• About Motown Junkies
  • Artists
    • A
      • Alan, Lee
      • Andantes
      • Anthony, Richard
    • B
      • Ben, LaBrenda
      • Blakely, Cornell
      • Bohanon, George
      • Breen, Bobby
      • Burnadettes
      • Burnette, Dorsey
    • C
      • Campbell, Choker
      • Channel, Bruce
      • Charters
      • Chuck-a-Lucks
      • Clark, Chris
      • Contours
      • Crawford, Carolyn
      • Creations
      • Crockett, Howard
    • D
      • Dalton Boys
      • Darnells
      • Day, Danny
      • Dean, Debbie
      • Diamond, Hank & Carol
      • Downbeats
      • Dozier, Lamont
    • E-F
      • Eckstine, Billy
      • Elgins
      • Equadors
      • Four Tops
      • Funk Brothers
    • G
      • Gaye, Marvin
      • Golden Harmoneers
      • Good, Tommy
      • Gorman, Freddie
      • Gospel Stars
      • Greer, Paula
      • Griffin, Herman
      • Griffith, Johnny
      • Griner, Linda
    • H
      • Hamilton, Dave
      • Haney & Armstrong
      • Hartfield, Pete
      • Headliners
      • Heard, Oma
      • Henslee, Gene
      • Hillsiders
      • Hit Pack
      • Holland, Eddie
      • Holland-Dozier
      • Holloway, Brenda
      • Holloway, Patrice
      • Hornets
    • I-J
      • Isley Brothers
      • Joanne & the Triangles
      • John, Mable
      • Johnson, Marv
      • Jones, Wade
    • K-L
      • Kayli, Bob
      • Lands, Liz
      • Lee & the Leopards
      • Leverett, Chico
      • Lewis Sisters
      • Little Iva
      • Little Lisa
      • Little Otis
      • Littles, Hattie
      • Long, Shorty
      • Lumpkin, Henry
    • M
      • Majestics
      • Mallett, Saundra
      • Mann, Columbus
      • Martha & the Vandellas
      • Martin, Tony
      • Marvelettes
      • McCullers, Mickey
      • McKenzie, Don
      • McNair, Barbara
      • Merced Blue Notes
      • Merritt, Billy
      • Mike & the Modifiers
      • Milburn, Amos
      • Miracles
      • Monitors
      • Morrocco Muzik Makers
      • Mullins, Dee
    • N-R
      • Nick & the Jaguars
      • Oddis, Ray
      • Parks, Gino
      • Paul, Bunny
      • Pirates
      • Remus, Eugene
      • Ron & Bill
      • Ruffin, Jimmy
    • S
      • Satintones
      • Sebastian, Joel
      • Serenaders
      • Spinners
      • Strong, Barrett
      • Stylers
      • Supremes
      • Swinging Tigers
    • T
      • Taylor, R. Dean
      • Taylor, Sherri
      • Temptations
      • Terrell, Tammi
      • Turner, Sammy
      • Twistin’ Kings
    • U-V
      • Valadiers
      • Valvano, Mike
      • Van Dyke, Connie
      • Van Dyke, Earl
      • Vells
      • Velvelettes
      • Vows
    • W-Z
      • Walker, Junior (& All-Stars)
      • Ward, (Singin’) Sammy
      • Washington, Earl
      • Wells, Mary
      • Weston, Kim
      • Williams, André
      • Wilson, Frank
      • Wonder, Stevie
      • Woods, Mickey
      • Wright Specials
      • Wylie, Richard “Popcorn”
  • Great Songwriters
  • Labels
    • Britain
    • Chisa
    • Divinity
    • Gordy
    • Inferno
    • Manticore
    • Mel-o-dy
    • Melodyland
    • Miracle
    • Miscellaneous
    • Motown
    • MoWest
    • Prodigal
    • Rare Earth
    • Soul
    • Tamla
    • VIP
    • Workshop Jazz
  • Marks Out Of Ten
    • I Disagree!
  • Master Index
  • Radio

Motown Junkies

~ because it's what's in the grooves that counts

Motown Junkies

Category Archives: The Four Tops

692. The Four Tops: “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)”

January 14, 2019

The Four Tops are wonderful, and right now, like the rest of their labelmates, songwriters, producers, musicians, and – heck – probably the people at the pressing plants, they can do no wrong. (9)

Continue reading →

649. The Four Tops: “Darling, I Hum Our Song”

November 27, 2013

A fine effort in its own right, and the vocals are lovely, but everyone involved had already moved on, and HDH were right to finally let it go. (6)

Continue reading →

648. The Four Tops: “Something About You”

November 9, 2013

It’s pretty good, I guess, and yet I’ve never warmed to it, never thrilled to it, never breathlessly gone straight back to the beginning to play it again. (6)

Continue reading →

608. The Four Tops: “Your Love Is Amazing”

April 21, 2013

Messy but still full-on excellent, shambling towards greatness; it’s a rush, a buzz, a gas, utterly irresistible in its demented glee. (8)

Continue reading →

607. The Four Tops: “It’s The Same Old Song”

April 13, 2013

Based solely on its reputation, this seemed like it might be a chance to ease up on the flow of constant praise we’ve had recently – but no, this one’s absolutely fine by me. (8)

Continue reading →

568. The Four Tops: “Sad Souvenirs”

January 14, 2013

A bitter, lonely stalk of a song, all the better for Levi Stubbs to climb right to the top. (7)

Continue reading →

567. The Four Tops: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)”

January 12, 2013

I don’t know if a record can ever be “magnificently adequate”, which sounds like a veiled criticism even though that’s both exactly how I feel, and not at all what I mean. So instead, I’ll put it more positively: everything about this is just right. (8)

