"Standing in the Shadows of Motown" (2002)

The movie starts with statement that these guys sold more records than The Beatles, The Rolling Stones,The Beach Boys and Elvis together - but nobody has ever heard of them. Therefore it looks like interesting glimpse in music industry where people in the background are forever in the shadow, while only selected few have spotlight, fortune and fame.

Motown's own home-band The Funk Brothers played behind every hit single that company had ever produced and backed singers, stars, wannabies and everybody else along the way, creating soundtrack of 1960s for not only US but for the rest of the world as well. Musicians paid attention but majority of audience never heard of these guys names since they were "only studio musicians" and were accordingly constantly changing line-up when needed. Contrary to what journalists assumed, it wasn't the studio, floor, walls or air in Detroit but the chemistry between musicians that created this particular magic - when asked now, decades after the fact, they all claim that anybody could sing in front of the studio microphone but it was themselves who provided setting first and perhaps they are right (however, I must say that those voices were excellent and instantly recognisable, full of character and just pop enough to break into large market). When company became too large and Berry Gordy decided to move to Los Angeles, most of these guys were either left behind or did not find the footing when transplanted far from familiar surroundings. As much as its fun to see still surviving musicians joking, talking and enjoying the camaraderie, there are always skeletons in the closet, those who got sidelined with alcohol and drugs, those who did not survive. And a very interesting story about the dangerous night in the late 1960s when Detroit burned in the middle of racial protests and violence, where these black musicians took care of their white friends.

What I didn't particularly care for were tedious clips from live concert celebration of the band, with current generation of singers performed classic Motown hits and naturally almost nobody (except Chaka Khan) can hold a candle to original artists, no matter how hard they tried. It could be that original recordings are now so much part of our consciousness that I simply won't accept anybody else singing them. Youngsters are naturally awed when talking to elderly musicians but Ben Harper is a bit much when he claims that Motown introduced soul music to audience - yes, it gave deserved prominence to black artists but it was never as gritty, sweaty or dangerous as James Brown, for example. Motown was a excellent, polished pop product and dance music of its time but if you want soul, you go for "Stax" or "Atlantic" or elsewhere. Those people did not learn how to walk and how to wear white gloves.