''Tonight!'' is the nineteenth studio album by American

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

vocal group A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrume ...

Four Tops The Four Tops are an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1953 as the Four Aims. They were one of the most commercially successful American pop music groups of the 1960s and helped propel Motown Records to international fame. The ...

, released by

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label focuses ...

. This was the first album the group recorded for this label followed a short period of commercial a decline in the 1970s, as well as a failed experiment at recording with former

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

associates

Holland–Dozier–Holland Holland–Dozier–Holland, often abbreviated as H-D-H, was a songwriting and production team consisting of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. The trio wrote, arranged and produced many songs that helped define the ...

. This release resulted in much higher chart performance than Four Tops had experienced in several years and the hit single " When She Was My Girl".

Reception

A brief review of this album for ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' recommended this album to retailers on the strength of "When She Was My Girl" and

Levi Stubbs Levi Stubbs (born Levi Stubbles, June 6, 1936 – October 17, 2008) was an American baritone singer, widely known as the lead vocalist of the R&B group the Four Tops, that released a variety of Motown hit records during the 1960s and 1970s. He ...

' vocals. Editors at

AllMusic Guide AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

scored this release 2.5 out of five stars, with reviewer

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

noting the commercial and critical decline of the band in the 1970s and criticizing this album as, "fairly faceless early-'80s R&B... due much more to the material and arrangements than the singing" with production that is "lush in a very dated way". The 1992 edition of ''The'' Rolling Stone ''Album Guide'' rated this release three out of five stars.

Track listing

#" When She Was My Girl" (Marc Blatte, Laurence B. Gottlieb) – 3:21 #"Don't Walk Away" (Jerry Knight) – 4:07 #"Tonight I'm Gonna Love You All Over" (Rick Anthony Ferguson, Michael Dewayne Williams) – 4:36 #"Who's Right, Who's Wrong" ( Kenneth Clark Loggins, Richard James Page) – 5:10 #"Let Me Set You Free" (

Sandy Linzer Sanford Roy Linzer (born 1941) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Denny Randell and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits including " A Lover's Concert ...

, David Wolfert) – 4:23 #"From a Distance" (Henry Gaffney) – 4:06 #"Something to Remember" (Linzer) – 4:48 #"All I Do" ( Morris Ervan Broadnax, Clarence Paul,

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

) – 3:38 #"I'll Never Ever Leave Again" (Bill Allen, Fred Bridges, Earl Klugh, George Martin, Lawrence Payton) – 3:58

Personnel

Four Tops * Renaldo Benson – bass vocals *

Abdul Fakir Abdul Kareem "Duke" Fakir (December 26, 1935 – July 22, 2024) was an American singer. He co-founded the Motown quartet the Four Tops and performed in an ensemble under that name from 1953 until shortly before his death. He was the group's las ...

– first tenor vocals * Lawrence Payton – second tenor vocals, vocal

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

– lead baritone vocals Additional personnel *Montxo Algora – artwork *Crusher Bennett – percussion *

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy Awards, and is also a Cello, cellist who has reco ...

– string bass *Richard Crooks – percussion *Henry Davis – bass guitar on "From a Distance" *Nathan East – bass guitar *Dennis Ferrante – engineering at RCA Recording Studios, New York City, New York, United States * David Friedman –

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

, orchestra bells *Linda Gerrity – production coordination *Brad Gliderman – assistant engineering at Cherokee Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California, United States *Bob Heimall – design *Greg Heisler – photography *Neil Jason – bass guitar on "All I Do" *Kashif – synthesizer, synthesizer solo on "All I Do" *Charles Koppelman – executive production *George Marge – flute,

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

*Greg Mathieson – piano on "Something to Remember", rhythm arrangement on "Something to Remember" *Bill Meyers – piano, rhythm arrangement *Jeff Porcaro – drums *Greg Poiree – nylon string guitar on "I'll Never Ever Leave Again" *Seldon Powell – flute *Larry Rebhun – assistant engineering at Cherokee Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California, United States *Carlos Rios – guitar *Elliott Rossoff – concertmaster *Tom Saviano – saxophone solo *Al Schmidt – engineering at Cherokee Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California, United States *Ralph Schuckett – organ, synthesizer,

acoustic piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal tempe ...

on "When She Was My Girl" and "I'll Never Ever Leave Again", synthesizer solo on "Something to Remember" *Joe Shepley –

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

*Lou Soloff – flugelhorn *Neil Stubenhaus – bass guitar *Ed Walsh – synthesizer *David Williams – guitar *David Wolfert – guitar, synthesizer, orchestra bells, rhythm arrangement on "Let Me Set You Free" and "From a Distance", production

Chart performance

''Tonight!'' peaked at 37 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and reached fifth on the R&B charts.

References

External links