Four Tops - Four Tops Live! (Deluxe)

60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition 2LP Gatefold on 140 Gram Vinyl

Elemental Music's 60th anniversary edition rebuilds Four Tops Live!, the group's first live album, from the original tapes and spreads it across four sides of 140-gram virgin vinyl in a limited-edition gatefold. Going back through the reels, Motown reissue producer Harry Weinger and Drew Schultz, a former Four Tops drummer who mixed and mastered this edition, turned up a store of unissued material. The group's own announcement says the expanded set presents, for the first time, all of the songs performed during the engagement. On the back cover, every track is marked as either a previously unreleased performance or a previously unreleased mix.

The recordings come from the Upper Deck of the Roostertail in Detroit on August 22 and September 11, 1966. The August night was the first concert in the Motown Monday series that WKNR staged that year. "Reach Out I'll Be There" had been released four days earlier, and the Tops came back in September for a second show that added a cover of the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love," which was then at the top of the charts. Emcee Scott Regen opens and closes the program. Backing the group are Earl Van Dyke on organ, Robert White on guitar, James Jamerson on bass, Uriel Jones on drums and the Detroit Horns, and the record ends with "You Name It," a bonus instrumental by the Funk Brothers.

The gatefold carries Regen's original 1966 liner notes alongside a new essay from him, Weinger's producer notes with newly discovered details about the shows, an alternate cover, and rare photographs from the Motown Archives.

Motown first issued the album in November 1966 as M/MS-654. According to the group, it became their second No. 1 on Billboard's R&B album chart and reached No. 4 in the UK, where it spent 72 weeks on the chart. The singers on stage are Levi Stubbs, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton. They sang together without a change in personnel until 1997, and the group entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Introduction by Scott Regen
2. Fascinating Rhythm
3. It's the Same Old Song
4. It's Not Unusual
5. Baby I Need Your Loving
6. Ask the Lonely

Side B

1. Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)
2. The Girl from Ipanema
3. Climb Ev'ry Mountain
4. Something About You
5. Michelle

Side C

1. If I Had a Hammer
2. I'm Falling for You
3. Group Introductions by Levi Stubbs & Scott Regen
4. Reach Out I'll Be There
5. I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Side D

1. I'll Turn to Stone
2. You Can't Hurry Love
3. Interlude by Levi Stubbs
4. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
5. I Like Everything About You
6. Outro by Scott Regen
7. Bonus: You Name It (Instrumental)