Thursday, January 6, 2011

Don't Be Concerned. It Will Not Harm You.


I know what you're thinking. "Elusive Butterfly? Really?" But once you listen, and stop saying to yourself, "Man, Levi Stubbs can sing,"---and you will say that at least 5 times during the 3:09 duration of the song---you will be hooked on this sublime cover of the Bob Lind hit, which really wasn't so bad in first place.

Taken from their 1970 release, "Still Waters, Run Deep," an album, which like so many of the Four Tops' releases after their staggering Motown run of the 60s, is much better than people remember, assuming anyone remembers any of this stuff at all.

Bob Lind's song has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, and I have to admit, as I type this out, pretending I've loved the Four Tops version all along, I only just heard it yesterday.



ELUSIVE BUTTERFLY

6 comments:

Blank Frank said...

Sal, I dunno much about Elusive Butterfly, but I know about Levi Stubbs and the Four Tops. They have created some of the best singles ever put on plastic> Still Waters is one and Reach Out (I'll Be There) is another. Thanks for sharing!

A guy called Tak said...

Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly" is one of my all-time favorite song from the 60's.
Too bad, everybody thinks he is just an One-Hit-Wonder kinda guy.
But, what a great song this is.
I did not know The Four Tops covered this great song.
Well, even Aretha covered this song, so why not? Right?
Thanks, Sal.

cmealha said...

I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid on this one. Peace & love, peace & love.

steve simels said...

Ever hear the Bob Lind album that song is from?

There's a great folk-rocker on it called "Cheryl's Going Home" -- Blues Project did a stellar cover on Projections.

I think Lind may be ripe for reappraisal, as they say.

Sal Nunziato said...

The late, great Gary Rosenowitz, who owned Zig Zag in Brooklyn and Smash CDs on St. Marks Place, had (at least) two thorns in his side: that the Chambers Brothers never got a boxed set from Sony, and that people didn't love Bob Lind.

I think it is Bob Lind's time.

Jeff in Denton TX said...

Nice. I also like the Tops' version of the Moodies B-side "A Simple Game."