There is a show on tour at present which features The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Crystals and Tavares.
Being a huge Motown fan, a few years ago I would have paid a lot of money to see this show but when I researched the current tour I discovered all is not quite as it seems
Of the original Four Tops line-up which gave us such classics as 'Reach Out', 'Walk Away Renee', 'Bernadette' and 'I Can't Help Myself' sadly there is only one original Top still spinning
It is a similar story with The Temptations. Of the original line-up only Otis Williams at 70 remains a fairly aging Temptation accompanied now by slightly less alluring new enticements and giving us 2012 renditions of their number 1 hits 'My Girl', 'Just My Imagination' and 'Papa Was A Rollin' Stone'
The Crystals who had Top 10 hits in the 60s with the superb 'Then He Kissed Me' and for some strange reason one of my all-time favourites 'Da Doo Ron Ron' had problems with their line-up even in the early days but the current group include founder member Dolores "Dee Dee" Kenniebrew now 66
Looking at the picture for the current line-up "Dee Dee" appears to have aged better than the gentlemen. Perhaps she has some magic Crystal that keeps her young
Tavares seem like boys compared to The Four Tops and The Temptations and the group made up of five brothers is still going strong although I believe one of the brothers has left. I am sure the audience will be bopping away to their disco hits of the 70s...'Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel', 'Don't Take Away The Music' and their version of the Bee Gees song 'More Than A Woman' which featured in the movie Saturday Night Fever
This made me think about how a group can continue to use the same name despite massive changes to the make-up of the group.
In the early/mid 70s I was a massive fan of 10CC. I still have their first four albums (10CC, Sheet Music, The Original Soundtrack and How Dare You) on vinyl and I saw them in concert at that time. Then in 1976 they split up. As with most break-ups you have to pick a side and I was definitely a Godley/Creme man rather than Gouldman/Stewart who continued as 10CC.
Surely they should then have been known as 5CC. Their output suffered drastically and apart from the excellent 'Dreadlock Holiday' they produced little to match what had gone before. Godley & Creme on the other hand released 'Under Your Thumb', 'Wedding Bells' and 'Cry' all of which compared favourably with previous material in my opinion
They did all reform for a while in 1991 but as Don Henley says "Don't look back, you can never look back". It didn't last and recently Graham Gouldman is the only original member still performing as 10CC, or 2.5CC as they should now be called.
My mate asked me if I wanted to go and see The Hollies on their 50th Anniversary Tour. They still have some members with longevity but no Allan Clarke or Graham Nash. I always found it strange that when The Hollies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 none of the current line-up appeared yet Clarke and Nash turned up to perform 'Bus Stop', 'Carrie Ann' and 'Long Tall Woman (in a Black Dress)'
The success of Graham Nash has always amazed me. How he managed to perform with the talent of Crosby, Stills and Young astounds me. It's like Joey Barton being asked to play midfield for Barca with Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas. It's just not right!
Anyway I digress. I told my mate that I did not want to see 70 year old men singing 50 year old songs. So we are going to see Frankie Valli instead. Oh What A Night that should be!
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