupulously honest and reverent, Motown Junkies is the new Last Word of reading when it comes to the house that Berry Gordy built.
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MichaelS said:
Dave L has put into words what so many of us, I’m certain, have been thinking for quite some time: “Motown Junkies” is definitive when discussing all things Motown!
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The Nixon Administration said:
You’re all very kind, but I don’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Nelson George!
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John Plant said:
Nixon, that’s like Mozart saying that he doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Haydn! – This is definitive, beautiful work. And you’ve done more than anyone else to reconcile this rabid bibliophile with the Internet – the only time when reading something on line has been comparable in pleasure to sitting down with a book. Fervent thanks. I’m grateful even for the passionate disagreements which arise, both with me and with others, as they help us to sharpen our perceptions of this amazing body of work.
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Byron said:
Nixon you did it again! Great professional and passionate review of one of the BEST songs to come out of Motown. 1964 was a golden year for me, just starting to find out what I liked and who I am. When I first heard “Baby I need Your Loving” I too ran to my neighborhood record shop and brought it, played it over and over again listening to every little word, sound, emotion in Levi’s voice. My sister who was not a big Motown fan at the time loved the song and much to my surprise purchased the album when it was released. ( She of course had more more then I had ). I was happy she did, I discovered a group that had so much good songs and sound, ” Ask the Lonely” , ” Where Did You Go”, ” Without The One you Love”, ” Sad Souvenirs”. The album became a true treasure in my house. My sister and I were now true Four Tops fans. This is most deservedly a 10 in my book!! Well deserved 10.
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Ron Leonard said:
This Holland Dozier Holland treasure I have NEVER gotten tired of..I too have this album on vinyl and on CD..The call and responce on “Baby I Need Your Loving” touches my soul. The build at the end is superb, ” I need you and want ya baby” “I need you and I love ya baby”..and of course the Adantes. Weren’t they on a later single “Bernadette” Where they pause with the “AAHHH”
I remember the Motown Story when you could hear the Music Track in clear for ” Baby I Need Your Loving” in the background when Charlie Van Dyke was hosting part of the event..
On the above post, Byron mentioned ” Where Did You Go” which was the flipside of “Ask The Lonely” is also one of my favorites..Holland Dozier Holland always seem to have the best hooks..” Only your warm embrace, can fill this empty place” Yes, this is a 10, 10, 10!!!
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Randy Brown said:
“The Motown Story” referring to the excellent 1970 5-LP compilation; an interview with Berry Gordy, Jr. himself plays over that backing track.
I’ve always considered “Baby” to be the first in a series of classy, lushly-arranged Detroit tracks from Motown, in contrast with the Funk Bros.’ usual punchy style. “My Girl,” “It’s Growing,” “Since I Lost My Baby” (yes, I’m biased toward the Tempts) and others from 1964-65.
This review was more than worth the long wait. Take a bow, Mr. Nixon.
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144man said:
This is your best review yet.
I thoroughly agree with you that Levi Stubbs was the best lead singer Motown ever signed. If it were possible to award this record an 11/10, I would.
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The Nixon Administration said:
I only just saw this comment. Thank you so much!
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Ron Leonard said:
Yes, ” The Motown Story”..You’ve got to love, “and the Motown hits just keep on comin’..
Back on October 21st, 2005, I was blessed to take a tour of “Hitsville U.S.A.” at 2648 West Grand BLVD..I was on “Hallowed Ground” as far as I was concerned. I was in that studio where all the major Motown Hits were recorded..From 1959 to 1972. Just
before you walk into the recording studio, there’s a glassed enclosed room where there are the old reel to reel recorders where alot of the editing was done..What was truely amazing, was all of the worn out floors in front of the recorders..there were actually major holes in the floors..I would imagine this was from foot stomping keeping in time with the music tracks. The Motown rythym was some of the tightest of that time or anytime for that matter.
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ThinPaperWings said:
Really fantastic review. I will dare to be a voice of dissent and will rate this at as a 9/10. It’s a great song but not the absolute best of the Tops for me.
There are bits of verse melody that (despite how well Levi sings them) are just a bit amorphous. When coupled with the band backing, which is more tumbling than propulsive (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I get a little lost. The move to the chorus doesn’t feel as inevitable as it could.
