The Four Tops Sing Stevie Wonder.........."All I Do"!

**marv2** · 03-14-2014, 11:09 PM

I am sure all of you have heard Stevie's version from 1981 and many of you have heard Tammi Terrell's version from the "Cellar Full of Motown" collection from a few years back, I had never heard the Four Tops version of "All I Do". Impeccable harmonies and Levi is just masterful as usual.....

**splanky** · 03-15-2014, 07:10 AM

Wasn't crazy about the instrumentation when it first started but Levi's vocals made up for that. So powerful, his delivery is just off the chain! How is it I never heard this before?...

**marv2** · 03-15-2014, 05:10 PM

You are right about the instrumentation. In the producer's attempt to differentiate this version from the others, he left the RHYTHM on the floor! I was waiting for the musicians to pick it up, but alas, the didn't. Levi and the Tops saved this recording with their raw talents. Still, not bad overall.......

Jeff Porcaro upload this and a few other raretities I'd never heard before. The "vaults" must be amazing places. LOL!

**carole cucumber** · 03-15-2014, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by marv2

......

Jeff Porcaro upload this and a few other raretities I'd never heard before. The "vaults" must be amazing places. LOL!

But this isn't a vault discovery. It was issued on the Tonight album and has appeared on cd before

http://www.amazon.com/When-She-Was-M...r+Tops+Tonight

and

http://www.amazon.com/Something-Reme...ords=Four+Tops

**marv2** · 03-15-2014, 06:00 PM

Originally Posted by carole cucumber

But this isn't a vault discovery. It was issued on the Tonight album and has appeared on cd before

http://www.amazon.com/When-She-Was-M...r+Tops+Tonight

and

http://www.amazon.com/Something-Reme...ords=Four+Tops

Amazing. I bought this that album "Tonight" back in the early 80's and did not remember this song being on it. Thank you!

**carole cucumber** · 03-15-2014, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by marv2

Amazing. I bought this that album "Tonight" back in the early 80's and did not remember this song being on it. Thank you!

That's easy to understand. The first release of "All I Do' would have been on Stevie Wonder's album 'Hotter Than July'. Because of Stevie's push to recognize Martin Luther KIng's birthday [[Jan. 15) as a national holiday, "Happy Birthday" got a lot of attention. And Stevie's foray into reggae "Master Blaster [[Jammin') was all over the radio [[#1 R & B, #5 Pop). With "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" [[#4/#11) and "Lately" [[#29/#64) following as singles, "All I Do" became just an album track.
It really wasn't until Tammi Terrell's 1966 version was released from the vaults on the first 'A Cellarful of Motown' in the U.K. and subsequently in the U.S. that the song picked up popularity. And then in 2005, we were given Brenda Holloway's version on her U.K. Anthology.
There's even a certain charm in reading Harry Weinger's notes to the 'When She Was My Girl" cd compilation [[1992) where he states " With a strong reading of 'All I Do', the Tops even connect to the new Motown. " At the beginning of the next decade speared on by the tenacity of Paul Nixon and others, it would be revealed that the Tops at that time were also connecting back to the old Motown from which they had departed [[before their own brief return).