4 Tops

TOPS — musicians David Carriere, Jane Penny, Marta Cikojevic, and Riley Fleck — write timeless music that reliably threads immediacy and depth.

The last of the major Motown groups to receive proper box-set treatment, the Four Tops in a sense got the best of the bunch, since this tells a ripping history while providing a cornucopia of rarities.

The Great Sounds Of The Super Sounds Of The 70s – CDs with the greatest hits of the 70s. songs by The Sweet, Heatwave, The Real Thing and many more!

(2015/Raven) 51 tracks, all 4 original 60s albums, plus bonus mono singles and non-LP singles. The CD comes with a nice and well-illustrated booklet incl. biographical and discographical data!

Play It 'Til Tomorrow is Nick Moss' most ambitious recording project yet: two jam-packed discs spotlighting the entire width and breadth of his band's sonic attack. Longtime fans will immediately recognize the stinging electric blues sound that characterizes the first CD, but on disc two Nick introduces an 'unplugged' side that he's never before tapped in the studio. The uncommon versatility of the Flip Tops-ex-Legendary Blues Band keyboardist Willie Oshawny (who switches over to bass for four cuts and second guitar on another), harpist and fretsman extraordinaire Gerry Hundt, and veteran drummer Bob Carter - plays a huge role in the collection's extraordinary variety. Inherently grasping the value of playing as a rock-solid unit, the Flip Tops cook up steady-surging grooves while Nick's slashing guitar solos make every note count and every phrase resonate with authority. Adding to the mix are special guests Eddie Taylor Jr. and Barrelhouse Chuck.

U.S. vocal male soul quartet formed in 1953, in Detroit as The Four Aims. They made their recording debut in 1955 backing Carolyn Hayes on her Baby Say You Love Me / Really single. The four founding members remained together for over four decades, until 1997 without a single change in personnel.In the 60's they were the main male vocal group for the signwriting and production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. After Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown in 1967, the Four Tops were assigned to several producers, primarily Frank Wilson. When Motown left Detroit in 1972 to move to Los Angeles, California, the Tops stayed in Detroit and moved over to ABC Records, where they continued to have charting singles into the late-1970s. Since the 1980s, the Four Tops have recorded for, at various times, Motown, Casablanca Records and Arista.Inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 (Performer).

Solid and steady hitmakers for Motown in the late 1960s, the Four Tops, led by the deep, soulful voice of Levi Stubbs and blessed with A-line songs from the Holland-Dozier-Holland writing team, were one of the finest singing groups the label ever produced. Singles like "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Standing in the Shadows of Love," "Bernadette," "I Can't Help Myself," and the wise-beyond-its-era "It's the Same Old Song" were radio staples in their time, and actually still continue to be staples on 21st century oldies stations. That's staying power, and it's no accident. The songs, at least the singles, were good and the Tops' sound was a hair rougher and edgier than a lot of Motown's issues at the time.

With 47 Pop hits and 52 R&B hits to their credit spanning nearly 25 years of recordings, The Four Tops are one of the greatest vocal groups in the history of pop music, hands down. But a big chunk of their hits, the ones they recorded for the ABC/Dunhill label, have been almost entirely unavailable in the CD era. This 2-CD collection from Real Gone Music answers the prayers of soul fans worldwide by presenting, for the first time ever on CD, all 33 rare single sides that the Tops recorded for the ABC/Dunhill label from 1972 through 1978. Just how rare are these tracks? We'll get into that in a sec; but first, a little history. Though The Four Tops (Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Lawrence Payton, and lead singer Levi Stubbs) had dominated the charts with their classic recordings for Motown in the '60s, when the label decided in 1972 to move to Los Angeles, the group, like many of their celebrated label-mates, felt it was time for a change.