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THE FOUR TOPS
Fourever (Hip-O)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
FINALLY, the Four Tops are represented with a box set, four CDs in all, and it's a hit for the collectors. This thing is jammed with alternate takes and unreleased gems that will make you wonder just why they didn't make the original albums - until you go back and listen to the original albums and realize just how strong they were. Most of the groups at Motown had little or no experience prior to being groomed by Berry Gordy and launched into the spotlight, but The Four Tops were perhaps the top R&B vocal act in Detroit, and had been for a decade. Everybody wanted them, especially Gordy, but even though Motown's reputation grew like wildfire, the Tops played hard to get for quite a long time, until they finally inked the exact deal they wanted. This wasn't a group that needed coaching. Almost every note was perfect, nearly every move was smooth as glass, and with the songwriting and producing team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier & Eddie Holland on board, they were nearly flawless.
Is the box set flawless? It's 4 CDs, it has alternates in place of hit versions in many cases, and it spends a lot of time lingering in less exciting later years, so... no, it's not. It couldn't be. But let's be realistic here; if you really want the hit versions of the biggest songs, there are several single and double CD sets on the market that will fill that order for you. If you're a real fan of the group who wants to hear the many unreleased tracks and the few pre-Motown recordings they've thrown in for good measure, you're going to drool all over this box set. Furthermore, for the real musicologists out there who thoroughly appreciate the Motown house band, know the players by name and realize just what their contributions to popular music were, this is a treasure trove of previously unheard performances and evolutionary stages of classic bass lines and guitar parts. It's all documented in a very nice 84 page book bound together with the CDs all in a nice package, complete with rare photographs and - thank the gods and producers of the set - credits listing who played what, not during each session but during each period, which is a lot more than most boxes list.
The sound isn't necessarily anything to write home about. Whether they spent much time cleaning up the original analogue masters or not, I can't tell you. There's a lot of distortion in places, but if a signal is distorted as it is originally being recorded, that's all she wrote, and that may be the case here. It really doesn't matter because a song like "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" would probably sound naked without it's thin layer of distortion. Fourever is really about the music, anyway. It's about the chance to really listen to and study The Four Tops in a way you never could before. Even the deepest fields of disc four offer proof that The Four Tops, who never changed their lineup, remained a vital and entertaining act throughout their recording career. It's the last of the major Motown acts to get a box set, and in many ways it may be the best. Only fitting since, in many ways, they may have been Motown's best.
TRACK LIST
Disc One
Could It Be You * Ain't That Love * Pennies from Heaven * Until I Met You * Baby I Need Your Loving * Where Did You Go * Without the One You Love * Left With a Broken Heart * Ask the Lonely * Just a Little Love * My Heart Is Calling You * I Can't Help Myself * It's the Same Old Song * Is There Anything That I Can Do * Something About You * No Good Without You * Just as Long as You Need Me * Shake Me, Wake Me * Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever * Brenda * For Once in My Life
Disc Two
Reach Out I'll Be There * Standing in the Shadows of Love * Bernadette * 7-Rooms of Gloom * I'll Turn to Stone [live] * You Keep Running Away * Walk Away Renee * Your Love Is Wonderful * If I Were a Carpenter * Just Another Lonely Night * Oh I've Been Blessed * Yesterday's Dreams * Can't Seem to Get You Out of My Mind * I'm in a Different World * What Is a Man * So Far * Don't Let Him Take Your Love from Me * Do What You Gotta Do * MacArthur Park * I'll Pay Double * Nothing * Barbara's Boy * Stranded on the Road of Love
Disc Three
It's All in the Game * Love (Is the Answer) * Still Water (Peace) /Still Water (Love) * Ballad to: The One I Love * River Deep - Mountain High * I'm Glad About It * Just Seven Numbers * In These Changing Times * A Simple Game * You Stole My Love * So Deep Within You * I Can't Quit Your Love * (It's the Way) Nature Planned It * Keeper of the Castle * Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got) * Love Music * Remember What I Told You to Forget * Are You Man Enough * Sweet Understanding Love * I Just Can't Get You Out of My Mind * One Woman Man * Main Street People
Disc Four
One Chain Don't Make No Prison * Midnight Flower [live] * Seven Lonely Nights * We All Gotta Stick Together * Cat Fish * For Your Love * When She Was My Girl * Tonight I'm Gonna Love You All Over [live] * I Believe in You and Me * The Temptations and Four Tops Medley * Just Can't Walk Away * Sexy Ways * Hot Nights * Red Hot Love * Indestructible * Loco in Acapulco * If Ever a Love There Was * Till You Return to Me * The Four of Us
© 2001 - DJ Johnson