By Patrick (68.73.200.39) on Saturday, June 07, 2003 - 12:15 pm: |
Did the Four Tops record different versions of the following songs over the years.....
-Ask The Lonely
-Standing In the Shadows of Love
-You Kepp Running Away
-If I were a carpenter
-Aint No Woman
By John Barry Sheffield (195.92.168.165) on Saturday, June 07, 2003 - 12:34 pm: |
Yea I have a few different versions of my all time fave "Ask The Lonely"
John
By R&B (138.238.41.118) on Saturday, June 07, 2003 - 12:42 pm: |
IT'S VERY POSSIBLE THAT THEY DID,MOTOWN WERE KNOWN TO RERECORD THEY HITS AT TIMES,JUST THIS MORNING I HEARD A SLIGHTLY UPDATED VERSION OF[HEATWAVE]BY MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS AND IT SOUNDED PRETTY GOOD TOO!
By Patrick (68.73.200.39) on Saturday, June 07, 2003 - 12:58 pm: |
sometimes you just want to hear your favorite songs in a differnt manner.
By stranger56 (24.47.50.195) on Sunday, June 08, 2003 - 02:02 am: |
Patrick,
Before they got Motown to agree to the Fourever Boxed Set, the Tops wanted to release a compilation set, so they re-recorded many of their songs, because Motown had the rights to the originals. Never "officially" released, the compilation HAS been released in England as a 2 CD set called, I believe, The Four Tops Greatest Hits. I believe the set has 24 songs on it, and, although some people in this forum feel that the recordings are by a "cover" group, the truth is that the recordings are all by the original Four Tops: Lawrence, Obie, Duke AND Levi. The project was abandoned, the Fourever set was released by Motown, and these re-recordings were packaged by someone in England and released "unofficially".
Hope this answers your question.
Stranger56
By John Barry Sheffield (195.92.168.167) on Sunday, June 08, 2003 - 02:10 am: |
Hi Stranger
That is right I have that 2 CD set, but also the FOUR TOPS like many MOTOWN Artists did a few versions of famous songsm different endings, different vocals as on the FOUREVER BOX SET and when tracks where used on different albums.
John
By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, June 09, 2003 - 06:31 pm: |
Folks:
It was not unusual for Motown to cut mutliple takes of songs that became hits.
I have three versions of ASK THE LONELY - mono single mix, the Four Tops Greatest Hits version from 1967 (stereophonic, with guitars split between left & right channels) and on the Best Of Four Tops four album set (orange-red cover, yellow lettering) which is thirty-seconds shorter than the Greatest Hits and the stereo mix have the guitars in the left channel with the strings & the rhythm in the right. Why they did TWO stereo mixes is beyond me but I later found that Motown did this with many of their songs (Smokey's "Come Around Here..." had a different vocal track on the stereo & mono version).
Maybe Harry W. can shine some light on this.
Kevin Goins - KevGo
By HW (68.37.216.164) on Monday, June 09, 2003 - 10:03 pm: |
Careful of the terminology lest we have fans scurrying for different compilations and be disappointed...
In general and with rare exception, Motown only saved master takes. What KevGo refers to are the multiple mixes of a song, not multiple takes. Now and again different elements turn up in those mixes.
And, in those rare times, an entirely different take, or a different vocal to the same familiar backing track, can surface.
By Scratcher (65.238.172.241) on Monday, June 09, 2003 - 10:19 pm: |
My old 45 of the Contours' "Can You Do It" is a different take than the one that appears on their Very Best of CD and on a previous LP. I always liked the single version better, the lead vocal is slightly different, including the opening speaking part. Ditto for "Treat Her Like a Lady" on the Truly Yours album and the version that later appeared on CDs--slightly different. Once again, I like the first version I heard on Truly Yours better.
By HW (68.37.216.164) on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 07:44 am: |
But is it a different vocal take only, or a new backing track?
By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 01:27 pm: |
Thanks, Harry - multiple MIXES is what I meant from the git-go.
Kevin Goins - KevGo
By Margie (67.126.160.94) on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 03:17 pm: |
Stranger56,
I have a CD Compilation that I think is released by a German company that has different versions of the well known Tops songs. On "Walk Away Renee", Levi sings "Your name and mine inside a house on the wall" instead of "heart". I kinda like the CD, but then I would love The Tops singing Three Blind Mice.
By Scratcher (65.238.127.88) on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 07:16 pm: |
HW: in both cases the vocal was slightly different, the backing tracks were the same.