The Ultimate Collection
Motown - Motown
The Four Tops
Release date: 1997-10-07
Audio CD
Motown, Pop, Pop-Soul, R&B, Soul, Soul/R & B, Soul/R&B, Soul/Reggae/Rhythm & Blues, United States of America
1. Reach Out (I'll Be There)
2. Standing in the Shadows of Love
3. Bernadette
4. Ask the Lonely - The Four Tops, Stevenson, William
5. Baby I Need Your Loving
6. Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worthwhile)
7. It's the Same Old Song - The Four Tops, Dozier, Lamont
8. Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever - The Four Tops, Hunter, Ivy
9. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
10. Something About You
11. I Got a Feeling
12. I'm in a Different World
13. Walk Away Renee - The Four Tops, Brown, Michael [Key
14. What Is a Man? - The Four Tops, Bristol, Johnny
15. A Simple Game - The Four Tops, Pinder, Michael
16. Still Water (Love) - The Four Tops, Wilson, Frank [5]
17. (It's the Way) Nature Planned It - The Four Tops, Wilson, Frank [5]
18. It's All in the Game - The Four Tops, Dawes, Charles Gate
19. You Keep Running Away
20. If You Don't Want My Love
21. 7-Rooms of Gloom
22. I'll Turn to Stone
23. Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)
24. Sad Souvenirs - The Four Tops, Stevenson, William
25. Yesterday's Dreams - The Four Tops, Hunter, Ivy
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The Ultimate Collection
Date undefinedI ESPECIALLY LIKED THIS ONE AFTER THE DEATH OF LEVI STUBBS. I REALIZED I DIDN'T HAVE A CD OF THEM ALONE. I STILL HAVE THE LP. THANK YOU
The Ultimate Collection
Date undefinedIntroducing a collection of George MacDonald's religious writings, fellow Christian intellectual/author CS Lewis described MacDonald's "Christlike union of tenderness and severity. Nowhere else outside the New Testament have I found terror and comfort so intertwined."
Lewis died a continent away from Detroit's "Hitsville USA" studio, less than six months before the Four Tops recorded their first hit songs joining devotional love's strength and soul with the terror and fear of losing it.
Levi Stubbs, who passed away today, led these soul classics. His powerful voice, atop Motown's legendary Funk Brothers and Holland-Dozier-Holland's songs, created some of the most emotionally wrenching, thrilling music of any area. The songs on this brief collection for many still template Motown's "Sound of Young America."
Motown founder Berry Gordy ordered his songwriters to write in the present tense of a relationship. You wonder if he imagined the frantic energy he got dropping Stubbs and the Tops into that maelstrom. With the other sympathizing backup (only one, "Duke" Fakir, now survives). Stubbs soul shouts his assurance and helplessness ("You know that I love you/I can't help myself") with authority making you believe he was bragging on his weakness all along. Stubbs' voice darts around the tight, roling melody of "It's The Same Old Song." outsinging and outrocking the more famous "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch."
The Tops' 1966-67 series of hits ("Reach Out I'll Be There," "Standing In The Shadows of Love," "Seven Rooms of Gloom" the magisterial "Berndadette") stand outside time. Each frightens and reassures, Stubbs vocally describing a desolate life before shouting, "Just look over your shoulder!" then joining his mates in "I'll be there/to cherish and care for you." Another hit describes his shock in seeing his loyalty wasn't enough ("Didn't I treat you right now baby, didn't I? When you needed me I was always there now wasn't I?") Stubbs voice was commanding, immediate; you felt you were overhearing one side of a telephone argument (with Motown's symphonic soul behind).
"Bernadette"'s climax finds Stubbs pleading the title character to stay with "the peace of mind the world is searching for," then shouting her name over what sounds like an angelic choir and soul orchestra. Soul/pop music rarely came closer not only to opera's grand drama, but Bernard Herrmann's suspenseful mini-symphonies for Alfred Hitchcock.
The Tops never equalled those songs, nor had to. They hit with ornate but classy pop-folk covers ("If I Were a Carpenter," "Walk Away Renee") then slid into several 70s psychedelic, disco, and blaxploitation styles before joining burnished "Big Chill" oldies reviews (with Stubbs' comical role in "Little Shop of Horrors"). A group of Tops performs to this day, occasionally with fellow Motown legends the Temptations.
In Billy Bragg's heartfelt tribute, "Levi Stubbs' Tears," he sings, "When the world falls apart some things stay in place/She takes off the Four Tops tape and puts it back in its case." Many did when seeking the suspense, comfort, and above all, command the Four Tops and Levi Stubbs brought popular music. Stubbs will be missed; his music means too much to too many to have the chance. These songs, whatever form you get them, are as essential as 20th century music gets.
The Ultimate Collection
Date undefinedI love the Four Tops, and while this CD has the hits, I felt I had to pay for a lot of stuff I really didn't want. But, I loaded it onto my MP3 and deleted about a third of the songs.