Continue reading →

532. The Four Tops: “Where Did You Go”

September 28, 2012

It’s just lacking that final spark, that something extra which would take the song into the realms of greatness, rather than it being pleasing but ultimately inconsequential. Of course, I suppose when something’s this pleasing, it hardly matters. (6)

Continue reading →

531. The Four Tops: “Ask The Lonely”

September 23, 2012

If I still don’t entirely trust that massive, sweeping chorus, it’s a record that’s nonetheless been creeping up and up and up in my estimation, to the point where I thought I’d better finish writing this before the song barged its way any further up the scale. (8)

Continue reading →

500. The Four Tops: “Love Has Gone”

July 6, 2012

It’s the sound that makes this work, the sound of the Four Tops and the Andantes hooking it all up, turning base metal into gold. Even the most hackneyed, hoary old material could sound angelic in their hands, and so this – buffed up to a fine sheen by its writer-producers – turns out very well. (6)

Continue reading →

499. The Four Tops: “Without The One You Love (Life’s Not Worth While)”

July 4, 2012

It’s not all that good, and if I didn’t know that they’d dust themselves off and make some of the best records in history, I’d be worried. As it is, I’m just really disappointed – this could, and should, have been fantastic. (4)

Continue reading →

← Older posts

MOTOWN JUNKIES

This is Motown Junkies, an unofficial track by track history of Motown: in-depth analysis and discussion of both sides of every Motown single ever released between 1959 and 1988. Enjoy!

 

Index of all reviews to date

Lucky Dip (a random review)


Wales Blog Awards

Best Music & Entertainment Blog
Wales Blog Awards 2012


Recent Posts

  • 692. The Four Tops: “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)”
  • 691. Marvin Gaye: “When I Had Your Love”
  • 690. Marvin Gaye: “One More Heartache”
  • 689. The Isley Brothers: “There’s No Love Left”
  • 688. The Isley Brothers: “This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)”

Recent Comments

144man on 328. The Velvelettes: “T…
Michael on 440. Mary Wells: “Guaran…
nafalmat on 532. The Four Tops: “Whe…
144man on 532. The Four Tops: “Whe…
Mary Plant on 692. The Four Tops: “Sha…
Tom Lawler on 692. The Four Tops: “Sha…
Graham Betts on 692. The Four Tops: “Sha…
Michael on 252. Little Stevie Wonder:…
Rupert Kinnard on 648. The Four Tops: “Som…
Rupert Kinnard on 692. The Four Tops: “Sha…

Popular Right Now

  • Master Index
  • 692. The Four Tops: "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)"
  • Labels
  • Great Songwriters
  • About Motown Junkies

RADIO

Motown Junkies presents
"Discovering Motown"
a Motown radio show

Hand-picked hits, harmonies and hard-hitting soul from the world's greatest record label, specially chosen by Motown historian and writer Steve Devereux. Whether you're new to Motown or a seasoned veteran, you'll find something good here

LATEST EPISODES:


Episode 75


Episode 74


Episode 73


Episode 72


Episode 71


Episode 70


Episode 69

TWITTER

My Tweets

Links

  • Soulful Detroit Motown Forum Motown discussion forum
  • Discovering Motown: our radio show Listen to old episodes here
  • Seabear Studios LG Nilsson’s Motown discography and collection of label scans
  • Soul Source Forum Great discussion forum.
  • Don't Forget the Motor City Keith Hughes’ indispensable guide to Motown recording and songwriting information

Made in Wales

* * *

Check out our radio show:
Discovering Motown

Motown Junkies

This is Motown Junkies, an unofficial guide to every Motown single ever released, or planned for release, on every US Motown label (or via Tamla Motown in the UK), featuring reviews of each A-side and B-side in chronological order. New reviews appear every couple of days.

Think of it as an unauthorised track-by-track companion to the magnificent The Complete Motown Singles CD box sets, and beyond, with marks out of ten.

I'm NOT Paul Nixon.

FURTHER INFORMATION

More info about the blog (and me) can be found here. If you want to leave a comment on any review, please feel free to do so - all feedback, corrections, disagreements and encouragements gratefully received. If you've something you'd rather not say in public, I can be contacted at fosse8 at gmail dot com.

(Oh, and if you arrived here looking for the Motown Junkies music group, they're nothing to do with me, I'm afraid - but they are very nice people, and they can be found at www.motownjunkies.com instead.)

HOW TO USE THIS BLOG

You can jump straight to the full list of reviews so far in the Master Index, or browse by label instead.

If you're looking for something a bit more specific, you can click an artist's name in the "Artist" menu at the top of the screen to see a little biography and all the reviews we've done for them so far. Only people whose records I've already discussed appear there at the moment - more names will be added to the lists all the time as I work my way through Motown's history, so do keep checking back!

Alternatively, the front page displays excerpts from the most recent reviews, and on the right hand side of the screen you'll see a list of the most recent entries and also a sampling of the most popular entries from the last 48 hours, as well as the latest comments left by visitors.

Dive in, explore and have fun!

LEGAL STUFF

This is an unofficial site, and is not affiliated in any way with Universal Motown, Hip-O Select or any of the artists referred to in the blog.

Where indicated, label scan images appear by kind permission of Lars "LG" Nilsson (as originally prepared for the Complete Motown Singles series).

Digital images courtesy of Gordon Frewin are supplied for use at motownjunkies.co.uk by arrangement. All applicable rights reserved. No unauthorised republication is permitted.

Many label images were kindly provided by Robb Klein, together with invaluable historical research.

All text © Motown Junkies, 2009-19. All rights reserved.