On Top [Limited Edition] [Remastered]

Beginning with On Top, Motown started constructing their Four Tops LPs from singles and a few similar-sounding album tracks, along with plenty of crossover material (usually attempts at MOR covers or light supper-club standards). The first four songs display the Four Tops at the peak of their power; opening with the swinging "I Got a Feeling," the quartet paused only briefly with a ballad ("Brenda") before delivering their two biggest and best hits of the time, "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" and "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)." Hoping older listeners might be lured in by crossover versions of a few current hits, Motown devoted the last half to some seriously misguided covers: "Matchmaker," "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars," "In the Still of the Night," and a rather stiff version of the Beatles' "Michelle." Though it reached the pop Top 40, doubtless most teenagers never even bothered flipping this one over, and the crossover material hasn't aged well. ~ John Bush