Review of Four Tops, The

Introduction

Well, this is indeed an oddity! Now that DVD mastering and duplication have become so easily affordable the floodgates are well and truly open for the exploitation of any piece of archival footage - no matter how bizarre.

This is ostensibly a live recording of The Four Tops performing some of their much-loved repertoire. But bizarrely, there`s no audience here in this cold, white coved TV studio. Just a few bewildered musicians, and tank-topped technicians who seem to be preparing for the concert proper. It feels a bit like a rehearsal and I suspect that this is exactly what it was. Someone opportunely covered the event with a single Super-16mm camera, and then added the sound off the desk, in all its dry and non-atmospheric glory! I guess it`s a tribute to the band that, despite these combat conditions, they`re not too bad. The horns / orchestra (made up of entirely white Frenchmen) look a little uncomfortable, and you get that sinking feeling that each is an early run-through of a song that`s well under rehearsed. There are also three American musicians who add the true soul flavour to proceedings and they look like they`re enjoying themselves immensely.

`The Four Tops` actually formed in 1954, singing show tunes in a jazz stylee (nice!). But, when signed to Motown in 1963, they notched up no less than 5 top ten hits in the UK by the time this `concert` was filmed.

So what do you get on this DVD? Well, obviously The Four Tops (count `em), resplendent in their silky white suits. There`s Renaldo `Obie` Benson, Abdul `Duke` Fakir, Lawrence Payton and Levi Stubbs - all in good harmonious singing voice.
Some of the songs are a little EZ for my tastes (`Sunny`, `By the time I get to Phoenix`, `Little Green Apples`), but they deliver the goods on `Baby I need you loving` and `Reach Out (I`ll be there)`, albeit with a little more orchestration than the original Motown takes.

`Mack the Knife` is an anomalous curio, sung here by Mr. Stubbs, and they do it rather well, but in truth there`s little here to excite anyone other than steadfast fans.

Video

1:33:1, 16mm footage in pretty good shape. But visually it`s as unstimulating as a live performance could be (no lighting changes etc.

Audio

Yes, yes. All here in Dolby Digital 2.0 and Dolby Digital 5.1. But so what? It`s a dry, `off the desk` mix that does nothing to enhance the legend. It`s a tribute to the bands vocal dexterity that, despite no reverb or effects, their harmonies remain in pretty good shape.

Features

Is there a polite way to say `bugger all`?
It`s certainly devoid of any noticeable additional attributes - other than some subtitles for Euro-Karaoke meets.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, this release does little to enhance the considerable legacy of `The Four Tops`, and really this is through no fault of their own. In fact, given the strange circumstances of this recording, they do remarkably well. But… 11 songs, no atmosphere, a dry audio mix and a single camera, clocking in at 45 minutes and no extras. You decide.