David Cantwell writes:

I have a piece today at No Depression on the late, great Levi Stubbs (he’s on the far left, above) and, especially, on what I think is the Four Tops greatest record, “Bernadette.” It would be enough if all Stubbs had ever done was to voice that number, let alone ”Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” and the rest of the Tops’ best-known hits. But, as my headline suggests, I want to talk here about a different side of Stubbs’ art.

In The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, in his entry for “Reach Out I’ll Be There” that holds that book’s number four position, Dave Marsh notes that “Even Stubbs fans understand why his style can be too declamatory.” As a Stubbs’ fan myself, I second Marsh’s emotion. When you want subtle and dynamic phrasing in your Motown vocalists, you’d be better off listening to the hits of David Ruffin, Marvin Gaye or Gladys Knight.

Stubbs wasn’t always declamatory, though. He could, when a song demanded it, sing with nuance in a relaxed, quiet, conversational style. This Stubbs-ian approach is most obvious on the many pop covers the group did, especially after Holland-Dozier-Holland left the label and took their songwriting and production genius with them. On the Tops’ versions of “Honey,” “Sunny,” “Light My Fire,” and “If I Were a Carpenter,” for examples, a subdued Levi Stubbs reins in his soul shout and speaks in another common language of his era, the crooned pop-rock cover. His voice in these instances is no longer loud but it is no less clear. Likewise, the Tops’ take on the Glen Campbell hit, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” is much more of a conventional cover than Isaac Hayes’ epic rendering of the same song but it is no less affecting.

Stubbs’ pop abilities are no surprise. As a precocious pre-teen, Stubbs sometimes wowed the crowds at Detroit’s Paradise Club, where Duke Ellington and Lucky Millinder played when they visited the Motor City. That is, pop was in Stubbs’ blood, so to speak, at a very young age, and he continued in that vein for years before he and his fellow Tops became famous.

Motown was already playing in the big leagues—the Temptations, Miracles, and Supremes, as well as Martha Reeves and Marvin Gaye, were already national stars—by the time the Tops ever scored a hit. So Stubbs and company must have seemed an overnight success when in 1964, with their debut Motown release, they climbed high with “Baby, I Need Your Loving” on both the R&B and pop charts. Actually, though, the quartet had been banging around since the early 1950s, singing show tunes and assorted pop fare for supper club crowds in the Motor City area.

They sang, too, for a short time, on tour behind their eventual Motown label mate Billy Eckstine, and every once in a while someone gave them a chance to make a record that no one bought: “Pennies from Heaven,” for instance, which they cut for Riverside in 1962. Even after signing to Motown, the Tops spent a year recording pop standards for Motown’s jazz imprint, Workshop (sides that went unreleased, as it turned out, until 1998).

Levi Stubbs sang lead on several of my favorite records ever, and there are several fine versions of Jimmy Webb’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” Stubbs’ version of that standard sits close to the top of both of those lists.

The Four Tops “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” from Yesterday’s Dreams (Motown, 1968)

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