LP Review: Reach Out
The best Four Tops album without a doubt
Released: July 1967
Let me start by saying it is obscene how many hits are on this album. This album isn’t even really an album, it is a de facto greatest hits LP. Seven of the 12 songs charted as singles.
SEVEN!
And the hits spread out over the course of 1966 through 1968. This album was raking in hits for the Four Tops over two years. And that’s not even counting the fact that Motown inexplicably left “You Keep Running Away” off the album. I’m not sure exactly when it was recorded, but the song charted in September 1967 just two months after this album was released, so it could have well been done in time for inclusion.
Released as a stand alone single, “You Keep Running Away” hit #7 R&B and #19 pop. It rates as an 8.5/10 for me.
On to the actual album… HOLY SHIT is this good stuff.
It leads off with the anthemic “Reach Out I’ll Be There”, which opens like a mighty stage drama. There’s a lonesome flute plus percussion that sounds like horse hooves speedily clopping. You instantly feel like you’re in desperation, but the Four Tops (and the Andantes) are on their way to rescue you.
If there was ever any doubt, the first words of the song “Now if you feel that you can't go on” which is delivered mightily by lead singer Levi Stubbs after the rest of the group does a ear-catching “rah!” to arrest your attention.
Oh and James Jamerson’s bass is fucking top notch on this song.
The second Four Tops song to reach #1 on the R&B and pop charts.
The albums two other monstrous singles were “Bernadette” (#3 R&B, #4 pop) and “Standing in the Shadows of Love” (#2 R&B, #6 pop). They retain very similar structures to “Reach Out I’ll Be There” but manage to have very different messages.
“Bernadette” is in my estimation the finest vocal performance of Stubbs’ career. And the best Four Tops song. There, I said it. In the song Stubbs implores the title figure that other men only want to control her, but he’s different. However, the way he sings and says he cannot live without her gives a different impression. As the song builds and builds the narrator’s obsession becomes clear. At one point he even proudly declares that “you belong to me!”
A false ending drops the curtain on the emotional drama. Then Stubbs shouts into the void… BERNADETTE! and the song kicks up again for a little while before it hits its true ending.
Oh and James Jamerson’s bass is fucking top notch on this song.
“Standing in the Shadows of Love” has no pretenstions. It is a mean song. No rescue like on “Reach Out”. No pleading like on “Bernadette”. Stubbs is angry with a no good lover as he demands “How can you watch me cry after all I’ve done for you?”
Oh and James Jamerson’s bass is fucking top notch on this song.
SONG SCORES
Reach Out I'll Be There: 10/10
Standing in the Shadows of Love: 10/10
Bernadette: 10/10
So those are the megahits but we still got four more hits on this album!
“7-Rooms of Gloom” (#10 R&B, #14 pop) is most similar to the previous songs, but is faster tempoed. The Four Tops then turn in two mellow covers, each wildly unexpected. “Walk Away Renée” (#15 R&B, #14 pop) was a baroque pop song from the Left Banke and a soul group like the Four Tops do wonders with it. Even more stunning is their take on “If I Were A Carpenter” (#17 R&B, #20 pop). It’s beautifully understated even if the lyrics are kind of stupid.
The best of these subsequent singles was “I’ll Turn To Stone”, even if it charted the worse (#50 R&B, #76 pop). An HDH original, this song would be shamelessly ripped off by the Foundations for their hit “Build Me Up Buttercup”. Fuck that shit, go for “I’ll Turn To Stone.”
SONG SCORES
7-Rooms of Gloom: 7.5/10
If I Were A Carpenter: 8.5/10
Walk Away Renée: 8/10
I'll Turn To Stone: 9.5/10
Now that we’re on to pure album tracks, you must be thinking, “We’ll surely they can’t keep up that kind of quality.” You’re correct, but these album tracks are still pretty good. The only thing approaching a dud is a cover of “Last Train to Clarksville” and even that is passable.
Much more shocking is their cover of “I’m a Believer”. It’s good! Not that the original is bad, but you wouldn’t consider the Four Tops recording that song.
They also take a stab at “Cherish”, which is angelic thanks to the backing vocals of the Andantes. Those women deserve all the money in the world for their work.
The outside covers cease thanks to Smokey Robinson contributing “Wonderful Baby” and Stevie Wonder gifting them “What Else Is There to Do (But Think About You)”. Both are good classic Motown sound. Not exceptional, but good.
SONG SCORES
Last Train to Clarksville: 5.5/10
I'm A Believer: 7/10
Cherish: 7/10
Wonderful Baby: 6.5/10
What Else Is There To Do (But Think About You): 6.5/10
ALBUM GRADE: A-
You love anything about 1960s music? Listen to this album. If Motown had added “You Keep Running Away” to this, it’d be an A album.
Of course you can all substitute that song for “Last Train to Clarksville” and make it an A yourself. Hooray for the digital age!