I think this was discussed before, not sure; all these years we've read about how the departure of H-D-H from Motown really hurt the Four Tops and Supremes. The Four Tops have commented on how it hurt them chart-wise because H-D-H really knew them and wrote songs suited to them.

BUT- I wonder if H-D-H had remained at Motown, would it really have stopped the chart slide of both the Tops and Supremes? Looking at the songs that went out shortly before H-D-H departed, it seems the slide was already beginning.

"You Keep Running Away", "I'm In A Different Word", "Forever Came Today", "Keep Falling In And Out Of Love"; none of these really set the charts ablaze. Really though, after the absolutely stunning productions of "Reach Out", "Standing In The Shadows Of Love", "Bernadette" and even "Seven Rooms Of Gloom", where could you go? Likewise for songs like "Love Is Here And Now You're Gone" or "Reflections". Those productions were mammoth, broke new ground and new sounds. How do you top those?

Just a personal feeling here, but I also noticed the studio sound had changed after these hits. I don't know if Motown had changed over to newer recording equipment, but if you listen to the unreleased H-D-H tunes like "Lonely Lover" and "One Last Look", that Motown sound is quite a bit different from the '67 sound. To me, a song like "Different World" doesn't have the light, crisp sound of tunes like "I'll Turn To Stone" or "What Else Is There To Do [[But Sit And Think About You)". When I heard "Different World", I just found that I couldn't get into it all that much. It had a rather heavy sound to it.

I'm not throwing "shade" as they say, but I've always thought that maybe, just maybe H-D-H had started to hit a sort of brick wall as far as where to go stylistically by this time. So, would things have been radically different for the Tops and Sups if H-D-H had stayed?