Four Tops Live!

[Hitsville_Jazza]

Classic Motown are featuring Four Tops Live! as their Album of the Month. One of my favourite live albums ever! What are your thoughts?

http://classic.motown.com/story/four-tops-live-the-four-tops/

There's a great quote from Duke too.

[marv2]

It was a fun live album too. I play it more than some studio recorded albums.

[sansradio]

I'm crazy about this set! Levi is hilarious.

[marv2]

I've seen lots of still pictures from this show. The recording makes you feel like you're in the house!

[marv2]

Classic Motown are featuring Four Tops Live! as their Album of the Month. One of my favourite live albums ever! What are your thoughts?

http://classic.motown.com/story/four-tops-live-the-four-tops/

There's a great quote from Duke too.

They need to do something to honor Duke more.

[biggestfourtops fan]

The Tops should've added LOVING YOU IS SWEETER THSN EVER and SHAKE ME, WAKE ME. They also should've had more live albums like the Supremes. Supremes at the cops liner notes say the tops played the copy but Motown didn't record it. That is infuriating.

[biggestfourtops fan]

I used to think that the concerts were from one night. Thought it was 9-11-66 but the article had an August date in there too. Why was thst.

[Encyclopedia Mack]

The Tops should've added LOVING YOU IS SWEETER THSN EVER and SHAKE ME, WAKE ME. They also should've had more live albums like the Supremes. Supremes at the cops liner notes say the tops played the copy but Motown didn't record it. That is infuriating.
It is. They haven't even released The Temptations first Copa performance in 67 I believe. I love Motown, but us fans want more material. We supported Motown 25 [[a shoe that everyone already saw) so it's time for them to go in the vault for us.

[biggestfourtops fan]

It is. They haven't even released a The Temptations first Copa performance in 67 I believe. I love Motown, but us fans want more material. We supported Motown 25 [[a shoe that everyone already saw) so it's time for them to go in the vault for us.

Great to KNOW there's another Temptations Cops performance. Wonder what the track list is. Martha and the Vandellas copa performance from 68 needs a releases.

[motownjohnny]

Gladys Knight and the Pips appeared at the Copa in July 1968 and in keeping with appearances there by their other acts, Motown may have recorded the show possibly with a view to releasing it on the vacant SS-712 slot in either late '68 or early '69. As far as I'm aware if the show was recorded, nothing from their appearance has been released so far.

Below is a press release/review by Ed Ochs, which appeared in Billboard magazine:

"NEW YORK — Gladys Knight & The Pips, another one of Motown’s crack soul squads, proved once again in their Copacabana debut on Thursday night, July 18, 1968, that, in the Motor City, the motor is soul – powered and gassed up with Motown premium. Bongos and blues flavored with that old-time rock harmony struck the right cord for perky Gladys Knight and her three Pips.

A shade shorter than Martha Reeves and a hair-do higher than Diana Ross, Gladys Knight switched from R&B to clean pop vocal as easily as she changed gowns mid-show from red to green. Whether whipping the beat in “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” their biggest hit thus far, or cooing the blues in “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” she proved fluent in either language. Singing support for Miss Knight came from the Pips, whose driving sounds were tempered with straight-forward harmony and answering echoes. In “Girl Talk,” the Pips, minus Gladys Knight, cooled off the beat with a folksy, street-corner session.

'Sandwiched in between their latest chart winner, “It Should Have Been Me,” the group stomped through “Every Road Leads Out Of Here,” followed with “Just Walk In My Shoes” and a soulful “Fever,” which dropped to funky part-way before it was rescued by the bluesy Miss Knight. The group, heard on the Motown Soul record label, charged up the opening-night crowd with their fancy footwork, burst of choreography and rally-round-the-microphone in sync while harmonizing. Even Al Foster and the Copa band reeled with the festivities, often overwhelming the voices with blaring horns and a beat falling like sequoia trees".

[[Information and news source: Billboard Magazine; July 20, 1968).

[reese]

Gladys Knight and the Pips appeared at the Copa in July 1968 and in keeping with appearances there by their other acts, Motown may have recorded the show possibly with a view to releasing it on the vacant SS-712 slot in either late '68 or early '69. As far as I'm aware if the show was recorded, nothing from their appearance has been released so far.

Below is a press release/review by Ed Ochs, which appeared in Billboard magazine:

"NEW YORK — Gladys Knight & The Pips, another one of Motown’s crack soul squads, proved once again in their Copacabana debut on Thursday night, July 18, 1968, that, in the Motor City, the motor is soul – powered and gassed up with Motown premium. Bongos and blues flavored with that old-time rock harmony struck the right cord for perky Gladys Knight and her three Pips.

A shade shorter than Martha Reeves and a hair-do higher than Diana Ross, Gladys Knight switched from R&B to clean pop vocal as easily as she changed gowns mid-show from red to green. Whether whipping the beat in “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” their biggest hit thus far, or cooing the blues in “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” she proved fluent in either language. Singing support for Miss Knight came from the Pips, whose driving sounds were tempered with straight-forward harmony and answering echoes. In “Girl Talk,” the Pips, minus Gladys Knight, cooled off the beat with a folksy, street-corner session.

'Sandwiched in between their latest chart winner, “It Should Have Been Me,” the group stomped through “Every Road Leads Out Of Here,” followed with “Just Walk In My Shoes” and a soulful “Fever,” which dropped to funky part-way before it was rescued by the bluesy Miss Knight. The group, heard on the Motown Soul record label, charged up the opening-night crowd with their fancy footwork, burst of choreography and rally-round-the-microphone in sync while harmonizing. Even Al Foster and the Copa band reeled with the festivities, often overwhelming the voices with blaring horns and a beat falling like sequoia trees".

[[Information and news source: Billboard Magazine; July 20, 1968).

Some of the performances on the Pips' live album ALL IN A KNIGHT'S WORK were recorded at the Copa, including some mentioned in the review posted.

[Encyclopedia Mack]

That's another million dollar question. I saw an album cover that was an overseas single or album [[maybe greatest hits) that was from the performance. They were in white suits and I think Ruffin had red glasses. You notice the Copa orchestra behind them. They broke all excisting records at the Copa at that time. Why they've never released it is beyond me.

[marv2]

I've been to the old Copa twice. The first time there I was shocked at how small it was. Coincidentally, there was a then current Motown artist performing that night. Chico DeBarge performed a couple of songs from his debut album. The current Copa is much, much larger and is two stories.