| "7 Rooms of Gloom" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Four Tops | ||||
| from the album Reach Out | ||||
| B-side | "I'll Turn to Stone" | |||
| Released | May 2, 1967 | |||
| Recorded | Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1967 | |||
| Genre | Soul, pop | |||
| Length | 2:46 | |||
| Label | Motown | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Holland–Dozier–Holland | |||
| Producer(s) |
Brian Holland Lamont Dozier | |||
| Four Tops singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"7 Rooms of Gloom" is a song originally recorded by the Motown Records vocal quartet the Four Tops. It was released as a single in 1967 on the Motown label and reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, [1] and was a Top 10 R&B Hit, charting at #10. It was also a hit in the UK, their seventh, staying for nine weeks in the UK Singles Charts and reaching #12 [2] and in the Netherlands where it made #23 in the Dutch Top 40. [3]
Described as "throbbing with dread over a racing minor key dominated arrangement" [4] it was written by Holland–Dozier–Holland. The single's B-side was "I'll Turn to Stone" [5] also written by Holland-Dozier-Holland with R Dean Taylor. [6] That song made a separate chart entry, and peaked at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #50 on the R&B Charts.
Cash Box called it a "thumping, fast-moving, blues-oriented rocker" that is a "real powerhouse." [7] Record World called it "Top notch wailing from the Detroit group." [8]
The song begins with Levi Stubbs doing a spoken recitation, which gets repeated twice with alterations.
In 1985, Pat Benatar covered the song on her album, Seven the Hard Way.
Personnel
- Levi Stubbs – lead vocals
- Abdul "Duke" Fakir – background vocals
- Renaldo "Obie" Benson – background vocals
- Lawrence Payton – background vocals
- Jackie Hicks – background vocals
- Marlene Barrow – background vocals
- Louvain Demps – background vocals
- Funk Brothers – instrumentation
References
- ^ "Four Tops – Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ "Official Charts – Four Tops". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ "The Four Tops – 7 Rooms Of Gloom". www.top40.nl. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
-
^ Dahl, Bill (2001).
Motown The Golden Years. p.
50.
ISBN
9780873492867. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
four tops 7 rooms.
- ^ "Four Tops – 7 Rooms Of Gloom / I'll Turn To Stone". Discogs. 4 May 1967. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ^ "I'll Turn to Stone". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. May 20, 1967. p. 24. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
- ^ "Singles Reviews" (PDF). Record World. May 20, 1967. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
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