Well worth the wait... for Tops fans like me
Brian Hilley | East Elmhurst, NY USA | 11/26/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"It's been over 30 years since either of these albums have been commercially available, and although they don't feature any big hits, who can argue against the amazing voice of Levi Stubbs?You'll find the Tops' usual bunch of MOR covers here ("This Guy's In Love With You," "The Look of Love," "The Sweetheart Tree"), which mean that gems like Smokey's "So Far" and "I'll Pay Double" (on the box set "Fourever") got left off. However, this disc is only place you can find the breathtaking, ultra-rare LP mix of "I'm In A Different World" that's worth the price alone.It might be just me, but "Nothing" sounds even clearer here than it did on "Fourever."Anyway, there's a lot of obscure Motown classics like "Can't Seem To Get You Out of My Mind," "We've Got A Strong love (On Our Side)," and "Remember When." There are also fine covers of "Light My Fire," "Never My Love," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," and "Sunny." Most of Soul Spin is throwaway material; no singles were even released from it. However, Stubbs and the other Tops never falter vocally, and the material is something unusual. "Look Out Your Window" and "Lost in a Pool of Red" are two of the funkiest Motown tunes I've heard to date, while "Barbara's Boy" has a silly pop groove where, IMHO, a serious tone would have been better. I'm surprised that it wasn't "Four Tops Now!" as the other album, but personally, I love to collect the mega-rare.I'm glad that all the greatness here is finally available after being overlooked for so long. "Yesterday's Dreams," in particular, is an awesome album. Now all we need is "Four Tops Live!/Four Tops On Broadway.""
Plenty of covers but no big Four Tops hits
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 04/15/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The first album, Yesterday's dreams, was released in 1968 and yielded two hits, both of which were minor hits in Britain and America, these being the title track and I'm in a different world. The album also includes covers of By the time I get to Phoenix (Glen Campbell), Sunny (Bobby Hebb), Never my love (Association), Daydream believer (Monkees) and A place in the sun (Stevie Wonder).
The second album, Soul spin, clearly didn't impress Motown as no singles were released in Britain or America, but it contains covers of Got to get you into my life (Beatles), This guy's in love with you, The look of love (two Bacharach-David classics), Light my fire (Doors), Honey (Bobby Goldsboro) and California dreaming (Mamas and Papas).
The original songs that weren't released as singles from the two albums are nothing special though they're OK. I doubt if any of them would have been big hits had they been so released. It may be that the proliferation of covers on these albums is a consequence of the dearth of good original material at the time.
The two albums that make up this set are not the most important in the career of the Four Tops but committed Motown fan who enjoy covers may wish to give them a listen."
Track Listings (23) - Disc #1