7 Rooms of Gloom

"7 Rooms of Gloom" is a song 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]

"7 Rooms of Gloom"
Single by Four Tops
from the album Reach Out
B-side"I'll Turn to Stone"
ReleasedMay 2, 1967
RecordedHitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1967
GenreSoul, pop
Length2:46
LabelMotown
Songwriter(s)Holland–Dozier–Holland
Producer(s)Brian Holland
Lamont Dozier
Four Tops singles chronology
"Bernadette"
(1967)		 "7 Rooms of Gloom"
(1967)		 "You Keep Running Away"
(1967)

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.

The song begins with Levi Stubb's doing a spoken recitation, which gets repeated twice with alterations.

The Four Tops strongly disliked the song, and they don't perform it live either.

Personnel

References
  1. "Four Tops – Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  2. "Official Charts – Four Tops". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  3. "The Four Tops – 7 Rooms Of Gloom". www.top40.nl. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  4. Dahl, Bill (2001). Motown The Golden Years. p. 50. Retrieved 14 July 2013. four tops 7 rooms.
  5. "Four Tops – 7 Rooms Of Gloom / I'll Turn To Stone". Discogs. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  6. "I'll Turn to Stone". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 July 2013.



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