Having said that I do love the chorus, with it’s celestial vocal blend. The staccato phrasing of ‘got’ is also a welcome contrast to the legato feel of what’s around it. It’s a seemingly small thing, but it’s invaluable to the tune. (And it foreshadows the more overtly tortured expression of romantic desperation that we all know is coming on ‘Standing in the Shadows,’ ‘Bernadette’ et al.) Certainly one of the great choruses of any Motown song.
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144man said:
At the time some friends of mine thought the song took too long to get to the chorus; I didn’t agree with them.
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The Nixon Administration said:
If anyone has a scan of the B-side, or is able to produce one for me, I’d be very grateful…!
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M. L. Ford said:
I remember the very first day I heard “Baby I Need Your Loving” I was completely blown away, never heard a sound like that and especially the beginning hook line with the whoooh! whoooh! with the Andantes in background. Although the song was released 10 July 1964, it was August when our radio station started playing it. It was 31 Aug 1964 when I first hearded, starting my first day of junior high school (middle school). It is one of those songs you can hold and kiss a girl in your arms with happiness. Some mornings prior to me going to school, my mother would send me to the neighborhood store to buy some things she needed. I would put a nickel in the juke box and watch that Motown 45 spin out to play. That Motown label was very interesting and mesmarizing. I knew with that label it would put out good music and finding out 2 years later that the other subsidiary labels were trademarks of Motown, (Tamla, Gordy, Soul, VIP, and Melody). Although the Supremes “Where Did Our Love Go” and their other songs was on Motown, I liked the Four Tops more than anything. Some years back I have realized that I have been listening to Motown all along since 1960 before I knew about Motown. The 1959 Motown sounds when it was Tamla, I am not sure about, however when I listen to them on You Tube, they sort of sound familiar. But I do remember Jackie Wilson songs that was composed 1958/1959 by Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. I have the Four Tops first album in my possession, the vinyl is in mint condition, but the album cover is not so great. I do not have a stereo turntable anymore. If possible can somebody upload “Don’t Turn Away” from that same album onto You Tube. I like responding comments from the Nixon Administration and others. Thanks
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The Nixon Administration said:
Note to self: don’t waste valuable time wading into a Soulful Detroit thread with a long, detailed post when you could be writing something useful…. Glutton for punishment, me.
New material soon, everyone. In the meantime, I’ll be appearing on Radio Cardiff at 8am GMT on Saturday morning (see above re: glutton for punishment) to talk about the blog and early Motown, as well as playing a few selected records from those covered so far. Hope some of you can listen in 🙂
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144man said:
Re your long, detailed post on SDF, the jury’s out and it might be some time. Does the Scottish verdict of “Not Proven” still exist?
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The Nixon Administration said:
🙂 It does, and it’s an excellent analogy which, with your permission, I will steal when we get to 1969. However, in the meantime I am discovering the Nixonian maxim of “Don’t post long detailed stuff on SDF, because you’ll get into unexpected fights and receive PMs calling you e.g. an annoyingly precious know-it-all” also holds true. Which is justified, obviously, but not something I’m seeking out on purpose. So, er, I won’t be doing that again.
Meanwhile, my brief appearance on Radio Cardiff this morning went down well – I had fun, and they’ve asked me to go back and do a one-hour special in the New Year. If anyone wants to listen to what I said this morning (and what’s probably the first radio play for the Pirates in about 40 years), it’ll be available from tomorrow morning as a podcast here:
http://screencast.com/t/Vd5reoAS
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John Lester said:
Have you noticed that on the label, the artist would be written as “Four Tops” and not “The Four Tops”. One of those minor points of detail that has stuck with me.
Nevertheless, there are examples where that was not the case.
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144man said:
If a friend of mine hadn’t pointed that out to me at the time, I’d never have noticed.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Mm, I deliberated long and hard about whether to follow that tradition here, but ultimately decided against it. The definite article is missing from some of the early Supremes and Temptations singles too, while the Tops’ prior non-Motown efforts say “the”, and it’s not always consistently applied, so it’s more a stylistic choice than a statement, I feel.
