Magnificent: The Studio Duets - The Supremes and The Four Tops **** (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Magnificent: The Studio Duets - The Supremes and The Four Tops ****

9:00am Friday 11th December 2009

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It’s unlikely that anyone bar the staunchest Motown completist would view the hit-hungry pairing of the post-Diana Ross Supremes and the Four Tops back in 1970 as anything other than an elegant exercise in curio creation. It followed Motown’s successful coupling of the Supremes and the Temps and although it didn’t hit many commercial highs, there’s no doubting it produced magic.

Not least because Ross’ replacement, Jean Terrell, was a perfect match for Levi Stubbs’ voice. Check out the takes on River Deep Mountain High, Everyday People and Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing – lessons in how disciplined delivery can accentuate the emotion.

On the down side, saccharine covers of MoR standards are symptomatic of Motown’s state of flux in the early 1970s.

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