The Drifters gave us songs like - Save the last dance for me, Under the boardwalk, Come on over to my place, At the club, There goes my first love.

 

The Four Tops - Reach out and I'll be there, I can't help myself, Standing in the shaddows of love, Bernadette, Walk away Renee, If I were a carpenter

 

Isley Brothers - Twist and shout, This old heart of mine, Behind a painted smile, Harvest for the world

 

Temptations - My girl, Ain't to proud to beg, I'm gonna make you love me, Get ready, I second that emotion, Just my Imagination.

 

My faves from that lot are; Reach out and I'll be there, Standing in the shaddows of love by the Four Tops, Behind a painted smile by the Isleys, and I second that emotion by the Temptations.

 

I think the Four tops were the best, how about you.

 

But comparing these artists with todays R & B what a class list of performers. Don't think todays come anywhere near these 4, imo.

cant abide the creepy, pervy drifters...

 

four tops were class, motown at its best, 'dont walk away renee', 'if i were a carpenter', 'bernadette'... brilliant!

 

isleys were mixed, loved 'this old heart of mine', 'put yourself in my place' .. and 'behind a pained smile' not keen on the rest

 

temptations were similar, mixed, but not my favs. 'get ready' my fav. prefered smokey robinson and the miracles original 'i second that emotion' to the temptations with the supremes version.

But comparing these artists with todays R & B what a class list of performers. Don't think todays come anywhere near these 4, imo.

 

even if a lot of these groups are still active today and still charting in the adult r&b charts cant really compare tamla to todays r&b, even if both might be as productionline as Stock Aiken and Watermans brand of HiNRG Disco

 

. and anyway i would have to walk over from the rock&pop section where all the old tamla records live to urban, rap and r&b :lol:

None of the above.

 

The correct answer by far IMHO is an act without whom there would have been no 1970s creative genius Stevie Wonder, no George Clinton's Parliament, no Prince & The Revolution, no Outkast (their biggest song Hey Ya was a homage to this act - as you'll notice if you watch this video) & no Black Eyed Peas.......

 

I give you "the original originator" © Smokey Robinson:

 

Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People / Dance To The Music / Hot Fun In The Summertime / Don't Call Me n*****, Whitey / I Wanna Take You Higher Medley

I would have to say either The Four Tops or The Temptations.

None of the above.

 

The correct answer by far IMHO is an act without whom there would have been no 1970s creative genius Stevie Wonder, no George Clinton's Parliament, no Prince & The Revolution, no Outkast (their biggest song Hey Ya was a homage to this act - as you'll notice if you watch this video) & no Black Eyed Peas.......

 

I give you "the original originator" © Smokey Robinson:

 

Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People / Dance To The Music / Hot Fun In The Summertime / Don't Call Me n*****, Whitey / I Wanna Take You Higher Medley

 

actually you have a point :) not as commercially successful but pretty cutting edge and i loved 'dance to the music'..

All of them apart from The Drifters are brilliant.

Four Tops, Temps, Isleys, Gladys Knight and many more were sheer class.

 

Miles better than the rubbish R&B of today.

All of them apart from The Drifters are brilliant.

Four Tops, Temps, Isleys, Gladys Knight and many more were sheer class.

 

Miles better than the rubbish R&B of today.

 

thats because they were singing because they liked singing and had something to say.... todays r&b lot sing from the wallet.

 

thats what i liked about 60's music, most artists from all genres were into creating new sounds and discovering new sounds and techniques for the love of it... similar to the punk times when innovation, experimentation and creativity gave us some of the best, richest music ever.

thats because they were singing because they liked singing and had something to say.... todays r&b lot sing from the wallet.

 

thats what i liked about 60's music, most artists from all genres were into creating new sounds and discovering new sounds and techniques for the love of it... similar to the punk times when innovation, experimentation and creativity gave us some of the best, richest music ever.

 

nah i think when it comes to Tamla Motown in the early 60s it was as production line as today or as the Ford Motor company works across a couple of blocks in Detroit. total pop music to make money wit

 

and then it becomes part of the whole black power movement, malcolm x, black panthers, Martin Luther King etc etc and becomes intersting and political in the late 1960s and 1970s when there was real soul and something to emote with things like What's Going On and stuff like that.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/MarvinGayeWhat'sGoingOnalbumcover.jpg

 

btw bloke from the drifters has died, here is his obit. like how it could be said that he formed the first tribute band and how there were loads of these 'original' groups going around :lol:

 

Bill Pinkney - Obituary

 

Founder member of the Drifters

Published: 27 July 2007 Independent

 

Bill Pinkney, singer: born Dalzell, South Carolina 15 August 1925; married (nine children); died Daytona Beach, Florida 4 July 2007.

