139 Hello The Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself

Chart  entered : 1  July  1965

Chart  peak : 23

Number  of  hits : 30

For this listener, the Four Tops were the premier vocal group at Motown, in main part due to their lead singer: Levi Stubbs was blessed with a voice that could roar with the best, but also sound as wounded and vulnerable as any blues singer. I admit to being biased on this, as Stubbs remains my favourite of the all the singers on Motown.

The band had already had their first American hit the year before, with the mighty "Baby, I Need Your Loving", which itself came after the band had been together since the mid 50s. Years of recording Jazz numbers hadn't yielded any commercial success, until (like the Supremes), they were put together with the resident writing/production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland.

Their debut single here was built around a superb bass/piano riff that grabs the attention right from the off. The lyrics "Sugar-pie, honey bunch/You know I love/I can't help myself/I love you and nobody else" may have sounded trite in the mouths of most singers, but Stubbs gives it an immense gravitas. Like all the best soul singers, you believe ever word he sings, and it's easy to understand why one Essex singer/songwriter chose to eulogise him in song. In this case, it's not hard to believe that whoever Levi is singing about is the center of his universe.

As usual with a Motown hit, the Funk Brothers provide top notch backing, and it's easy to imagine it being a dancefloor hit. It's enduring appeal was reflected when it was reissued in 1970, this time  going up to #10.

British audiences weren't too quick to pick up on the Tops appeal, though it marked a rise to prominence that would seem them top both the singles and album charts though 1966 to 1968. With a line-up that would remain unchanged over 40 years, it'll be sometime before we get to their "goodbye" entry. 

 

D.C. Harrison