Dynamite

The Supremes and the Four Tops concluded their early-'70s duets with Dynamite, an album that abandons the progress of The Return of the Magnificent 7 and returns to the covers-heavy formula of their first album together, balancing oldies like Barbara Lewis' "Hello Stranger" with current hits like Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With" and Bread's "If." Because this doesn't rely so heavily on older Motown tunes and familiar hits like The Magnificent 7, this escapes the oldies revue feel that sometimes plagued that record, and this is also down to the savvy modern production, mostly by Frank Wilson and Bobby Taylor, but also Johnny Bristol and Joe Hinton on a couple of tracks. They, as much as the harmonies of the two groups, help push this record into a moderately enjoyable piece of early-'70s Motown product. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine