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Feb 24, 2025 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

Changing times, indeed. By 1970, Four Tops were not the hit-makers they used to be. Motown’s glory days were behind it, but as is often the case, the most interesting albums aren’t always the ones with the biggest hits. By the tail end of 1970, Four Tops had already released Still Waters Run Deep, an album that showed that Levi Stubbs and company were still as adept as ever in creating a soulful sound. And with Changing Times, reissued here with beautifully faithful packaging as part of Elemental Music’s Motown Sound Collection, the band rounded out the first year of the new decade with more solid soul.

Beginning with carnival music and fireworks, white noise and the chiming of a grandfather clock, the album’s opening title track, “In These Changing Times” sets the tone, its intro alluding to something of a new era in Four Tops history. “Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)” creates a new way to illustrate loneliness, if only Stubbs can get his fingers to dial. “I Almost Had Her (But She Got Away)” is wonderfully reminiscent of earlier Motown greatness. The group’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” cover redeems the pap of the song in its wonderful harmonious, instrumentally clever arrangement.

The instrumentation on Changing Times lends itself to the “psychedelic soul” descriptor, but subtly and ultimately more effectively than other Motown releases of the time. An electric guitar on the opener, a flute and some muted horns on “Just Seven Numbers,” the ticking of a clock that separates several of the tracks. “Something’s Tearing at the Edges of Time” is more blatant in its adoption of the sound, with trippy sonics and a general aura of affected haze.

By the time the album rounds out with “The Long and Winding Road/In These Changing Times,” it’s all come full circle. Changing Times is a clear reminder that, even though Motown’s hit making days were on the wane by 1970, Four Tops never lost their touch. (www.elemental-music.com)

Author rating: 8/10