Motown 60 thingie is on

[Beebs52]

Music!

[Ritterskoop]

This is the second special they taped during the Grammys, after the Aretha Franklin thing. Way to milk a captive audience!

[Beebs52]

I noticed a lot of edits...

[T_Bone0806]

I didn't watch. Too many newish (Meghan Trainor? Ugh.), not enough oldish (not their fault, many are dead). Thankfully, I have the 6 DVD set of the Motown 25 special. There, Marvin, Michael, Levi, etc. are alive and wonderful.

[ghostjmf]

T-Bone: Well, all I can say is, you missed Stevie Wonder (opening, for which he wasn't quite on his game yet, & later, for which he *was*), & a lot of "vice president of Motown" Smokey Robinson, who can still hit all the high notes & who I wished had sung more complete songs & not just medleys. And Diana Ross. Of course.

And a lot of decent historical segments. Of course, they had some newie person singing Dancing In the Streets, though Martha Reeves is alive & well & was on NPR recently. Guess there's still bad blood there. From her interview on NPR several years ago, she came back to the Motown building years ago after the birth of a baby to find the company had moved to LA.

[Beebs52]

It was the perfect singalong for pre-boob crud!

[T_Bone0806]

T-Bone: Well, all I can say is, you missed Stevie Wonder (opening, for which he wasn't quite on his game yet, & later, for which he *was*), & a lot of "vice president of Motown" Smokey Robinson, who can still hit all the high notes & who I wished had sung more complete songs & not just medleys. And Diana Ross. Of course.

Love Stevie and Smokey. Diana I haven't cared for post-Supremes. I just couldn't stomach most of the contemporary artists on the guest list. Historical things I have seen much of, and have some of as well. That Motown 25 set I have is chock full of interviews and archive material. Also, the documentary on the Motown house band, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, is another treasured part of my dvd library.

[ghostjmf]

On the "Standing in the Shadows" subject, I've been thinking a lot about songs where the intros & instrumentation are an integral part of what makes them hits, but where the players that created those parts get no credit, at the time or ever after. (Well, "Shadows" tried to correct that.)

One really nice feature on this "specials" show is where they played famous intros, without crediting their players & composers, of course, & had audience members identify the songs from the intros & sing them.

The 1st guy they cut off, probably because they felt he was going off pitch on a high note, though I feel he would have pulled it back. But later, a woman made it through much of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" before she realized she was on national television & briefly lost it but they let her continue through & regain it.

[ghostjmf]

Another neat part is where Smokey tells how he cut "Shop Around", it was doing OK on the charts, but only OK, & Berry Gordy called him in the middle of the night saying "we have to recut it". "Ok", says Smokey, "I'll see you in the morning". "No", says Gordy, "Right now".

I too have a copy of that 25th anniversary show, which PBS often reruns, where Marvin Gaye & Smokey Robinson look like they're having a contest to see who looks sharper in a very well tailored white suit. Its close, but in my opinion Marvin wins.

[ghostjmf]

And by the Miracle That Is The Internet, you can hear that original version:

https://www.google.com/search?q=origina ... e&ie=UTF-8

[T_Bone0806]

On the "Standing in the Shadows" subject, I've been thinking a lot about songs where the intros & instrumentation are an integral part of what makes them hits, but where the players that created those parts get no credit, at the time or ever after. (Well, "Shadows" tried to correct that.)

One really nice feature on this "specials" show is where they played famous intros, without crediting their players & composers, of course, & had audience members identify the songs from the intros & sing them.

yeah, I loved how, in "Shadows", they made note of the small riffs that gave the Motown records their special "something". Especially, the little drum intros that were unique to each of the Motown drummers, which made it easy to determine which of them was on the particular song. I just LOVE that movie.

And those musicians.

[T_Bone0806]

Another neat part is where Smokey tells how he cut "Shop Around", it was doing OK on the charts, but only OK, & Berry Gordy called him in the middle of the night saying "we have to recut it". "Ok", says Smokey, "I'll see you in the morning". "No", says Gordy, "Right now".

I too have a copy of that 25th anniversary show, which PBS often reruns, where Marvin Gaye & Smokey Robinson look like they're having a contest to see who looks sharper in a very well tailored white suit. Its close, but in my opinion Marvin wins.

Agreed. Smokey is cool, but nobody was ever gonna win a style contest with Marvin.

[littlebeast13]

Another neat part is where Smokey tells how he cut "Shop Around", it was doing OK on the charts, but only OK, & Berry Gordy called him in the middle of the night saying "we have to recut it". "Ok", says Smokey, "I'll see you in the morning". "No", says Gordy, "Right now".

I too have a copy of that 25th anniversary show, which PBS often reruns, where Marvin Gaye & Smokey Robinson look like they're having a contest to see who looks sharper in a very well tailored white suit. Its close, but in my opinion Marvin wins.

Agreed. Smokey is cool, but nobody was ever gonna win a style contest with Marvin.

I don't think ABC sang about Marvin wearing the sharpest suits...

lb13