Four Tops, Love Has Gone | Throwback Vibez

In the 68th edition of Throwback Vibez (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Love Has Gone” by the iconic Motown collective the Four Tops.   

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez ! Throwback Vibez is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils ! All genres of music are welcome. In the 68^th edition of Throwback Vibez ️ (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Love Has Gone” performed by Four Tops.

“Love has gone, love has gone.” Sigh, that is a major bummer. Who better to sing about the end of love – sheer heartbreak – than an iconic soul collective?! The Four Tops – Levi Stubbs (1936 – 2008), Abdul “Duke” Fakir (1935 – 2024), Renaldo “Obie” Benson (1936 – 2005), and Lawrence Payton, Sr. (1938 – 1997) – ‘bring it’ on “Love Has Gone”, the 10^th track from their 1965 self-titled album. Who penned this heartbreak ballad? None other than Holland-Dozier-Holland: Brian Holland (1941 – ), Eddie Holland (1939 – ), and Lamont Dozier (1941 – 2022). Brian Holland and Dozier also produced it. “Baby, I Need Your Loving” is the song to beat on Four Tops, but “Love Has Gone” is terrific too!

What makes the heartbroken “Love Has Gone” enticing and sweet to the ears? The sound palette is gorgeous.  Set in compound duple meter, the rhythm section is on point – radiant piano, robust bass, and an anchoring, sickening drum groove.  Supporting Levi Stubbs’ lead are marvelous, rich background vocals.  The backing vocals exemplify the 1960s musical aesthetic to the core.  Stubbs, of course, delivers commanding, high-flying vocals as he laments the end of love.  “Love has gone / And left me in my misery,” he sings in the first verse, continuing, “Love has gone / No more joy will there be for me.” In the refrain, the vulnerability continues: “When I lost that little girl / I lost sight of the world / I can’t pretend / My life is at an end / ‘Cause my love is gone.” Adding to the allure is a timely key modulation, something far rarer in 2020s music. To reiterate, matters of the heart, specifically heartbreak, dominate “Love Has Gone”.  While the album track does not supersede Four Tops’ ‘big fish,’ “Baby, I Need Your Loving”, this heartfelt ballad marks another top-notch moment.

Four Tops // Four Tops // Motown // 1965

Four Tops, Love Has Gone: Throwback Vibez ️ No. 68 (2025) [: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Motown; AcatXlo, OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]