Standing In The Shadows Of Motown Deluxe Edition
30 years after the last Detroit Motown album, this massive 43 track tribute to the unsung musicians sets the record straight.
The Funk Brothers
By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers.
Motown. Hitsville USA. In the basement of this building some of the most talented musicians of all time played their hearts out on songs like Heat Wave, What's Going On, My Girl, I Can't Get Next To You, I Was Made To Love Her, I Heard It Through The Grape Vine and countless others, yet most people have probably never heard of them.
This two disc set sets the record straight in definitive style. Included are 15 tracks of Motown classics featuring the vocal stylings of such performers as Joan Osborne, Mechelle Ndegeocello, Bootsy Collins (of Parliament/P-Funk fame), Ben Harper, and more.
Standing In The Shadows of Motown - Deluxe Edition
The Deluxe edition adds 3 classic tracks - Boom Boom (John Lee Hooker), Higher and Higher and Scorpio (Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band), and an entire CD of instrumental versions of classic Motown songs. Yes, that's right. Instrumental versions of Motown classics. From the original tapes here come instrumental versions 17 songs you're probably familiar with. Standing In The Shadows Of Love, My Girl, I Second That Emotion, For Once In My Life, I Was Made To Love Her, Mercy Mercy Me, and more.
Now, the non musicians reading this are thinking "Oh great, Karaoke versions" but for the musicians, producers and engineers in the audience this is a gold mine of groove served up Motown style.
First of all, listening to these tracks I can't help but think to myeslf "This sounds a hell of a lot better than my Hitsville USA CD's." As a bass player I'm glad that these songs got some of the modern mixing and mastering treatment and they aren't as anemic sounding as the versions I had. I wish they'd go through the entire Motown catalogue and remix (or at least remaster) all the songs from the Hitsville set.
The bass is full, the drums are gritty, the guitars, tamouribe, bongos, keyboards, strings, horns all find their place in the mix. And what a mix! Without hearing these tracks, I couldn't decribe to you what they sound like. For me, it adds a new dimension of understanding of what both the musicianship and production were like on these tracks.
The first genius of the Fender Bass
As a bass player, this is a particular treat. In August of 1983 at the age of 8, I was up one night listening to the radio. I didn't know who he was at the time, but the DJ and people who called in were talking about the passing of the greatest bass player of all time.
Today, the magical grooves that James (Jamerson) and the Funk Brothers created down in the Snakepit stand alone in a unique musical category. They are not Funk, Rock or Rhythm and Blues, or even "Oldies" -- they are Motown. No matter how many times you listen to them, they sound just as fresh and vital today as they originally did when they blasted out of sixties' juke boxes. And the lifeblood of all of them is not just James Jamerson's bass playing... it is James Jamerson's heart.
- Standing In The Shadows of Motown (book)James Jamerson was the epitome. He started Fender bassing. All that funk bassing -- Jamerson was it. He started all that bottom thing, and even though Motown had a pop sound, they still had some serious bass in that shit. Like Stevie's record I was born in Little Rock... Man, the track to that would kick ass.
- George Clinton (Founder of Parliament-Funkadelic, and master of extra-terrestrialfunk)Motown was one of my major influences when I was learning electric bass... He's one of the greats so, LONG LIVE THE NAME OF JAMES JAMERSON.
- Paul McCartney
Back when this new invention called The Fender Bass (back then all electric basses were called "The Fender Bass" because there were no other brands!) was just beginning to get acceptance from musicians around the world, one man would become it's first virtuouso, and some would say, the greatest bass player of all time. On both sides of the Atlantic, he left aspiring and professional bass players alike wearing out the needles on their record players trying to figure out just what he was doing. His influence can be felt to this day, and nearly every "oldies" station seems to be made up of 80% Motown songs.
If ever I want to renew my love for bass, all I need to do is put on a Motown track and it reminds me, inspires me, and not only renews my love for bass and my love for music, but renews my soul as well.
The Instrumental Tracks
There are two versions of this soundtrack. (Yes, it's a soundtrack, there's a DVD too.) Regular and Deluxe. Now if you just want to hear some booty shaking old school funk served up with some modern singers, just go for the soundtrack.
But if you want to hear the blood, sweat and tears that went in to these legendary tracks, if you want to hear some increadible musicianship and gain a deeper insight in to the musicianship, you have to get the deluxe version.
These tracks are mixed to showcase the musianship. There are times when different instruments are solo'd so you get a deeper appreciation of what part each does in the song, and they'll throw in the occasional vocal so you can understand what's going on in context.
The last track is a special treat for all you bass players out there. It's just the bass and vocal tracks to You're My Everything by The Temptations. Even though they were recorded three months apart, they fit together like one orchestration.
The liner notes give deeper understanding still of what these recording sessions were like.
"Valerie Simpson's sessions used to scare the hell of me," says Joe Messina. "Her compositions and arrangements were challenging and always pushed us to our limits." On this date, the Funk Brothers are pushed past their limits. The six-and-a-half minute journey through almost a dozen different musical sections and mood swings starts out with just a trio: Jamerson, Johnny Griffith on celest and Robert White on guitar. It ends in thrilling majesty, with three guitarists, Earl Van Dyke on clavinet, Eddie Bongo, Jack Ashford on tamourine and Uriel Jones, aided by teenage drum prodigy Andrew Smith. Valerie Simpson pounds away at piano.
"She was the closest we got to Earl in sound," says Uriel, "She had the power. All that strength coming out of her was incredible." Inspired beyond his usual level, Jamerson explodes off the tape at the five-minute mark with a flurry of death-defying runs. Simpson and Nick Ashford completed the track less than a week later, building magnificence on top of magnificence. But re-tune your ears to hear the foundation. It may take your breath away.
- liner notes for Ain't No Mountain High Enough
And if you want to know what groove is, check out the last 30 seconds where the solo just the bass and drums. Phew.
If you want to go deeper still, and learn the story of these increadible musicians, by all means get the DVD (I reviewed the theatrical release here: Standing In the Shadows of Motown). Finally, if you're a bass player, and want to gain some insight in to the one-and-only James Jamerson, then you must get the book.
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page first created on Tuesday, September 21, 2004
© Mark Wieczorek