On Top & Reach Out

"On Top" ( originally Motown 647 ) was a commendable effort from the group, appearing the summer of 1966. It carried the singles "Shake Me Wake Me," and "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever." "Shake Me" was a true hit, but in comparison with the rest of the group's run of singles, "Sweeter" must be considered a dud, reaching only No. 45 Pop. It's B-side, Holland-Dozier-Holland's "I Like Everything About You" ( from "Second Album" ) was frankly, more lively. "On Top" also showcased the group's obvious love of supper club standards ( "Still Of The Night," "Quiet Nights," "Matchmaker" ). Two sturdy H-D-H numbers, "Until You Love Someone" and " I Got A Feeling" rode the respective B-sides of "Reach Out I'll Be There" and "Bernadette."

If the Tops can be considered to have a masterpiece Motown album, it was unquestionably "Four Tops Reach Out" ( originally Motown 660). By the time it appeared in the early summer of 1967, the group had amassed three more enduring classic singles, "Reach Out," "Standing In The Shadows Of Love," and "Bernadette" ( No. 1, No. 6 and No. 4 Pop, respectively. ) Simultaneous with the LP release was a fourth single, a genuine double-sided hit, "7-Rooms Of Gloom" and "I'll Turn To Stone". It was the last album fully under the auspices of producers Holland-Dozier-Holland, and fans, eager for any album carrying "Reach Out" sent it to No. 11 on the Pop album chart. ( It might have gone higher, but Motown chose to release "Greatest Hits" in only September, which repeated the cream singles of "Reach Out" and the group's older signature hits back to 1964's "Baby I Need Your Loving." )

The cover tunes were a delight, especially the clear enjoyment Levi shows with the Monkees' "I'm A Believer." Young owners of the album like myself were delighted when Motown went twice back into it for singles for the first half of '68: "Walk Away Renee" and "If I Were A Carpenter" ( both Top 20 ), though we wouldn't fully know for some years the troubling reasons why.

By the end of "Carpenter's" chart run in June of 1968, Motown was a different company. Florence Ballard had been expelled from the Supremes, David Ruffin was out of the Temptations, and Marvin Gaye was increasingly affected by the on-going illness of his cherished duet partner, Tammi Terrell. On corporate levels, things changed perhaps even more profoundly. Producer William Stevenson, a founding pillar, and integral in many Gaye and Martha & the Vandellas hits, asked for stock in the company, didn't get it, and took a deal with MGM Records, taking singer-wife Kim Weston with him. Clarence Paul, an incalculable early influence in Stevie Wonder's career, was soon gone too.

Even those losses, perhaps sustainable, were soundly trumped by the walkout of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland over royalty disputes. The Supremes, now marking time till Diana's solo departure, managed to remain a commercial presence with hits like "Livin' In Shame", "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" and genuine milestones like "Love Child" and their "Someday We'll Be Together" farewell. The going was much tougher for H-D-H-dependent acts like Martha & the Vandellas and the Four Tops. The Vandellas never recovered and the Tops suddenly had to struggle for hits as never before. Frank Wilson brought them some respite in 1970 with a re-make of "It's All In the Game," "Still Water" and a Supremes duet, "River Deep-Mountain High". A slightly longer resurgence came with the group's signing with ABC Records in 1972.

But for rabid, mid-60s Motown fans, the party was over. The company would still make enduring hit music, but the days when we could presume a very interesting ( if not chart-topping ) single, by every major act, every three months, were no more. "On Top" and "Reach Out" represent the last glorious days before that coming turmoil and upset, and they surely belong in any Four Tops lover's collection.

It's one of those "put it on/let it ride" products. It has strong tunes written by Holland/Dozier/Holland ("Reach Out..", "7-Rooms of Gloom" "Standing in the Shadows of Love", "I'll Turn to Stone" and the show stopping "Bernadette"), great Motown productions of the Monkees ("Last Train to Clarksdale" and an excellent "I'm A Believer"), the Association ("Cherish") and other 60's standards ("Walk Away Renee", "If I Were A Carpenter"). Stubbs is in fine, fine, fine form here and the digital reprocessing on the Reach Out CD I got in the mid-90's make the fellas in the back ground sound as if they were right in the living room.

It deserves a reprinting.

The first of the two albums here, On top from 1966, includes two American hits, the first of which was Shake me wake me when it's over. The second, Loving you is sweeter than ever, also charted in Britain. The album also includes a cover of the Beatles classic, Michelle, and a couple of songs from the Great American Songbook - In the still of the night (a Cole Porter song that was a huge hit for Tommy Dorsey in 1937) and Quiet night of quiet stars - which are most impressive. The remainder of this album is made up of obscure but excellent songs written by Motown's own songwriters.

The second album, Reach out from 1967 contains six major international hit singles (they all charted at least top twenty in Britain as well as America), although four of them had already been hits before the album was released. The six hits were Reach out I'll be there, Standing in the shadows of love, Bernadette, 7 rooms of gloom, Walk away Renee and If I were a carpenter. The album also includes impressive covers of two Monkees hits (Last train to Clarksville, I'm a believer) and Cherish (an American hit for the Association).

This is the strongest of the Four tops twofers, containing plenty of hits as well as demonstrating the variety of material that they could do.