If the Supremes were Motown’s premier girl group, the Four Tops were undoubtedly the label’s strongest male group. The group showed unparalleled longevity, performing together for over four decades; they were a band of brothers devoid of the squabbling that permeated through some of Motown’s other groups. But they didn’t just stick around; they were immensely successful, achieving 24 Billboard Top 40 singles while gaining significant coverage in the UK. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, the Four Tops’ legendary status goes beyond their status within Motown.
The Four Tops are a rarity within Motown as their lineup never changed from the four boys who began performing together at High School in Detroit: Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie” Benson, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, and Lawrence Payton. The group first performed at a birthday party at the insistence of their classmates, starting a long and illustrious career together. Initially called the Four Aims (as the group were aiming to reach the top), the group signed a one-off deal with Chess Records, largely thanks to the help of Payton’s cousin, the songwriter Roquel Davis.
However, they failed to take off and recorded sporadically for several labels, including Red Top, Columbia, and Riverside, in the late fifties as they sought a breakthrough. Despite the lack of commercial success, the group gained a burgeoning reputation as a live act, renowned for their vibrant and polished performances, and they toured frequently, even supporting jazz singer Billy Eckstine at one point. The group’s nomadic existence would end in 1963 when they finally signed for Motown.
The group had spurned Berry Gordy’s advances several times in Motown’s early days. Gordy got as far as getting a contract in front of them at one point, but the group were insistent they had a lawyer look over the fine print, and the opportunity disappeared. Initially, the foursome worked with Mickey Stevenson on Motown’s Workshop Jazz subsidiary, recording several jazz standards intended for release on 1964’s Breaking Through. But the project was scrapped at the eleventh hour, and the group were handed over to Motown’s newest hitmaking machine, Holland-Dozier-Holland. It would be an inspired decision, as the Four Tops became crucial to driving the quintessential Motown sound forward.
Unlike some of their Motown contemporaries, success was instantaneous for the group, with their debut single ‘Baby I Need Your Loving’ cracking the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. Smaller scale success followed with the singles ‘Without the One You Love’ and ‘Ask the Lonely’, which served as cornerstones to their eponymous debut LP, released in January 1965. A solid effort, it would be quickly forgotten, thanks to their first number-one hit, ‘I Can’t Help Myself’, which would serve as the focal point of their second album, the imaginatively titled Four Tops Second Album.
Curiously, ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ bears a slight similarity to the Supremes’ ‘Where Did Our Love Go’, with its sharp chiming chords and wonderful bounce. But while Diana Ross sounded melancholy and mournful, Levi Stubbs produced a fantastic, raw performance from the depths of his soul. The chorus is ridiculously catchy, and the song perfectly suits the group; in the hands of the Supremes, it might have sounded too twee or if the Miracles took it on too smooth. But Stubbs’s gruff vocals unlock the song’s emotional core, bringing it to life.
‘Love Feels Like Fire’ is a punchy number, and Peyton provides a nice smooth lead, and there are some nice backing vocals from the Andantes, though the harmonies aren’t as tight as elsewhere. ‘Is There Anything That I Can Do’ is bold and dramatic with its descending chord progressions, but its chorus is a little too shrill. ‘Something About You’ features a lovely bluesy guitar intro, and Stubbs responds to the vibe superbly. The drumming brings a nice, scruffy rhythm, and with the bouncing horns, rattling tambourine, and saxophone solos, plenty is going on, and unsurprisingly it feels a little crowded at times.
‘It’s The Same Old Song’‘s cheeky title derives from its passing resemblance to ‘I Can’t Help Myself’, a subtle hat tip from HDH. However, it’s pacier and more mournful, the lyrical construct revolving around a lover who can’t bear to hear their favourite record now that their lover has gone, in a similar fashion to the Vandellas’ ‘Come and Get These Memories’. ‘Helpless’ is one of the album’s most musically accomplished, with its booming horns and tidy guitar licks, and with its hooky chorus, it could easily have sold as a single. ‘Just As Long As You Need Me’ benefits from romantic strings and floaty background vocals, while its lazy drumbeat gives it a languid, laid-back rhythm.
‘Darling, I Hum Our Song’ features a nice chugging piano line, but it’s elevated by Stubbs’s brilliant performance, extracting every last ounce of emotion from the song. ‘I Like Everything About You’ is a bit of a plinky misstep, but ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ is much better; some excellent drum work drives its fast tempo, while the horn section gives it an additional punch. The drumming is similarly sharp on the Peyton-led ‘Stay In My Lonely Arms’, where the group showcase some tight harmonies on the track’s swaying chorus. ‘I’m Grateful’ provides a strong conclusion with its sharp call-and-response vocal lines, and Stubbs shows off an impressive vocal range, his voice able to soar with the strings section.
The Four Tops Second Album sold and charted reasonably well, an indication of Motown’s growing success as a label and a testament to the tight vocal skills of the band. The Four Tops had to wait a long time for success, but arguably they arrived at Motown at the perfect time, with the label starting to gather serious momentum. Similarly to the Supremes, the group became renowned for their ability to craft successful singles, but their second album showed they had the consistency to demonstrate their talents over a whole disc.