Fantastic 4 in 70's Detroit

We musn't forget that some artists did remain in Detroit after Motown's exodus to the West Coast and hopefully in the not too distant future I will do a post on Detroit 45's from the 70's and 80's.

One group who continued to record in Detroit during the 70's was the Fantastic Four and the photo above is taken from their 1975 Westbound album Alvin Stone The Birth And Death Of A Gangster. The title track from this album is an overblown production in the style of Norman Whitfield with the Temps. The common link between Motown, Popcorn Wylie and Jack Ashford is the arranging skills of Paul Riser who again pops up here to arrange one of the Fantastic 4's best Westbound albums. The production was in the hands of another veteran Detroit artist, Al Kent.

The title track might be a full blown epic but the best tracks are the slowies which feature to best effect James Epps's vocals who sings lead throughout. He sadly died a few years back and we lost one the best singers Detroit ever produced.