Post by Jonel on Jul 29, 2004 8:47:24 GMT -5
Saturday, July 24, 2004, 12:00 A.M. Pacific
Concert Review
Motown magic: It's the same old song — and the ladies (and fellas) were loving it
By Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times music critic
I'd like to dedicate this review to all the beautiful ladies out there.
Ladies, you know how you love those great Motown songs of the '60s, all those romantic soul ballads with the kind of beats that make you want to snap your fingers and move your hips.
It was a love fest at the Paramount Thursday night as the two greatest male harmony groups of the Motown Era, the Temptations and the Four Tops, charmed and seduced the ladies — at Motown shows women are always referred to as "ladies" — and the fellas. The two groups, backed by a 15-piece orchestra, had them up off their seats, dancing and swaying and calling for more.
Both groups have been around a long time — the Temps for 43 years and the Tops for 50 (!) — and, while the original members are getting on in years, they still sound sweet and have all those Motown moves down pat.
G.C. Cameron, who took most of the leads on the Temps songs, was a marvel. Not only did he sing magnificently, with all kinds of vocal inflections and impossibly high notes, he also was a dynamo, moving across the stage with energy and purpose, even getting down on one knee to show he "Ain't Too Proud to Beg."
The one remaining original Temptation, Otis Williams, a big, bald guy, sort of a black Mr. Clean, still oozes charm and does not look like a man in his 60s.
Dressed in purple suits and matching shoes, they did all their hits, including "Can't Get Next to You," "The Way You Do The Things You Do," "Just My Imagination." "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" and, of course, "My Girl."
Two of the original Four Tops, Renaldo (Obie) Benson and Abdul (Duke) Fakir, remain, and both were still super cool, singing with class and style. But the youngest member, the tall and handsome Theo Peoples, carried most of the set and charmed the ladies more than all the other singers combined.
Peoples has a warm soul voice that he used to best advantage in a non-Tops song, "Always and Forever," originally by Heat Wave. As he sang the smooth ballad, you could actually hear ladies sigh.
The Tops' set was even tighter and more consistently entertaining than the Temps'. The Tops stuck to the hits, including "Baby I Need Your Loving," "Bernadette," "It's the Same Old Song," "Walk Away Renee," "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I Got)," "I'll Be There," "Standing in the Shadows of Love" and the big finale of "I Can't Help Myself."
Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312, pmacdonald@seattletimes.com
Article courtesy of the Seattle Times online.
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2001987171_temptops24.html
(It does that alot ... Window is always open) I didn't get to go see the show though 
... oh well maybe next time ... last year the tempts were in seattle about 500000000 times ... but this time they come with the 4 tops ... and I MISS IT!!!!! ;D