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In honor of the late Levi Stubbs, my ten favorite Four Tops songs.
Levi Stubbs had a voice that could have been applied to opera as easily as it was to soul. Any male singer who, listening to the Four Tops, doesn’t find himself thinking “I wish I could sound like that” is either tasteless or lying (I’ll make exceptions for Teddy Pendergrass and Solomon Burke).
“Standing in the Shadows of Love”
The song that Stubbs was born to sing. Pleading with a flood of emotion most of us not only couldn’t approach but would probably be overwhelmed by, he seems more like a force of nature than a mere man.
“Bernadette”
He’s got the perfect woman, or so he says, and yet he sounds anguished beyond belief.
“Reach Out I’ll Be There”
Pretty much a perfect production and arrangement. The lyric is undercut (or, alternately, given a darker layer of meaning) by the sheer desperation in Stubbs’s vocal tone, as though he’s afraid he might not be taken up on his offer.
“It’s the Same Old Song”
We’ve all been there – this is the lovelorn music geek’s anthem.
“I’m in a Different World”
The guy’s a loser, but when he’s with his girlfriend everything’s better. If that’s not hope for the hopeless, I don’t know what is.
“Walk Away Renee”
Most of the covers the Four Tops did were beneath them, but not this one, which fits Stubbs’s persona like it was written for him.
“Ask the Lonely”
Stubbs didn’t have to belt to convey his message. The hurt in his voice during the first verse is almost casual in delivery, yet heartrending.
“7 Rooms of Gloom”
The misery here is almost comically overstated, yet that voice makes it all believable.
“Baby I Need Your Loving”
More magnificent pleading.
“Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever”
“I’d be lost if you ever went away” and similar sentiments are peppered so liberally throughout this supposedly happy song that it makes you feel sorry for the guy.
