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Post by razzgospel on Feb 4, 2013 22:28:19 GMT -5
A half a dozen years ago, I heard the Four Tops, and they sounded as good as ever. Three of the Tops were originals, and the fourth had been with the group for something like twenty years. Wednesday night I'm taking my wife to a concert by the Temptations and the Four Tops to celebrate her birthday. Hearing old groups with new members is a pig in a poke. I've had very good times and very bad times, depending on how dedicated the current group was to the original sound. I've seen videos of the current Temptations and they sound mighty fine, and pretty much do justice to the originals. It should be a good night. Anyone heard either group recently?
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Post by Admin on Feb 5, 2013 7:38:12 GMT -5
A half a dozen years ago, I heard the Four Tops, and they sounded as good as ever. Three of the Tops were originals, and the fourth had been with the group for something like twenty years. Wednesday night I'm taking my wife to a concert by the Temptations and the Four Tops to celebrate her birthday. Hearing old groups with new members is a pig in a poke. I've had very good times and very bad times, depending on how dedicated the current group was to the original sound. I've seen videos of the current Temptations and they sound mighty fine, and pretty much do justice to the originals. It should be a good night. Anyone heard either group recently? Sounds like a great way to spend the evening. I've always been a big fan of groups like the Four Tops and Temptations. "Baby I Need Your Loving" has to be one of the all-time great R&B songs. and of course the Temptations "My Girl" has been immortalized in the movies and in the hearts of R&B lovers everywhere.
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Post by dadfad on Feb 5, 2013 14:05:19 GMT -5
Being from the Detroit area in the '60s I was lucky enough to have seen all the Motown "biggies" back then, including the Temps, the Tops, the Miracles, etc.
But I haven't seen any of them recently. The last time I saw them was in 1974 (I think) at a fairly big event called the Motown Review (in Detroit of course) which featured quite a list of Motown artists. However, surprisingly enough (and I have no clue how this ever happened!) opening the line-up for the Motown groups was, of all people, FURRY LEWIS! Which is actually the only reason I even went. While I still liked a lot of Motown stuff, old pre-war acoustic country-blues had already become my main direction for several years.
I hope you and your wife enjoy the show.
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Post by razzgospel on Feb 5, 2013 14:17:05 GMT -5
Furry Leiws... wow! I sure would have loved to hear him. I did hear Rev. Gary Davis many times, and Mississiippi John Hurt and Jesse Fuller, but Furry's music was a personal favorite of mine.
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Post by dadfad on Feb 5, 2013 17:48:04 GMT -5
Yes, I felt very lucky to see him. I'd guess they booked him as some kind of "roots" artist in the evolution of Black music.
I also was able to see Sam Chatmon in a very similar way, and completely unexpectedly. I'd just recently gotten into blues, and even more recently into pre-war acoustic blues. But still liked and played rock and rock'n'roll quite a bit. I went to a festival in Toronto specifically to see the Doors, and Sam Chatmon was one of the openers. Actually I'd never heard of Sam Chatmon at that time, but I was at least blues-aware enough to have heard of the Chatmon musical family and the Mississippi Sheiks, etc and I assumed (correctly) he had been one of them. I was also lucky enough to have been able to talk to him for a few minutes after the performance as he sat outside with his guitar waiting for his ride to pick him up.
I was never lucky enough to see Reverend Davis, (although several of my friends were fortunate enough to have taken advantage of his $5 guitar lessons!). I'd also seen Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller at some festival or another in the early 70's, but never "up close and personal" in a small venue. You were very lucky!
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Post by razzgospel on Feb 5, 2013 19:16:35 GMT -5
I coulda seen a lot more people in the early sixties if I had the money. I lived so long on peanut butter that my friends called me Skippy. I did see Lightnin' HGopkins and sat next to him and talked with him over a beer.
