The Show Must Go On (Four Tops album)

The Show Must Go On
A photo of the band posing in a dressing room closet
Studio album by
Four Tops
Released1977 (1977)
Genre
Length41:08
LanguageEnglish
LabelABC
Producer
Four Tops chronology
Catfish
(1976) 		The Show Must Go On
(1977) 		At the Top
(1978)

The Show Must Go On is a 1977 studio album by American soul music vocal group, Four Tops, released by ABC Records.

Reception

A brief review in Billboard recommended this release to retailers for the "tight, strong vocal harmony offering a bigger than usual sound".[2]Editors at AllMusic Guide scored this release 2.5 out of five stars, with reviewer Ed Hogan praising the title track and the songs written by Ronnie McNeir.[1] The 1992 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide rated this release two out of five stars.[3]

Track listing

  1. "The Show Must Go On" (Fred Bridges, Lawrence Payton, and Roquel L. Payton) – 6:59
  2. "I Can't Live Without You" (Renaldo Benson and Ronnie McNeir) – 5:45
  3. "Save It for a Rainy Day" (Stephen Bishop) – 3:32
  4. "Runnin' from Your Love" (Bridges and L. Payton) – 3:13
  5. "See the Real Me" (Sharon Riley) – 6:02
  6. "Love Is a Joy" (Bridges, Michael Franklin, and L. Payton) – 8:04
  7. "You'll Never Find a Better Man" (Benson and McNeir) – 3:59
  8. "Candy" (Bridges and Richard Knight) – 3:03

Personnel

Four Tops

Additional personnel

  • Johnny Allen – arrangement
  • Gil Askey – arrangement
  • Pete Bishop – engineering
  • Michael Boddicker – synthesizer, strings, clavinet
  • Lorenzo "Bag of Tricks" Brown – percussion
  • Robert Budson – keyboards
  • Philip Chiang – design
  • Ronald Coleman – keyboards
  • Greg "Thumper" Coles – bass guitar, rhythm arrangement
  • Paulinho Da Costa – percussion
  • Bob Dennis – engineering
  • Scott Edwards – bass guitar
  • Charles Fearing – guitar
  • Carolyn Franklin – vocals
  • James Gadson – drums
  • George Bohanon & The Cats from Karma – horns
  • Joe Guastella – guitar
  • McKinley Jackson – keyboards
  • John Trudell & Company from Detroit – horns
  • Uriel Jones – drums
  • Tom Katella – guitar
  • Anthony Lowe – photography
  • "My Man" Ronnie McNeir – synthesizer, strings, clavinet
  • Frank Mulvey – art direction
  • Ray Parker Jr. – guitar
  • David Penney – drums
  • Barney Perkins – engineering
  • Jerry Peters – keyboards, arrangement
  • Greg Poree – guitar
  • Sharon Ridley – keyboards, rhythm arrangement
  • Sidney Sharp – strings
  • Joe Smith – guitar
  • Crathman P. Spencer – vocals
  • Earl Van Dyke – keyboards
  • Charles Veal, Jr. – strings
  • Jim Vitti – engineering
  • Melvin "Wah Wah" Watson – guitar
  • Robert White – guitar

Chart performance

The Show Must Go On reached 54 on the R&B charts.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Hogan, Ed. "The Four Tops – The Show Must Go On". AllMusic Guide. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Soul". Top Album Picks. Billboard. Vol. 89, no. 40. October 8, 1977. p. 98. ISSN 0006-2510.
  3. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony; George-Warren, Holly; Henke, James, eds. (1992). The Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely New Reviews : Every Essential Album, Every Essential Artist. Random House. p. 260. ISBN 9780679737292.
  4. ^ "US Albums". AllMusic Guide. Archived from the original on November 30, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2016.