1966 The Four Tops: Reach Out, I'll Be There

Growing up, I didn't get to hear a lot of Motown. Glam rock yes, prog rock yes, but not much Motown. Yes, I was familiar with the bigger hits of Stevie Wonder and The Supremes etc via a process of casual osmosis, but to me it was all just so much black pop for black kids the way the Bay City Rollers and The Osmonds were white pop for white kids. Moving on through the years when my tastes diverged and my appreciation grew keener, I still regarded Motown's output as a box of soft centres dripping with an 'ooh baby baby' goo that were fine as a rare treat but weren't designed for a binge and it wasn't until 1986 that my eyes were opened fully.

Why 1986? Well two things; firstly, and on the back of a television advert for Levi jeans that wallowed in shameless nostalgia, Marvin Gaye's 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' became ubiquitous for a few months. I'd heard the song before of course via that same process of osmosis, and I also knew The Slits' punky reggae deconstruction, but this was the first time I genuinely 'heard' Gaye's song and I was knocked flat at how he made betrayal and suspicion sound so goddamn sexy.

Secondly, and a few months later, Billy Bragg released his 'Levi Stubbs Tears' single which, being as obsessed with all things indie as I was at that point meant it couldn't fail to blip my radar even if I had no idea who or what Levi Stubbs was (to my eternal shame I'm happy to confess that I thought he had something to do with those jeans Marvin's ghost was flogging). Curiosity then led me to buy a cheap Four Tops compilation and, if 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' weakened my jaw, song one side one's 'Reach Out, I'll Be There' sent it crashing through the floor.

It begins deceptively enough with a sweet flute motif and a galloping horse refrain that could have soundtracked any B movie Western, but a drumcrack announces the immediate arrival of Mr Levi Stubbs to supply one of the most astonishing lead vocals you're ever likely to hear and with one sweep all bets are off - forget the sugary goo, Stubbs goes at the lyric the way a chainsaw goes at a tree with a performance that Greil Marcus once memorably compared to the sound of a soldier calling out to his wounded buddy in a firefight. It's a good image, but I see Stubbs' bark as an administering of some tough love - lest we forget, Stubbs isn't reaching to help, he's demanding somebody reaches out.

And to encourage co-operation he attacks like a drill sergeant - "Now if you FEEL that you CAN'T go on, Because ALL of your hope is GONE", bawling out a litany of failings (there are some backing singers in there somewhere too but Stubbs pays them no mind) before falling silent to allow four crucial heartbeats to pass until a tension busting 'HAH!' provides the 'eureka' moment to usher in the life affirming resolution of the chorus. "'I'll be there with a love that will shelter you, I'll be there with a love that will see you through", it's a statement of such love and delivered with such generosity it can, depending on your mood, elicit smiles or tears.

'Reach Out, I'll Be There' is a gut punch of a song, as sandpaper raw as the emotion it carries. Stubbs may be addressing a "girl" in the lyric but in truth he could be speaking to anybody - wife, father, lover, brother, potential suicide jumper - it doesn't matter; the message is there for anybody looking for a totem of stability or a rock to lean on when everything else has gone to seed. Which is a summary of events in that Billy Bragg song, the story of a woman physically crippled by a violent lover and the strength and joy she derives from listening to Stubbs' secular message of hope and support.* Which is why 'Reach Out, I'll Be There' isn't just one of the jewels in Motown's crown, it's an iconic masterpiece that just keeps on giving.


* "When the world falls apart some things stay in place
She takes off the Four Tops tape and puts it back in its case"