The Four Tops - "Just Ask The Lonely" - Hullabaloo!

[marv2]

Now here's something special I have not seen in like 50 years! This exact episode and performance of "Just Ask the Lonely" by the Four Tops on Hullabaloo! Really good audio quality.....check it out!

[antceleb12]

Beautiful! Solid, well-blended harmonies. But that lighting is AWFUL!

[Methuselah2]

A great find, Marv. Top stuff. Literally. Thanks for posting.

[BigAl]

Wow...and I thought I had seen every episode of Hullaballoo, but I must've missed this one back then. I believe I might even prefer this arrangement, without Andantes, to the studio track.

[carole cucumber]

And for those who would like, one may legally own the performance available on The Best of Hullabaloo Collection 1 available here

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Hullabalo...rds=hullabaloo

and elsewhere.

[marv2]

A great find, Marv. Top stuff. Literally. Thanks for posting.

You are welcome. It was a surprising find for me because I really do remember seeing this as a little kid.

[marv2]

Wow...and I thought I had seen every episode of Hullaballoo, but I must've missed this one back then. I believe I might even prefer this arrangement, without Andantes, to the studio track.

Big Al, I agree. I like this live version a lot without the Andantes. It further proves to me that the girls were added to recordings for effect and not because the singers could not sing. Obie, Duke and Lawerence sound as great as any vocal group I've ever heard with their 3 part harmonies.......... masterful!

[supremester]

I've never seen this either - excellent version!

[stephanie]

Perfection!

[LuvHangOva]

i know I'm going to hell for saying it but the Andantes bore the holy Fark outta me... For background singers I think Elvis and Ree Ree got it right when they used Sylvia Shemwell, Myrna Smith
Miss Cissy Houston and the rest of the Sweet Inspirationa for backgrounds in the 60s and 70s. Later Ree started using her own special "offshoots" from the Sweet Inspirations known as the Sweethearts of Soul. I learned their names because I thought they sounded so awesome behind her...Brenda Bryant, Margaret Branch was one and her sister Carolyn Franklin as well. I think the Tops do a serviceable enough job here BUT they lack the razor sharp definition the Andantes added to the record. it's actually the ONLY record I really like the Andantes on. The Tops sound good....they just don't "STAND OUT". enough against Levi and the track for my personal taste.

P.S. the sound engineer who added the reverb to Levi's voice would have been well advised to stop by the local library to look up the words "subltety" and "moderation" on his way to the studio. One has to be careful to use echo/reverb sparingly. More as seasoning than as an overwhelming special effect in and of itself

[BigAl]

Slightly off topic, but to mirror LuvHangOva's comment, I'd have to say that, I, too, came to feel that The Andantes were overused at Hitsville in the mid to late '60s, and sounded very repetitive after a while. Other session gals could have been used [[and later, a number of them were). To me, as session groups went, The Blossoms trumped The Andantes or The Sweets because they were so versatile and could deliver whatever sound a producer wanted. This is not to say that any of these groups was better than the other. [[Nobody could touch Cissy for sheer vocal power.) The Andantes and the Sweets, however, both had very, very readily identifiable sounds. Even when The Andantes went moonlighting for Jackie Wilson [["Whispers," "Higher and Higher," "Since You Showed Me How to Be Happy") there was no mistaking them. Ditto the Sweets, especially when Cissy was still with them. I think that's probably why I was so impressed by Larry, Duke and Obie in the clip.

[marv2]

Slightly off topic, but to mirror LuvHangOva's comment, I'd have to say that, I, too, came to feel that The Andantes were overused at Hitsville in the mid to late '60s, and sounded very repetitive after a while. Other session gals could have been used [[and later, a number of them were). To me, as session groups went, The Blossoms trumped The Andantes or The Sweets because they were so versatile and could deliver whatever sound a producer wanted. This is not to say that any of these groups was better than the other. [[Nobody could touch Cissy for sheer vocal power.) The Andantes and the Sweets, however, both had very, very readily identifiable sounds. Even when The Andantes went moonlighting for Jackie Wilson [["Whispers," "Higher and Higher," "Since You Showed Me How to Be Happy") there was no mistaking them. Ditto the Sweets, especially when Cissy was still with them. I think that's probably why I was so impressed by Larry, Duke and Obie in the clip.

Motown did run the risk of many of the groups records sounding the same by over using them. Philadelphia International were heading down that same path in the 70's with their use of Carla Benson, along with Barbara Ingram and Evette Benton aka The Sweeties.