Four Tops

Rip It Up, Issue 82, 1 May 1984, Page 12

Four Tops

It appeared too good to be true two Motown vocal

groups in one show , in New Zealand. Yet it happened. Irrespective of indifferent sound quality and dance restrictions at the Logan Concrete Centre, the nine vocalists, an eight-piece USA band and hired local horns communicate with their irrepressible energy. In Auckland only three Tops performed but it mattered little that Duke Fakir was absent

the lead singer Levi Stubbs pushed even harder and a keyboard player sang Fakir’s part. Stubbs’ voice is the emotional essence of the Four Tops his voice soars above the mix. The irony of the soul revue is that such great singers could captivate with only a small band, yet invariably insist on the dynamics of a large band.

Due to sensory overload it’s hard to review the tour in a

conventional sense so how about some tour awards:

Best Dressed.: Four Tops in Wellington (white shoes and trousers, blue lounge jackets), Temptations in Palmerston North (all white). Best Bass Singer: Temptations’ Melvin Franklin, of course.

Best Dancer. Tops’ bass vocalist Obie Benson funky, humorous moves.

Worst Dressed: Tempts in Auckland (pale green). Best Improvisation: Tempts’ Richard Street in Wellington, worrying a line in Redding style on ‘My Girl’ and the Cooke and Redding tributes. Best Version Of Somebody Else’s Song: New Tempts’ vocalist OUie Woodson on ‘I Wish It Would Rain’ and ‘Ain’t Too Proud to Beg’. Greatest Living Levi Stubbs Award: Levi Stubbs his voice has lost none of its urgency.

It was surprising to find that the Tops and Tempts were not very interested in doing interviews by Wellington the chances of a Levi Stubbs interview looked slim.

After waiting at the hotel for several hours, all that was possible was 10 minutes with the first member of each to appear the Tempts in the hotel foyer and the Four Tops’ Duke Fakir backstage at the Michael Fowler Centre, 45 minutes before the show was due to start.