FOUR TOPS ORIGINAL ISSUE1967 "REACH OUT" LP SIGNED BY ALL 4 ORIGINAL MEMBERS

$

135

SUPER RARE Four tops/Reach Out (1967) – (Motown-660) signed By All 4 -Four Tops- Duke, Lawrence, Levi and Obie                                                           -CONDITION: Vinyl: VG+, Cover: VG+

The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet from Detroit, Michigan who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes.

Founded as The Four Aims, lead singer Levi Stubbs, and groupmates Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton remained together for over four decades, having gone from 1953 until 1997 without a change in personnel.

Reach Out is an album recorded by the Four Tops, issued on Motown Records in July 1967. It was the final Four Tops LP to be produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, who departed the label in late 1967 over money disputes.

The group's most successful LP, Reach Out includes six of the Four Tops' Top 20 singles: the #1 hit "Reach Out I'll Be There", the Top 10 singles "Standing in the Shadows of Love", "Bernadette", the Top 20 "7-Rooms of Gloom", and their Top 20 covers of Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" and the Left Banke's "Walk Away Renée") both of which reached the UK Top 10.

Rounding out the LP are a pair of Monkees covers ("Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer"), a cover of The Association's "Cherish", and the originals "Wonderful Baby" and "What Else Is There to Do (But Think About You)". Reach Out was followed a year later by a Four Tops' Greatest Hits album, which contained all of the group's hit singles to that point.

With The Supremes "I Hear a Symphony" and "Reach Out" album releases, Motown forever confirmed that they were a major crossover player, never to be thought of as simply an R&B indie only under Berry Gordy's reign.

TRACK LIST: All tracks produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, except for "Wonderful Baby", produced by Smokey Robinson; and "What Else is There to Do (But Think About You)", produced by Clarence Paul.

1. "Reach Out I'll Be There" (Holland–Dozier–Holland)
2. "Walk Away Renée" (Bob Calilli, Michael Brown, Tony Sansone)
3. "7-Rooms of Gloom" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
4. "If I Were a Carpenter" (Tim Hardin)
5. "Last Train to Clarksville" (Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart)
6. "I'll Turn to Stone" (Holland-Dozier-Holland, R. Dean Taylor)
7. "I'm a Believer" (Neil Diamond)
8. "Standing in the Shadows of Love" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
9. "Bernadette" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
10. "Cherish" (Terry Kirkman)
11. "Wonderful Baby" (Smokey Robinson)
12. "What Else is There to Do (But Think About You)" (Stevie Wonder, Clarence Paul, Morris Broadnax)