693. The Four Tops: “Just As Long As You Need Me”
It’s not as brave as the A-side, or as startling, and – hand on heart – it isn’t quite as good as a record, either; but it’s still lovely, and it still works. (7)
Category Archives: The Four Tops
692. The Four Tops: “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)”
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)
649. The Four Tops: “Darling, I Hum Our Song”
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)
648. The Four Tops: “Something About You”
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)
608. The Four Tops: “Your Love Is Amazing”
Messy but still full-on excellent, shambling towards greatness; it’s a rush, a buzz, a gas, utterly irresistible in its demented glee. (8)
607. The Four Tops: “It’s The Same Old Song”
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)
568. The Four Tops: “Sad Souvenirs”
A bitter, lonely stalk of a song, all the better for Levi Stubbs to climb right to the top. (7)
567. The Four Tops: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)”
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)
532. The Four Tops: “Where Did You Go”
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)
531. The Four Tops: “Ask The Lonely”
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)
500. The Four Tops: “Love Has Gone”
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)
