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Post by spikestevens on Apr 14, 2011 11:30:55 GMT
Hi lads and lasses. I'm currently working on a Motown Medley to do live and I just wondered if anybody else had tried any Four Tops, Supremes, Smokey Robinson numbers before and how they go down.
There's certainly some great tracks from the Motown catalogue that I think would make good instrumentals.
I'm thinking along the lines of 'Dancing In The Street', 'Baby Love', 'Reach Out Ill Be There' etc. Great stuff to do in the clubs and at private functions.
You see, I like to keep things fresh and add more and more numbers to my repertoire as I go along. And it got me thinking because I haven't seen any other local act (solo or otherwise) that do any Motown stuff. Maybe quite an untapped source of inspiration there, chaps. What do you think?
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Post by DaveC on Apr 14, 2011 11:53:30 GMT
Hi Spike,
I grew up listening to Motown and love it. We all remember the names of the singers who were on the records but that real Detroit sound is provided by the backing musicians --- the great and unsung "Funk Brothers".
These guys were employed by Berry Gordy to provide the groove that made Motown such memorable music --- especially the drummers (Benny Benjamin, "Pistol" Allen and Uriel Johnson) and the bass players (Bob Babbit and the truly legendary James Jamerson).
In fact if you want to sum-up Motown then that's it --- Bass and Snare Drum. This is what you have to capture in any cover version.
Try getting hold of the documentary video "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" and the accompanying book, which tabs many of James Jamerson's basslines.
Dave C.
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Post by spikestevens on Apr 14, 2011 12:58:17 GMT
Hya Dave.
Yeah, I saw that documentary recently - fantastic stuff. The one where some of surviving members went back to the 'Snake Pit' (as they used to call the studio) and jammed? All these absolute legends on their respective instruments playing some of the old hits. Brilliant! No other word to describe it.
And I think ther was a live show where guest artistes would get up on stage with The Funk Brothers and sing some of the old classics. 'Tears Of a Clown', 'What Becomes of The Broken Hearted' and so on.
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Post by DaveC on Apr 14, 2011 13:08:51 GMT
Hi Spike,
Yep, that's the one. It definitely bears watching a couple of times.
It was based on the book of the same name by Allan Slutsky (alias Dr. Licks), which I think you can get from Amazon. As I said, it has a lot of the basslines tabbed out and they should provide a starting point for cover versions.
Also there was a TV documentary recently about Phil Collins' latest album, where he got some of the few surviving Funk Brothers (including Bob Babbit) to guest.
Dave C.
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colljaw
Member
The Controller
Posts: 426
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Post by colljaw on Apr 14, 2011 16:12:36 GMT
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Post by spikestevens on Apr 15, 2011 10:18:26 GMT
Hi Jim. Yeah, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of. Some of those numbers would make cracking instrumentals - as you yourself have proved.
I like your guitar sound on those tracks, particularly 'Baby Love'. Nice compression on the guitar: makes the melody line really stand out. I can never seem to get it right, either it's way too much or not enough. Practise makes perfect, I suppose.
I do a Beatles medley and I do an Abba medley, so incorporating a Motown medely can either add or replace one of them, depending on how the audience is. Usually I don't think they care too much as long as they can dance and enjoy themselves.
Thanks for sharing your tracks, Jim. Nice one.
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