 

In 1953, Bill Pinkney became a founder member of one of the most successful groups in popular music, the Drifters. He left the Drifters in 1958, but he set up the Original Drifters with other members who had left, and their stage act mirrored the current successes of the continuing Drifters. Effectively, Bill Pinkney had started the world's first tribute band, although he never saw it that way and claimed that all the others were frauds.

 

Bill Pinkney was born in 1925 in South Carolina and he grew up singing gospel in the church choir. He saw active service during the Second World War, including in Normandy, and received several citations for bravery. After the war, he was a pitcher in the Negro Baseball League's New York Blue Sox team.

 

Pinkney sang with various gospel groups, including the Southern Knights, the Singing Cousins and the Jerusalem Stars, which also featured Brook Benton. His talent was appreciated by Clyde McPhatter, the dramatic lead vocalist of Billy Ward and the Dominoes. McPhatter was tiring of Ward taking the credit and not paying him well, so he left and formed a new group - the Drifters - to showcase his talents. There were a few brief changes in personnel but effectively it comprised McPhatter, Pinkney and the brothers Andrew and Gerhart Thrasher. Pinkney sang bass and his voice contrasted superbly with McPhatter's on their version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (1954), which found a new life through the film Home Alone (1990).

 

The Drifters had several US rhythm-and-blues hits, including "Money Honey" and "Such a Night", but hardly led stars' lives; in one town, they were picked up by the police who thought they had robbed a bank. When McPhatter was drafted into the US army, Pinkney heard Johnny Moore singing in a lavatory and offered him a place in the group. In 1958, the group was dismissed by its manager, George Treadwell, after they demanded more money. Treadwell owned the name and he formed a new group called the Drifters. With Ben E. King as their lead singer, they had an international hit with "Save the Last Dance For Me" (1960).

 

Pinkney made occasional solo records, such as "After The Hop" (1958), but mostly he worked with the Original Drifters. The Drifters themselves lived up to their name as members came and went and from time to time, those singers too found themselves in Pinkney's ersatz group.

 

The Original Drifters, who toured the UK three times in 1966, included Pinkney, Gerhart Thrasher and Bobby Hendricks, who was briefly with the Drifters in 1958. As well as the later Drifters' successes, they cheekily sang Ben E. King's solo hits. The following year, Pinkney was over in the UK again, with three singers who had never been Drifters at all. When their agent, Roy Tempest, was challenged by a reporter for the pop weekly Disc, he argued, "Promoters know only too well they are not getting the real group. As far as I know, there are five sets of Drifters." The success of this venture led Tempest to establish the Original Platters and the Original Temptations on the same footing.

 

Even if the Original Drifters had little credibility, Pinkney always maintained a talented line-up and in later years featured Clyde McPhatter's son, Ron. Pinkney was a family man who loved singing and collected vintage cars. He was about to perform an Independence Day concert in Florida when he collapsed and died.

 

Spencer Leigh

The Four Tops by a mile. Levi Stubbs voice can break your heart!

 

Just ask Billy Bragg

 

With the money from her accident

She bought herself a mobile home

So at least she could get some enjoyment

Out of being alone

No one could say that she was left up on the shelf

Its you and me against the world kid she mumbled to herself

 

Chorus:

When the world falls apart some things stay in place

Levi stubbs tears run down his face

 

She ran away from home with her mothers best coat

She was married before she was even entitled to vote

And her husband was one of those blokes

The sort that only laughs at his own jokes

The sort that war takes away

And when there wasnt a war he left her anyway

 

Norman whitfield and barratt strong

Are here to make everything right thats wrong

Holland and holland and lamont dozier too

Are here to make it all okay with you

 

One dark night he came home from the sea

And put a hole in her body where no hole should be

It hurt her more to see him walking out the door

And though they stitched her back together they left her heart in pieces on the

Floor

 

When the world falls apart some things stay in place

She takes off the four tops tape and puts it back in its case

When the world falls apart some things stay in place

Levi stubbs tears...

Edited August 2, 200717 yr by 45cat

nah i think when it comes to Tamla Motown in the early 60s it was as production line as today or as the Ford Motor company works across a couple of blocks in Detroit. total pop music to make money wit

 

and then it becomes part of the whole black power movement, malcolm x, black panthers, Martin Luther King etc etc and becomes intersting and political in the late 1960s and 1970s when there was real soul and something to emote with things like What's Going On and stuff like that.

 

motown was a production line true, to a degree. the difference was that then they were already singing because they wanted to, for the love of it... the company picked up 'ready made' stars unlike today where they were created first then sung after.

 

besides many motown stars did create their sound, tracks, themselves... stevie wonder, smokey robinson, isley bros... not all motown stars were manufactured like the supremes were.

 

and dont forget.... motown was only one label.... stax, atlantic, for eg also produced soul records, otis reading, wilson picket, many of the soul greats didnt record on motown.