Bernadette or Reach Out?
DB_Cooper
Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
Normally, I ride harder for Reach Out. At times, I even think it was the best Motown song ever recorded. But today, I'm leaning toward Bernadette.On a side note, I think I'll be rocking Motown on the iPod all weekend to compliment the amazing East Coast weather.Four Tops rule.
Comments
It is a pretty unfadeable tune... SERIOUS SHIT GOING DOWN.
One of my exes thought the "uUAAGH[/b]!" at the beginning of the first and second verses sounded like it was recorded during loud sex.
Although, I am a hard rider of Stevie's "I Was Made to Love Her" as Motown's finest. Jamerson, man. JAMERSON WAS THAT DUDE.
Ayo.
Tough choice, but I think I would have to choose Bernadette in the end. I love the false stop and the come back.
But, what I think crushes both of those songs is 7 Rooms of Gloom. That shit gets me going crazy every time.
I love all these songs, but you know what I think is the Four Tops at their most baldly emotional!
"Standing In The Shadows Of Love."
Especially Levi Stubbs' near-meltdown: "Now don't your conscience kinda bother you? How can you watch me cry after all I've done for you? Now hold on a minute!"
Interestingly, all four of the songs mentioned ARE ON THE SAME ALBUM!!!
Double secret probation....
Levi Stubbs is up in the top three male singers on Motown (with Mr's Wonder and Gaye)....
I never get sick of 'Reach Out" (that's reserved for Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) but if I di the go to song would be 'Something About You'...
Personally, I can't get sick of Baby I Need Your Loving because the production on that is so good and layered sounding to me. The watery piano, crisp snapping, deep bass and celestial backing vocals. It's a song I prefer to listen to on headphones
...and, for once, Levi Stubbs isn't as in-your-face as he is the rest of the time. When he sings "Standing In The Shadows" or "Bernadette" you know he's not giving up his woman without a serious argument. But on "Baby, I Need Your Lovin'", he sounds downright humble (in a good way). No testifying or shouting, he just tells his story.
I've met a lot of Four Tops haters, too. Strangely enough, these are people who are otherwise Motown fans. Which suprises me, because even though they had their own style, what do the Tempts or Miracles have that the Tops don't? Seems to me that if you like one, then liking the other two shouldn't be a stretch.
Sex appeal.
I don't know, man, the Tops were pretty dapper...it's not hard to imagine an all-female line outside of the stage door for THIS:
true...also, there is a kind of schmaltzy vibe about the Tops I dont dig...the same thing I hate about the Righteous Bros is what turns me off to the Four Tops...The Miracles have this charm, this likability that I cant find in the Four Tops..and the Tempts are just cooler all around...its hard to describe, but the Miracles and Tempts dont have this schmaltzy thing I am having a hard time properly articulating...
Proof that the Tempts can be as schmaltzy as the Tops:
Would I want to hear my fave soul singers redo "A Taste Of Honey" And Other Vegas Favorites? HALE, NO. And the Miracles had their supperclub moments, too.
I will say that the Four Tops WERE older, and had more of a jazz background than these other two groups...maybe that is where the so-called schmaltz comes from. Just guessing.
but "standing in the shadows of love" > "reach out"
peace, stein. . .
Did the 4 tops ever go Successfully Psychedelic like The Tempts?
When Motown moved to Cali did they get w/ the times?
The Tempts had the advantage of adding younger dudes to the mix.
Smokey is just a downright pretty-ass lady-killer from the giddy-up.
I would think ALL of the Motown acts had to be dipped in SCHMALTZ to a degree.
It was the times.
The Four Tops need some sort of documentary/movie or somethin, to let folks know how integral they were to the roster.
I think they rounded out the Motwon roster. I couldnt be all teenager stuff.
No, they stayed in Detroit, moved to ABC and made some of the best songs in their catalog.
"Are You Man Enough," "Keeper of the Castle" "Ain't No Woman (Like the One
I Got)" "One Chain Don't Make No Prison" ... better than what the Temps were
doing circa 1974, no?