Motown's Magic

Motown Records celebrated its fiftieth anniversary this week. During my mid teens I embarked on a love affair with the music of Motown that has lasted to this day. My fixation began one day while perusing through my local library for music related biographies. I stumbled across a baby pink hard-back book (the title escapes me), which promised to take me on a journey through the corridors of one most successful record company in history. I read the book from cover to cover and in a matter of days was hooked. The story of Motown is nothing short of magical. It's a real life fairy tale, with more than a few gory bits thrown in for good measure. 

Of course there wouldn't be a Motown if there wasn't a Berry Gordy.  A former boxer, Gordy entered the music biz as a songwriter before cottoning on to the fact that the bulk of the profit lies in production and ownership. Young, ambitious, and full of entrepreneurial spirit, he decided to start up a family run record label in his home city of Detroit, which he christened Motown. Inviting local artists to come in and audition for his new label, soon enough the building became a hotbed of talent. Competition was fierce. It's no wonder then that the company has produced some of the most legendary figures in entertainment. Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Lionel Richie are just some of the names who got their break at the label. 

Throughout the 60's the music of Motown dominated the charts not only in the US, but throughout the world, rightfully earning the nickname 'Hitsville USA'. Fifty years later and the records remain timeless. 'My Girl', 'The Tracks of My Tears', 'Baby Love' - these are indelible classics that whether young or old, most of us can identify within the opening bars. The success of Motown not only lies in the music, but Gordy's foresight and business acumen. As a Black organisation operating within the racially turbulent times of 60's America, Gordy adopted an ethos which ensured that the music crossed racial, age and class boundaries. All artists went through a vigorous grooming process. They took choreography classes, were taught how to talk, how to dress, and how to conduct themselves at all times. Yet despite the illusion of wholesomeness, behind the Colgate smiles lie many a tale of heartbreak. Marvin Gaye's drug battles, and subsequent demise have been widely documented. But there were other casualties too. Some succumbed to alcoholism, many ended up penniless. while others sadly never obtained the success they set out to achieve. Yet despite this, we can't take anything away from Berry Gordy and the remarkable legacy he has left with Motown. No doubt he has paved the way for the likes of other successful African American music moguls like P-Diddy, Russell Simmons and Dr Dre to follow. So cue drumroll, ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding: Happy Anniversary Motown! 

If like me, you're a fan, then check out this documentary which aired on BBC's 1-Xtra this week.  Want more? Then watch this special episode of the Culture Show which documents the history of Motown. 

My Top Ten Motown tracks:

1. Let's Get it On - Marvin Gaye

By far the sexiest record ever made, WOW, you can just feel the sexual tension ooooozing out of  the speakers. Absolutely love this song, and absolutely luuurved Marvin. He was such a hottie, and what a voice. I searched high and low on You Tube to find this video of him performing 'Let's Get It On' on America's Soul Train. It was filmed during the height of his popularity, and it each time I see it makes me chuckle watching the flock of females swooning all over him. 

2. Endless Love - Lionel Richie and Diana Ross

The perfect love song. So tender, so pure, so tear inducing. Whenever I hear this song I can't resist the urge to sing in a real pitch voice imitating Diana. She was my childhood hero. No matter what they say about you Ms Ross, you're still The Boss.

3. Do You Love Me - The Contours

Two words - Dirty Dancing! This track marks my favourite scene in the film when Baby enters the basement party carrying a watermelon (oh the shame of it), only to be confronted by a sea of contorted bodies bumping and grinding to the strains of this song: "Work work, you better shake it up baby"! 

4. Oooh Baby Baby - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles 

Another certified smoochie. I adore Smokey's sweet falsetto. Although before my time, I can't help but feel a sense of loss when you compare songs like these to the brash, explicit nonsense we have to put up with today. My dad tells me that when he was a young lad and would attend R&B dances in Jamaica, you couldn't even approach a woman unless your suit was neat, and your shoes nicely polished. My oh my, how things have changed. 

5. Ribbon in the Sky - Stevie Wonder

I had to include Stevie of course. This one came to mind because I heard it today at work. Lyrically beautiful, with such a simplistic arrangement, sang in the most tender and heartfelt way. Awww!

