stoutfellow: Joker (Joker)
stoutfellow ([personal profile] stoutfellow) wrote2012-07-01 02:24 pm
Entry tags:

Sunday Music: The Best of the Four Tops

Album Title: The Best of the Four Tops

Why I Bought It: Motown!

What I Like (Melancholy): "Ask the Lonely". Some nice stringwork, and Levi Stubbs's voice is achingly beautiful in the lead. Honorable Mention: "Shake Me, Wake Me".

What I Like (Nice Cover): "Walk Away Renee". Left Banke's version is better, but I don't have it, and this one's almost as good.

What I Like (Here for You): "Reach Out I'll Be There". I've got three covers of this one; the others are by Diana Ross and Merrilee Rush. This is the best. Levi's voice has a harsher edge this time, but hope and joy shine through.

Overall: There's nothing here I dislike. "Bernadette", "If I Were a Carpenter", "Standing in the Shadows of Love", "I Can't Help Myself" - all the moods and stages of love are on display. The Four Tops didn't have - or, on this album, don't display - as much range of topic as the Temptations, but what they do, they do very well.