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ExGuyParis said:
A superb review of a superb song! I appreciate your recognition of what the Andantes added to The Four Tops recipe for success.
I love listening to each song as I read each of your reviews for the first time. In many cases I also listen to the “without lead vocals” version of the song from the Motown Original Artist Karaoke CDs. Listening to this song without Levi’s contribution reveals several things: The simplicity and soaring beauty of the Funk Brothers’ contribution, and the glory of perfection in background singing… as well as what Levi adds to this gem!
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The Nixon Administration said:
Just reminding myself again, but how good is Could It Be You? I find more things to like about it each time I hear it. Strange to wonder what kind of world we’d live in if the Tops had got big in 1956.
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Landini said:
Hi All. I agree that this is a great song but have to admit I don’t think it is one of their best. I actually like a lot of the 4 Tops other songs – some of the more obscure ones. Don’t get me wrong – it is a wonderful song & very worthy of all the praise it is getting but it has never grabbed me quite the way it seems to grab other people. Oh well! I guess there is one in every crowd!
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144man said:
I understand; I feel exactly the same about “Where Did Our Love Go” and to an extent “Dancing In the Street” – good enough, but not outstanding.
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Landini said:
Thanks buddy! What a relief! I was afraid you guys were getting out the tar & feathers. Just kdding. You all are the best!
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Landini said:
I have noticed that some Oldies Stations have played the Johnny Rivers version of this more than the original. What’s up with that? His version is nice, but doesn’t beat the 4 Tops. Was Rivers’ version technically a bigger hit than the original? By the way, avoid the Eric Carmen remake at all costs. He did some good music but this one was way out of his reach.
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Rupert Kinnard said:
Of course your observation of the Rivers version being more popular the the Four Tops has been the bane of so many black music lovers—white versions of black songs. I always humorously used to think that it was because white people had to have the great original versions diluted for them to be able to stand it…the original versions were much too much for their souls to handle! Heh heh heh… Johnny Rivers could have never put forth the subtleties of a Levi Stubbs no more than Carol King could compared to Aretha Franklin’s You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman…or James Taylor’s How Sweet it is (To be Loved By You) compared to Marvin’s. I was shocked when I came across someone who had only heard Taylor’s version of that song and had never heard Marvin’s! Now that is what I would consider a tragedy!
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Landini said:
You are singing my tune exactly, bro! For what its worth, I’m white & I love R&B/Soul/Motown & cringe at most remakes – especially the 70’s ones! I had a buddy who actually preferred Linda Rontsadts version of “Heatwave” over the Vandellas. What’s up with that? He is still my good buddy, but really. In other places on this site I have made the point that it seems as though a soul/r&b record’s chance of crossing over into pop (OR NOT!) can depend on just a few degrees of soulfuness. Case in point (though non-Motown) – Peaches & Herb’s “Reunited” was a huge pop smash. Their next ballad “I Pledge My Love” a far better record IMHO didn’t do as well. Simply because it was more “soulful”. Another example is Atlantic Starr (again non-Motown). Pop audiences ignored great songs like “When Love Calls” but bought up the sappy “Always” in droves. Anyway… glad we can enjoy the music!
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Rupert Kinnard said:
I think Nixon makes a wonderful case for how great Baby I Need Your Loving is! I have to say that I guess I love the results of most H-D-H Four Tops productions but I am still in the process of getting over male vocal groups having female vocals in the background with them. I had been a bit of a snob wanting Four Top records to be just the Four Tops. But…one can’t really argue with the results, eh? I felt the same way about Thom Bell and The Spinners. Why couldn’t the richness of these two male vocal groups be enough without what has always been called “the sweetening?”
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Landini said:
Hey that’s an idea! Wonder if Motown would ever re-release the Four Tops songs (minus the female vocals) to see how they sounded. Would be intriguing!
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MotownFan1962 said:
It would still sound awesome, that’s for sure.
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Topkat said:
In my continuing search to find video performances, here is an original clip of THE FOUR TOPS , Levi, Larry (Lawrence) , Duke (Abdul) , and Obie (Reynaldo) singing their first million-selling hit, “BABY I NEED YOUR LOVING”
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The Nixon Administration said:
Just FYI Topkat: live clips are fine, but as a rule I never link to the studio version of the track under discussion, for various boring reasons.
