The Box Tops
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Box Tops were a Memphis pop music group of the late 1960s. They are best known for the hits "The Letter," "Soul Deep" and "Cry Like A Baby," and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They performed a mixture of current soul music songs by artists such as James and Bobby Purify and Clifford Curry, pop tunes such as "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Keith Reid and Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, and songs written by their producers, Dan Penn and Chips Moman. Vocalist Alex Chilton went on to front the powerpop band Big Star and to launch a career as a solo artist, during which he occasionally performed songs he had sung with the Box Tops.
The Box Tops' music combined elements of soul music and light pop. Their records are prime examples of the styles made popular by Moman and Penn at American Sound Studio in Memphis. Many of their lesser known Top 40 hits are considered minor classics; these include "Neon Rainbow," "Sweet Cream Ladies," and "I Met Her in Church." As rock critic Lester Bangs wrote in a review of the group's Super Hits album, "A song like 'Soul Deep' is obvious enough, a patented commercial sound, yet within these strictures it communicates with a depth and sincerity of feeling that holds the attention and brings you back often."
The Box Tops charted with 10 Hot 100 singles between 1967-70. Those songs were: "The Letter" (#1), "Neon Rainbow" (#24), "Cry Like A Baby" (#2), "Choo Choo Train" (#26), "I Met Her In Church" (#37), "Sweet Cream Ladies, Foward March" (#28), "I Shall Be Released" (#67), "Soul Deep" (#18), "Turn On A Dream" (#58), "You Keep Tightening Up On Me" (#92).
