Four Tops, Reach Out I’ll Be There | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 151st edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Reach Out I’ll Be There” by 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 151^st edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Reach Out I’ll Be There” performed by Four Tops. .

“Now if you feel that you can’t go on (Can’t go on) / Because all of your hope is gone (All your hope is gone)…” Hmm, if you’re feeling hopeless, what should you do? According to the late, great Levi Stubbs (1936 – 2008) and the rest of the Four Tops (Renaldo “Obie” Benson, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, and Lawrence Payton), you should “(Reach out) Reach out for me.” Word. “Reach Out I’ll Be There”, released as a single in 1966, is one of the best songs by the Grammy-nominated, Motown quartet.  It is one of the best songs in the soul catalog.  To take it a step further, it is one of the greatest songs ever.  “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” which peaked at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, appeared as the opening track from Reach Out, released in July 1967.  It was penned by the iconic songwriting trio of Holland-Dozier-Holland (Brian Holland, Eddie Holland, and Lamont Dozier).  Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier produced the masterpiece which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (1998) and inducted into the Library of Congress National Registry (2022).

Perfect songs are hard to come by but “Reach Out I’ll Be There” is one of them.  The arrangement, production, and overall sound are marvelous and innovative. This includes the unforgettable flute/piccolo riff and galloping percussion sounds.  According to Dozier (via Genius via Wall Street Journal), “I alternated the keys – from a minor Russian feel in the verse to a major gospel feel in the chorus.” Who better to describe the unique harmonic and key schemes than the songwriter? At the beginning of the first verse, an iconic “Yah” gives “Reach Out I’ll Be There” ample personality before the assertive, powerful lead of Levi Stubbs blesses the listener.  His gritty performance sounds like he’s singing for his life.  It’s easy to buy what he sells because of the authenticity and sheer exuberance he sings with. He continues singing in the first verse, “And your life is filled with much confusion (Much confusion) / Until happiness is just an illusion (Happiness is just an illusion) / And your world around is crumbling down, darlin’.”  The second and third verses are patterned similarly to the first, with Stubbs’ infectious vocals and awesome backing vocals by Benson, Fakir, Payton, and others. Of course, the section to beat is the chorus, with its distinct change of key to major:

“I’ll be there to love and comfort you

And I’ll be there to cherish and care for you

I’ll be there to always see you through

I’ll be there to love and comfort you.” 

“Reach Out I’ll Be There” is timeless. It is a song that you can listen to many times and catch something new you didn’t hear before.  Listening to this once-in-a-lifetime gem, the composition, performance, and recording techniques used are impressive. And to think, Four Tops didn’t want to release it 🤯!

Four Tops // Reach Out // Motown // 1967

Four Tops, Reach Out I’ll Be There: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 151 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Motown; OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]