Music Column: Fall, the Four Tops, and YOUR Autumn Songs!

Now, on to my suggestions for a good fall listen. Before we get to the actual recommendation, I’d just like to say that, for the record, I could recommend any record by Laura Stevenson as an “autumn listen” and it would work perfectly. I started last year’s column by recommending her second album, Sit Resist, and it’s one I’d tote as a quintessential fall album even harder than I did a year ago. If only I could write about it twice...

That all being said, the album I’d recommend giving a listen to this autumn is The Four Tops’ Second Album. Recognized among the best albums from the legendary, if not simultaneously underappreciated Motown group The Four Tops, Second Album features an endless supply of songs that glow like falling leaves, and tones that could keep ears and hearts warm in even the chilliest of autumn breezes. The iconic I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) has never failed to make me smile, and sounds like the feeling of seeing a lover’s face painted with October golden hour sunlight. Is autumn your season of love? Let songs like Something About You and Darling, I Hum Our Song be your soundtrack. Feeling a bit down? It’s the Same Old Song and Since You’ve Been Gone are there to keep you going in style.

As seems to be the general consensus (among myself and a very few other people I’ve talked to about this), Motown music is the soundtrack of the fall, and this album is up there with the best Motown records. It’s a bit hard to translate into words just how an album can feel like a season, but let the music speak for itself, and give The Four Tops’ Second Album a listen this autumn!