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Post by dadfad on Feb 6, 2013 8:53:49 GMT -5
I coulda seen a lot more people in the early sixties if I had the money. I lived so long on peanut butter that my friends called me Skippy. I did see Lightnin' HGopkins and sat next to him and talked with him over a beer. "...I lived so long on peanut butter that my friends called me Skippy." LOL! I can understand that! I've had my share too, and dented cans of pork'n'beans! LOL I'd seen Lightnin' a couple of times. When I was just getting into blues in the late '60s (in the Detroit area) there was a small blues-club called the Chessmate that had A-list bluesguys there, and it was small enough and informal enough to where you could sit at a table with the performers between sets or after the shows. And (while a larger venue) the Ann Arbor Blues Festivals started in '69 (I attended the '69 and '70 festivals), again with top-notch acts both electric and acoustic. (The first time I saw Son House was at the 1970 festival). As I got out of rock and rock'n'roll and regular gigging, I kind of took things into my own hands and started heading south (generally) to try to look up some of these guys in person and I met quite a few. The first one I tried to find was Skip James. (Got his name from the credits on a Cream album.) Back then of course there was very limited resources to do any research (no internet) much beyond the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature! I found an article than mentioned he was from Bentonia, Mississippi so next break I had I headed south for Bentonia (not knowing he'd moved to DC and died several months earlier). But I did find another blues guitarist in Bentonia, Jack Owens, who (while not exactly in Skip's style) did play in open-minor tunings and helped me a little. And there were a number of trips after that, both South and then East, looking for guys still alive who were willing to help a young (back then!) white kid try to learn their stuff. And if I could find them, they were usually more than willing, never asking more than to just "pass it on" and maybe a few slugs of my whiskey! So I met quite a few... Fred McDowell, Robert Pete Williams, Pink Anderson, Willie Dixon, Bowling Green Cephas, John Jackson (kind of my mentor for over twenty-five years) and others. Some were pretty obscure (even less than obscure!), but they still knew their blues and didn't mind showing it. I still head down south sometimes, but over the years it's changed from visiting old friends to paying my respects at their graves.
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Post by razzgospel on Feb 6, 2013 13:24:23 GMT -5
My wife and I went to Memphis last year. It was a mystical experience for me. I felt like I was going home, and I'd never been there.
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Post by dadfad on Feb 6, 2013 13:37:20 GMT -5
There's an old saying "The Delta flows south from the lobby of the Peabody Hotel"
(Which is in downtown Memphis. Very pricey, but worth staying there at least once in your life.)
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Post by razzgospel on Feb 6, 2013 14:41:35 GMT -5
You can stay at the Peabody for free, if you're a duck...
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Post by muddylives on Feb 6, 2013 15:19:26 GMT -5
The Temptations have managed personnel changes for a long time. Their two great original leads, David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, already left the group back in the 60s. On the other hand, the Four Tops never broke up. They stayed together until death did them part. The Four Tops formed in the mid-1950s out of High School: Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton, Obie Benson, Duke Fakir, and stayed together as a unit, performing regularly, until Lawrence Payton's death in 1997 - almost 50 years of gigging together. They were together before fame and after. Sadly, now only Duke Fakir is left.
I must have seen the original Four Tops live more than 20 times. It was always a joy.
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Post by dadfad on Feb 6, 2013 16:37:42 GMT -5
You can stay at the Peabody for free, if you're a duck... ;D LOL!!! It's quite a show when they bring down the ducks from their penthouse. Those ducks probably live better than 90% of the people in Memphis! I'd never stayed in a hotel before where if you left your shoes outside the door you'd find them there the next morning polished and shined! (Most places I've stayed you'd be lucky if your shoes were still there! LOL)
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Post by slapjaw on Feb 6, 2013 18:55:50 GMT -5
Both great bands. Who doesn't love their music. But heck with the guys out front, what about the band. The Funk Brothers. Now they (IMHO) are the reason for both bands success. Funny story a couple of years ago, I was going to a job about 4:30 am. Had stopped at the local Wawa (convenience store) for coffee. The Temps game on the radio and I started singing My Girl and wouldn't you know about 4 or 5 other people started singing it with me. The other people started looking around, like who are these nuts? What other type of music but Motown could get people laughing and singing that early?
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Post by dadfad on Feb 7, 2013 10:56:52 GMT -5
Both great bands. Who doesn't love their music. But heck with the guys out front, what about the band. The Funk Brothers. Now they (IMHO) are the reason for both bands success. Funny story a couple of years ago, I was going to a job about 4:30 am. Had stopped at the local Wawa (convenience store) for coffee. The Temps game on the radio and I started singing My Girl and wouldn't you know about 4 or 5 other people started singing it with me. The other people started looking around, like who are these nuts? What other type of music but Motown could get people laughing and singing that early? LOL!! Good one, Slapjaw! (And I assume the choregraphy by you and the others was perfect! LOL!!!)
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Post by steve on Feb 7, 2013 16:58:25 GMT -5
My sister was ( and still is) a huge Motown fan. When we were kids, she would play her record constantly. I was a Beatle fan and at first, was resistant but the music sucked me in and the Temps and the Tops ( plus Smokie, Jackson 5 et al) permeated my soul. It was my first exposure to American Black music but it has stayed with me and I love the music to this day-in fact I can't imagine life without it.
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