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The Four Tops - The Ultimate Collection Audio CD

A fair review of the The Four Tops "The Ultimate Collection" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Four Tops reviews here, or go back to the The Four Tops tabs.

The Four Tops Band: The Four Tops
Title: The Ultimate Collection
Rating:
Release Date: 1997-10-07
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Reach Out (I'll Be There) 2: Standing in the Shadows of Love 3: Bernadette 4: Ask the Lonely 5: Baby I Need Your Loving 6: Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worthwhile) 7: It's the Same Old Song 8: Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever 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 14: What Is a Man? 15: Simple Game 16: Still Water (Love) 17: (It's the Way) Nature Planned It 18: It's All in the Game 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 25: Yesterday's Dreams

Ultimate...may be an overstatement.
Overall, still a great spin to listen to and enjoy. While this album holds many of their classics, it does contain a number of lesser heard tracks that could have been replaced.


MOTOWN DOES IT AGAIN
I REALIZED I DIDN'T HAVE A CD OF THEM ALONE. I ESPECIALLY LIKED THIS ONE AFTER THE DEATH OF LEVI STUBBS. I STILL HAVE THE LP. THANK YOU .


Farewell to One of Music's Monumental Voices
Nowhere else outside the New Testament have I found terror and comfort so intertwined. Introducing a collection of George MacDonald's religious writings, fellow Christian intellectual/author CS Lewis described MacDonald's "Christlike union of tenderness and severity. "

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.
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Too Much
But, I loaded it onto my MP3 and deleted about a third of the songs. I 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. .


Great oldies
I listen to this cd while on my treadmill each morning. Love this cd! Great songs of the 60s; alot of my favorites. Can't beat the 60s music. This cd is well worth the money and would recommend it highly.


You can see a complete list of all The Four Tops discography, or go back to the The Four Tops tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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