As with many of The Four Tops albums, this is a mixture of some excellent singles, some underrated album tracks and probably too many covers (particularly of Beatles numbers). Even in 1969, Motown were still pursuing the policy of trying to win a more "adult" market, hence the "easy listening" covers. Either way, there is no doubt as to the quality of the singing, the instrumentation and sound quality is outstanding too.
On to the music - the three singles are the little-mentioned but impressively soulful The Key, the harmonious, brooding What Is A Man, with its superb Levi Stubbs vocal and the wonderful, emotional Do What You Gotta Do. My Past Just Crossed My Future, with its Beatles-influenced Eastern instrumentation is an impressive cut too.
The classic Motown sound continues with another great track in Don't Let Him Take Your Love From Me. As with so many of The Four Tops sixties albums, it starts really well, and then the covers come along and it becomes a bit less convincing. Here they cover The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, turning it into a pulsating, Otis Redding-Wilson Pickett-style soul ballad. To be fair, it has its good points, with a great bass line and confident vocal.
Little Green Apples is slowed down to walking pace at the beginning, although the chorus picks it up a bit, but it lacks the trademark Motown sound that had so enhanced the first few tracks on the album. The quality is restored with the afore-mentioned Do What You Gotta Do, however, which is magnificent Motown heartbreaker. I never tire of this song and its evocative vocal. Classic stuff. I have never particularly liked the song MacArthur Park, but this is one of the better covers of it, deep and soulful and the orchestration toned down a bit.
Don't Bring Back Memories is a lively piece of "proper Motown", containing a nice little funky guitar break that puts me in mind of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' 1974 hit Bad Luck. Levi Stubbs is on fine, controlled but powerful vocal form and it is yet another song that sounds equally great in mono as in stereo. The same applies to Wish I Didn't Love You So.
Opportunity Knocks (For Me) is a bona fide slice of Motown soul, made so by another powerful, muscular Stubbs vocal. The cover of The Beatles' The Fool On The Hill is not a success, I have to say, unfortunately. It is not a soul song and doesn't translate as one.
Regarding the non-album single from the time, I am not the first to say that What Is A Man sounds like the soundtrack song to a late sixties Western, with its lush string orchestration, overall feel and lyrics telling how a man is "not afraid to die". It is a strong one from the Four Tops, not one of their biggest hits, but a good one all the same that usually makes their "best of" compilations.
Overall, this was a pretty good album, despite the covers, there is still some good, "forgotten" Motown material on here.