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MotownFan1962 said:
Don’t worry! I found another one!
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Topkat said:
“Just FYI Topkat: live clips are fine, but as a rule I never link to the studio version of the track under discussion, for various boring reasons.”
Of Course. I understand. I just thought that, since it’s the original studio version that is being reviewed and that everyone is commenting on , I’d just post it as a point of reference.
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The Nixon Administration said:
No worries, it’s just a policy I have. Not for any interesting reason: just avoiding copyright problems and encouraging people to read rather than skipping straight to the music.
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John Winstanley said:
Your account of this record is spot on and when I listen to it now, I realise what a great record this is.
In your synopsis, you mention the “Breaking Through” project and mention one track that did not appear on the resurfaced album in 1999. What was this track and do you know the exact running order of the original LP that was shelved.
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The Nixon Administration said:
The song is “The Night We Called It A Day”. On Soulful Detroit a while back, Harry Weinger confirmed it was left off the reissue because the surviving tape plainly wasn’t the finished recording and needed remixing before it was of release quality, or something along those lines.
Whether the final running order was ever established is open for debate, so I think Universal just put everything releaseable on the new CD for fans to decide – whether that reflects the actual LP is anyone’s guess.
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144man said:
Strangely enough it was me who asked on Soulful Detroit why “TNWCIAD” was omitted originally, and I’ve just given the answer there. Harry said the harmonies were a bit off, and it would have been too difficult to put right.
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bogart4017 said:
From pick-up grooves to run-out groove a stone soul smash. I couldnt find anyone that did not like this song. Anytime i hear it now i am instantly transformed back to 1964.
I used to go to a lot of platter parties and i had this talent that i had no control over: I could recall every dong i heard even i had never heard it before. This particular Saturday morning, it just kept going though my head…”GOT to have all your loving…”
Needless to say i was at the record store that same day. It wasnt long after that, there they were on “American Bandstand”. Man, do i miss 1964.
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jyx95k said:
A truly magnificent record. I’m not sure where I first heard it, but it was enough to make me buy the first Four Tops album, aged about 16. This track is so overpoweringly brilliant. I will never tire of it.
I first heard the stereo mix, and love it to bits. More space, which works.
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JulianHicks said:
A much neglected [for radio play] track by Motown’s best group, that’s a step above all their other great tracks like ‘Reach out …” and “Bernadette”. My favourite Motown track of all time [except, maybe, for the Isleys’ “This old heart …”, which, it is rumoured, may have been written for the Tops].
Just had its 50th Anniversary as a single release in the UK – apparently released on Sep 14 1964 – and still sounds great today.
Must also agree that Levi was the best ‘front man’ of all.
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Kevin Moore said:
Jesus – what a song this is.
1. We STILL haven’t gotten to “Nowhere to Run”, often cited as one of the very first songs to use the famous bVII IV I, aka “Hey Jude progression”, and here it is right in the intro – and with a I pedal – something that wouldn’t become common until way later.
2. The exhilarating “surge into the chorus” is a modulation – from Bb to Eb – unusual for any rock or R&B song (except for that cliché bridge of the 1959 songs – but that’s really very different), but what makes this one so insanely brilliant is that it doesn’t just go to the key of IV – goes to the IV of the key of IV! It takes 3 chords to GET to the Eb: Ab Fmi Eb Cmi (IV ii I vi). Even if they’d done a “Where Did Our Love Go” trick and made a whole song – all in Eb – out of the chorus progression, it would have been a killer song but it’s so much more than that. At the “surge” moment, we’ve been solidly in Bb and we hear an Ab chord, seeming to be the bVII of the intro – but no!! – it turns out to be the IV chord of the new key! It’s a double twist. The creativity of the way the modulation is handled is on a par with Penny Lane, Lucy in the Sky, and Maybe I’m Amazed. Those modulate up or down a whole step instead of a fourth but the idea is the same – it’s not like a jazz standard that establishes a main key, goes to another key by a standard mechanism, and comes back to the main key. Baby I Need Your Lovin’ and the afore mentioned Beatles songs are arguably in two keys and the way they keep pivoting back and forth around that incredible Ab chord makes them ENDLESSLY exciting to listen to. I think there are other HDH songs that do this with a key a fourth away, but this is definitely the first.
