THE THREE TOPS!

The pick of Lamont Dozier, by Geoff Brown.

THE MOTOWN GET-DOWN Various Heaven Must Have Sent You ★★★★★ HIP-O SELECT, 2005

For evidence of genius there’s Motown’s The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland (1967) or The Four Tops’ Greatest Hits (1968), but this 3-CD 65-song labour of love is a comprehensive connoisseur’s delight that includes the lot: Detroit hits, tougher R&B (Baby Don’t You Do It), Invictus/Hot Wax sides and rock act covers (The Band, Doobie Brothers). Genius proved.

THE BRILLIANT DISGUISE Various H-D-H Present The Hits Of Invictus & Hot Wax Records ★★★★ H-D-H, 1987

Court injunctions prevented Holland-Dozier-Holland from writing for their post-Motown labels Invictus and Hot Wax. Solution? Write and/or produce the songs – Freda Payne’s Band Of Gold, Chairmen Of The Board’s Give Me Just A Little More Time et al – but use a pseudonym, Edythe Wayne. With those H-D-H trademarks of adhesive melody, strong story and punchy production, no one was fooled.

THE SOLO SUMMIT Lamont Dozier Peddlin’ Music On The Side ★★★★ WARNER BROS, 1977

Primarily a songwriter not an LP conceptualist, yet Dozier’s Black Bach (’74) and Peddlin’… come close. Anti-drugs What Am I Gonna Do ’Bout You (Girl) uses ‘girl’ in its ’70s slang context for cocaine; Tear Down The Walls and Family plead for unity; Going Back To My Roots, a disco hit for Odyssey, is a grittier original. That song also titles a 34-track feast of his solo works ’73-83 compiled by this writer (Sanctuary, 2000).