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Motown: 50 Not Out

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Post by jackie 46 Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:54 pm

Reading through the vast array of articles to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Motown, the one clear feeling you get (amidst the seemingly endless biographical tidbits, trivia and eye-witness accounts) is one of connection. Everyone, it seems, 'gets' Motown. Everyone has a favourite record, a record that moves them, inspires them or simply makes them dance like no other. Motown unwittingly adhered to E.M. Forster's commandment: only connect.
The pioneering Hit Factory, which songwriter Berry Gordy famously modeled on the Detroit motor industry, delivered pure entertainment. Different from the rest, Motown was indeed classy, stylish, even politically and socially motivated, but, at the heart of it, entertainment at its very best.

It was of the people and for the people. Historically the first black owned and run, successful record label. And, as a company, not even Apple understood - then delivered - what its audience wanted quite like Gordy and his unprecedentedly gifted team of writers, producers, musicians and singers.

The connection people have with the stars and songs of Motown is a uniquely personal one. So perhaps the most appropriate tribute might be to pick four of our favourite Motown tracks and heap upon them all the praise we feel they deserve. We hope you can forgive the indulgence.

Unlike the sweetly cooing melodies the trio of songwriting Midases, Holland Dozier Holland, gave to The Supremes, 1967's Bernadette is a primal howl of a song. It starts as most records would end: all guns blazing, the piano relentlessly banging away like a fist on a door. If the essence of soul is yearning, then Bernadette is a screaming demand for attention from the object of your desire. Levi Stubbs sings this hymn to obsessive love, that lyricist Lamont Dozier wrote about "a beautiful Italian girl with eyes for somebody else", like he's at the epicentre of a breakdown.

This goes beyond the gospel influenced shouts of sorrow, which characterised much of rival Stax Record's output. Bernadette is bristling with paranoia and wrought with existential angst. Described by Phil Spector as "a black man singing Bob Dylan", it's certainly reminiscent of Like A Rolling Stone, but the record also borrows Spector's 'Wall of Sound' technique with everyone from the dramatic, almost Hitchcock-ian string section to the otherwordly Andantes (the label's default backing vocalists) singing counterpoint with The Four Tops themselves, crammed into the tiny, barely-soundproofed basement that was Studio A, alongside the Funk Brothers' telepathically-tight rhythm section.

Bernadette is the definition of soul and something close to a musical miracle.

Flip the single over and I Got A Feeling is day to Bernadette's night. A worthy contender for the definition of pop, it's the sound of the first moments of falling love and adds up to a 7” worth its weight in gold.

There's never been a sexier pop group than The Supremes, nor a more vibrant, refined and evocative one. Growing up in the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects, the girls who started life as The Primettes - sister group to an early incarnation of The Temptations – knew all about being "born in poverty".

Love Child carries with it an authenticity that must've added to the discomfort many in the polite classes felt on first hearing a song about being, in the dictionary meaning of the word, a bastard.

In 1968 the group's winning streak seemed at an end and they'd split with the divine but tragic Florence Ballard, the previous year. Love Child was a sorely needed revitalisation. Written, at the orders of Gordy, by an unsung team calling themselves The Clan (we urge you to seek out anything written by Deke Richards, Motown's best kept secret) Love Child was a dramatic change of direction for The Supremes that saw them ditch the glitz for street clothes, matching the funky, psychedelic soul of the record.

Of course, Diana Ross would go solo soon after, and perhaps the fact she takes the spotlight so convincingly here (Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong don't even feature in the background) was a warning sign.

Singing in character, Ross tells of her guilt at being fatherless and the pain of growing up a social outcast, with a devastatingly controlled performance. Love Child is a musically transfixing slice of social consciousness that became the biggest selling hit of the group's career

The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back

There's a good case to be made for I Want You Back as the most perfect pop record ever produced (we expect angry emails from fans of Geri Halliwell's Mi Chico Latino). It was written by The Corporation, a collective that included both Berry Gordy himself and Deke Richards (him again), formed specifically for Gordy's newly signed family band from Indiana.

I Want You Back is a lesson for anyone who thinks bass-guitar is the 'easy' instrument. Here, played by Wilton Felder of The Crusaders, it carries almost the entire melody, occasionally jumping between octaves in that way that makes your stomach flip over like love, or a car going over a bump.

The guitar is relegated to a deliciously agitated, one-note riff, like Morse code from a man with an incredibly urgent message.

This is irresistible dance music. Its secret is all in the congas, tapping out those tiny, normally imperceptible rhythms that make your wrists, neck, hips and ankles twitch. All the while Michael Jackson, at this time in possession of the greatest pop voice of all time, is charming the socks off 1969's teenage girls with the absolute heartfelt sincerity of unrequited puppy love.

In stark contrast to Motown's usual sophistication, the lyrics to Uptight (Everything's Alright) are gloriously dumb. Poor guy gets rich girl because he's nice and, er, that's it. And the chorus is barely more than cool-sounding phrases to reinforce the rhythm (in traditional Gaelic song this would be called puirt à beul – literally mouth music, for dancing to).

Who can resist pulling off their slickest dad-at-a-wedding moves as Stevie staccatos, "Ah ha ha ha ha, yeah…" You can tell he's a drummer. From the fanfare of brass to James Jamerson's arpeggiated bass runs, Uptight might just be the most carefree and celebratory song ever written.

This 1965 hit came during a difficult period in the boy Wonder's career. With his voice breaking and, at the ancient age of 15, no longer a thrilling child prodigy, the hits were drying up and his place on the Motown roster looked iffy when Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby crafted this simple classic from a riff Stevie was toying with. Amazingly, for such a musical genius it uses only two chords: D and C in the key of C#. Sometimes that's all you need.

We could go on and on but we fear we'd fall off the bottom of the internet. On any other day this list would be a completely different set of songs, but just as elating, unrivalled and perfect. Sometimes we think Motown might be all the music anyone ever needs.

Of course, the story of Berry Gordy's empire is far from a perfect or happy one. Many books have and will be written about that. But once you've read all the stories of internal politics, disastrous relationships, ruthless competition and personal tragedy, what's left is the records.

For at least twenty years, they weren't just The Sound of Young America, Tamla Motown was the heartbeat of modern life, an unreachable benchmark for pop, a constant inspiration to songwriters for decades to come and an adjective in its own right. Soulful singers and danceable songs come and go, but there really ain't nothing like the real thing.



http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/music/features/article.aspx?cp-documentid=12704746
jackie 46
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Post by jackie 46 Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:06 pm




Great classic
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Post by YePiF Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:08 pm

jackie 46 wrote:

Great classic

I have to agree Smile

I have been meaning to get this 50 years of motown cd for a while now
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Post by Dave Mercury Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:20 am

I've always loved Motown songs, and have great memories of the fantastic songs from the 60s & 70s.
Will i be buying the new CD, definitely not, i've got several Motown compilations, and every one of the songs on the new CD are featured on them.
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Post by Baz Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:37 am

I have this CD. The third disc isn't very good on it. There are quite a few cover versions.
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