3. The groove! It not the HDH shuffle – it’s straight time – or is it? – it’s as if it’s straining TOWARD the shuffle feel in the most subtle way (listen to the backup vocals at the end – “and I need you and I want you”).
4. The verse is a I – IV gospely vamp and it repeats with ever increasing urgency, semi-unpredictable amounts of times tailored to the individual lyrics of each verse in a way that pre-echoes “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Idiot Wind” – Stubbs makes you get down on your knees and BEG for that chorus and every line adds tension to the delayed gratification effect. But the craziest thing happens on the last time. At 2:07 he’s still building on the I IV vamp and then the chords go the the bVII IV I progression of the intro! It happens right at 2:09 and it’s just orgasmic – “this emptiness” and then the bVII comes on “won’t let me live without you” – fireworks! And then the bVII IV a second time (“this loneliness inside me darlin'”), and then the last time it’s back to the I IV vamp one more time and the the surge to the chorus. At first I thought “why go back to I IV?” and then of course I realized that they had to get off the Ab to set up the surge again. The whole thing is just insanely inspired. It’s so much more than the sum of a great intro plus a great verse plus a great chorus – the impact is increased geometrically by the way they feed into each other and the way that each individual verse is so different musically.
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Abbott Cooper said:
What always stood out for me from the first time I heard this song was the 4-beat bass line continuing through verses and chorus. It harkened back to a similar 4-beat line in Martha and the Vandellas’ “Quicksand.” Wondering if Mr. Jamerson had a hand in both renditions and if the idea for those 4 consecutive beats were his idea or that of the songs’ producers.
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Slade Barker said:
Nixon, Duke Fakir offered an even more detailed explanation for the Four Tops’ longevity to reporter Andy Seiler of USA TODAY. He said it helped that they had already been together so many years. He also said that, after the first flush of international fame, and the years of constant togetherness, they started to experience all the tensions that had driven other groups apart. They decided that, before they would even discuss it seriously, they would all take a months-long break from everything. He said they did, and that by the time they met again, they were all eager to work together and make it last for the rest of their lives. They worked out a five-year-plan, a 10-year-plan — the works. And they stuck to it, as friends and partners.
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the-official-Little-Lisa-fan-club said:
One of the most elegant Motown songs, certainly.
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DAN NOOGER said:
During the time I was running the All Platinum / Chess reissue program back in the mid-70’s, I ran across a small (7-inch) reel bearing a “United Sound Studios” label (this was the biggest recording studio in Detroit in the 1940’s and 50’s) with the word “AMES” on it, no other information. I put it up on the deck: there was a basic rhythm section and some Four Freshmen / Hi-Lo’s type harmonies on an uptempo swinger (“I Wish You Would”). Something about the way the lead singer pronounced some of his words – the penny dropped – this was a teenage Levi Stubbs fronting the Four Tops in 1955 – before settling on the Four Tops name they were called , as discussed, the “Four Aims”. A (presumably) white recording engineer labeling the tape probably thought of the Ames Brothers who were big then. The Tops did get one doo-wop single released on Chess about a year later (“Could It Be You”). There were all types of tapes in that vault which somehow had been obtained by Chess. “I Wish You Would” was eventually issued on a “Best Of Chess Vocal Groups” compilation years later. All of the Chess library was burnt up in the 2008 Universal Studios fire. I remember those days, and those tapes, the way Roy Orbison remembers the Blue Bayou…
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Robb Klein said:
I take it that The Tops’ “I Wish You Would” is a remake of Billy Boy Arnold’s VJ regional hit. Is it not? I wonder if the tape was a demo tape by the group, made locally, in Detroit, to use to try to get a contract from a record company? I would have guessed that all The Four Tops’ Chess-sponsored sessions would have been recorded in Chicago (perhaps at Universal), as that was before Chess’ Ter-Mar Studio was built.
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boogieknight said:
Alongside My Love Is Your Love (Forever) by the Isley Bros. this song’s opening lines always trigger this intense emotional response. I wish I could describe it, and as corny as it may sound, it feels like a past life coming through and jolting me. It’s incredible.
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