I've been listening to this great four-part compilation of Motown singles recently.
Much as I love some of the Motown sides, I've never really listened that closely before - but man, there's some great stuff there.
This particular song towers over most everything from the 60s, on Motown or not.
Northern Soul is just failed Motown anyway.
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Charley Dunlap
Bernadette - the best bass playing ever!
Yesterday at 11:05 ·
Steve Dillon
The production line produced some good songs as well as cars even the stuff made especially so white people could dance.
Yesterday at 13:27 ·
Simon Rivers
don't like that one always makes me think of the nolans
who had far more swing about them
Yesterday at 19:03 ·
Charley Dunlap
Didn't know Berry Gordy made cars too. Was less successful at getting white people to dance, at least well - they looked like fenceposts in an earthquake.
Yesterday at 20:02 ·
Steve Dillon
The production line business model was the same and yes white people could dance because the floor on the floor snare told them where the 1-2-3-4 was.
Yesterday at 20:22 ·
Francesco Benati
I am white and i can dance - to this as to The Meters or to Sly & The Family. Yes, we had to learn, but hasn't anyone?
Yesterday at 20:24 ·
Steve Dillon
also the band would record long grooves and songwriters would write several songs to them and re record them then cut them into several songs with different singers. Production line=fordism.
Yesterday at 20:37 ·
Charley Dunlap
I'm not sure that's true of Motown. Their songs usually had complicated chord changes and were quite different to each other. James Brown, possibly, in the Funk era, where it was often one chord, rhythm-based, and a horn chart could be layered over the top to make it different.
And, yes, white people can dance now; that was then. Four-on-the-floor was disco, not Motown; maybe that's where white people learned to dance?
Yesterday at 20:48 ·
Simon Rivers
give me northern soul anyday
Yesterday at 22:45 ·
Everett True
yes, but Simon - a song like this is as great as pretty much most Northern Soul cuts. And I would normally side with you here.
Today at 07:19 ·
Steve Dillon
Brown wasnt signed to Mowtown! And yes the chord changes were complicated but the grooves were similar on recordings from several artists released at the same time the tin pan alley approach was common- back room songwriters front room session players. The 4 on the floor snare was because recording low kick drums was not possible when transferred to vinyl so snare was favoured it cut thru 4 snares and a kick on 4 and 4 & was the Motown standard for awhile. The voice of young America was a different brand of Soul to that coming from Atlantic and thee other Independents.
Today at 08:09 ·
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ReplyDeleteCharley Dunlap
I am aware that James Brown was not on Motown; I don't believe I said he was. "Four on the floor", in my experience as a sometimes R&B bass player in the 70s and later, meant the kick drum, thus the "on the floor" part, which, of course, is where the kick drum sits. The phrase was commonly applied to disco, in which quarter note kick beats were a feature.
Gene Krupa is well known as the first drummer to record a kick drum, in the late 30s I believe, so they did get onto vinyl long predating Motown. It is true that Motown often employed four snare beats to the bar, for musical intensity I believe, to keep the track energy level high, or maybe it was just a stylistic quirk of Benny Benjamin, but the basic rhythm was on the 2 and 4, as with most R&B (except for the quite common, and sadly missed, use of 6/8 time).
I'm not saying that songs did not arise out of jam sessions - it would be difficult to not find that process in African American music - but the idea of intentionally taking several songs out a long jam simply doesn't fit the music; the songs have too many individual characteristics.
Today at 11:16 ·
Steve Dillon
When transferred to vinyl the low frequencies are lost and the Motown sound was born of a snare on every beat.
11 hours ago ·
Charley Dunlap
Simplistic, very simplistic. Of the hundreds of contributions that make up the Motown sound, James Jamerson's completely unique bass playing being just one, to simplify it down to one element and be wrong about that... Listen to some early Motown, you will find the majority of the tunes do not have the snare hits on 1,2,3 & 4, but on the normal 2 & 4. Baby Love, My Guy, Nowhere To Run, Dancing in the Street, Come See About Me, Tracks of My Tears, Please Mr Postman, and of course Heard It Through the Grapevine with it's 'jungle beat' - from memory, none of these have 4 snare hits to the bar and form a very large portion of the early Motown Sound.
Actually, I think it was the Four Tops that often employed the 4-beat snare, which gave them a characteristic high intensity sound that could not overwhelm Levi Stubbs' powerful style and voice. You might say it was tailor-made for them rather than just pulling something off the assembly line.
2 hours ago ·
Bernadette, excellent choice, although there are so many that can fill the mantle.
ReplyDelete"Simon Price said...
Northern Soul is just failed Motown anyway."
This boy does not know what he is talking about. Northern Soul is a completely different genre with a different culture and history and it didn't fail.
Song recommendation for Mr Simon Price: Jimmy James & The Vagabonds - Hey Girl.
I dare you not to like it.
House On Fire - http://houseonfiremusic.blogspot.com
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Jim Smith
Ever heard You Keep Running Away by The Four Tops?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0OcFgTBYLg
07 April at 00:46 ·