Archives » The Four Tops

Not Friday on my Mind 83: Standing in the Shadows of Love. RIP Duke Fakir

The last surviving member of perhaps the most prominent male Motown group, The Four Tops, ‘Duke’ Fakir has now left the stage.

Fakir was a constant presence in the group from its founding to his death.

This was the follow up to their biggest hit (which I have already featured here.)

The Four Tops: Standing in the Shadows of Love

Abdul Kareem (Duke) Fakir: 26/12/1935 –22/7/2024. So it goes.

Not Friday on my Mind 82: A Simple Game. RIP Mike Pinder

No sooner had I heard the news on the radio that Duane Eddy had died (and Richard Tandy of ELO too) than I opened the Guardian’s obituary page to find that Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues has made his final voyage.

Pinder was the last of the original five members of the Moody Blues still standing. Now only Justin Hayward and John Lodge remain of the later classic line-up.

Pinder’s contribution to that classic line-up was immense. It is fair to say that without his ability on the mellotron (an instrument he personally brought to the attention of The Beatles) The Moody Blues would not have sounded as they did, nor had the same success.

His piano solo on the original group’s biggest hit Go Now was no small part of its effectiveness.

This song written by Pinder was the B-side to Ride My See-saw but later appeared on the odd album Caught Live + Five. It was later a hit for The Four Tops but as usual Levi Stubbs shouted his way through it.

The Moody Blues: A Simple Game

This is another of my favourite Pinder songs:-

The Moody Blues: The Best Way to Travel (from In Search of the Lost Chord)

I always loved the piano ending to this track which was sandwiched between Have You Heard Part 1 and Have You Heard Part 2 on the LP On the Threshold of a Dream.

The Moody Blues: The Voyage

Michael Thomas (Mike) Pinder: 27/12/1941 – 24/4/2024. So it goes.

 

Not Friday on my Mind 63: If I Were a Carpenter

A beautiful song written by the singer here. It wasn’t a hit for him in the UK but it was for the Four Tops (see here) and Bobby Darin.

I of course applaud the use of the conditional in the title and in each of the verses.

Tim Hardin: If I Were a Carpenter

Friday on my Mind 169: Reach Out I’ll Be There

As soon as I hear the first notes of this it takes me right back to when my family first got a transistor radio which kick-started my interest in popular music. It immediately conjures up the time and place – specifically listening to (the pirate) Radio Scotland and especially the late great Stuart Henry. This was the big hit at the time.

The Four Tops: Reach Out I’ll Be There

Friday On My Mind 59: How Can We Hang On To A Dream?

Just to show that, even putting Bob Dylan to one side, the 1960s were not a singer/songwriter desert.

Tim Hardin: How Can We Hang On To A Dream?

Hardin wrote a lot of good songs including:

Reason To Believe, better known perhaps for Rod Stewart’s version.

If I Were A Carpenter a hit for The Four Tops

and The Lady Came From Baltimore (loads of people.)

Friday On My Mind 37: Behind A Painted Smile

You may have noticed I’ve not put up any Tamla Motown tracks in this category so far despite that label (or collection of labels if you lived in the US) by and large soundtracking the sixties. While I enjoyed a lot of Motown stuff it wasn’t what I was mainly into. Certainly not enough to buy any Motown records.

This is one that started out in 1967, as a B-side I believe, and wasn’t very big in the US. When (re?)-released over here in 1969 it reached no. 5 in the UK charts.

It mines that same stream of unrequited/spurned love as Tracks Of My Tears and Tears Of A Clown but I always preferred this song to either of those.

From its quiet intro to that final drum sign off it’s just a perfect pop song.

Isley Brothers: Behind A Painted Smile

Friday On My Mind 4: The Truth, Walk Away Renee

Walk Away Renee is another underestimated 1960s gem.

I bought The Truth’s cover version of this song before I learned it was a cover. (I knew there were other versions around at the time but it wasn’t until years later that I discovered it had first been done by The Left Banke.) I’m featuring the original, as The Truth’s recording isn’t on You Tube.

Walk Away Renee was of course a biggish hit later for the Four Tops but they overplayed it. Levi Stubbs was just too shouty for a delicate flower like this.

Anyway here is The Left Banke: Walk Away Renee

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