6. All Night Long - The Mary Jane Girls



In the early eighties Motown took a raunchy turn (guess they had to keep up with the times) and released this song by the Mary Jane Girls, a sexy girl group who were the protegee of soulful hell-raiser, Rick James. Another timeless classic. This song reminds me of family house parties, when the DJ would sneakily slip in a few soul tracks for us kiddies, before going back to playing 70's reggae.  

7. Distant Lover - Marvin Gaye

Oh the passion, the anguish, the despair. When Marvin sang a tune you can tell he meant every word. The ultimate break-up tune. Tissues at the ready.

8. My Girl - The Temptations

How could I not include this classic? With the remarkable lead vocals of David Ruffin, and the clever lyrics of song-writing dynamo, Smokey Robbinson, this song was always going to be huge hit. "I've got soooo much honey, the bees envy me/I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the tree". Brilliant!

9. Diana Ross - Upside Down

This track for me symbolises the moment when Diana arrived as a solo artist, shedding her goody two shoes persona for the role of a sassy disco diva. Produced by Nile Rodgers of Chic fame, this song hasn't aged in the slightest. DJ's can still play it at a club/party today and the dancefloor will be heaving. 

10. Never Can Say Goodbye - The Jackson 5

Michael, Michael, Michael, it still baffles me how someone so young managed to sing with such raw emotion. What a tune. Extremely soulful, and a definite departure from the more pop orientated stuff that Motown had come to be associated with. 

What's your favourite Motown track(s), or favourite Motown memory? Would love to know, so  drop me a line. 

Overjoyed!

So I finally got to see Stevie live in the flesh (although he looked like a little speckle of dust on a woolly jumper from where I was sitting). I guess you could say I am one satisfied customer. Despite being a few years shy from blowing out his 60th bday candles, Stevie performed a two hour set that would put most twenty-something wannabes to shame. Unfortunately he didn't sing 'my song', but I hardly noticed because he sang so many choons. 'Knocks me off my Feet', 'Ribbon in the Sky', 'Lately' 'Part Time Lover' (which was really fun due to a little playful sing-off between the boys and girls in the audience), 'All I Do,' 'As', 'Overjoyed' - the set list was simply incredible. During the middle of the show his sweet as pie daughter Aisha Morris sang a beautiful jazz number, and at one point he beckoned Joss Stone who was in the audience to join him on stage to sing 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered'. After waiting so long to see Stevie I left the arena on cloud 9 feeling blissfully happy, positive, and as if I really could hug a hoodie. And the 02 Arena is now officially my favourite venue in London, no scrap that, probably the world. Every time I drive up to the approach and see the spacecraft looking venue I feel like an excitable little kid again. In just over a year I've managed to see two of the top artists on my 'concerts to see before you die' list  - Prince and Stevie. Fingers crossed, I'll get to see Tina Turner next year. Oooh, and not to mention New Kids on the Block... Yeah I said it!  

How do you like your genius?

By Sam Bleazard

British and European fans are currently getting the chance to spend a ‘Wonder summer’s night’ with one Steveland Morris nee Judkins, at various venues such as the O2 in London.

The Cocoa Diaries own Ms Quiche expressed her concern recently by saying ‘yeah mixed reviews, right?’ – which came as a genuine surprise to me having seen the first London show a few days back. I left feeling it had been a show befitting a great artist – so why the disparity?

We live in an age – as previously discussed – of 24 hour entertainment, where attention spans are short (do all critics stay for the second half of a live show?) and reviews are immediately posted online, not to prevent you having an opinion yourself but to help shape it and influence your decision whether or not to buy a ticket. The superstars of the 70s, 80s and 90s compete now, not only in a crowded live music scene (with concerts more popular than ever currently) but also in a fragmented mass media, one however which is still dominated by the sensibility of the rock critic looking for edgy alternatives to the mainstream.

Retrospectively I looked at a summary of reviews from various UK papers of the Stevie Wonder show I saw, and they talked not about the diversity of music played -which seemed a given, and ultimately forgotten - but of the ‘lack of pacing’ involved. How strange. Stevie Wonder appeals to an incredibly diverse audience lest we forget, but it seemed that in the main the only ones prepared to pay to see him at the O2 were white working professionals over 30 years of age. Ticket prices may have had something to do with this of course, but why the frustration with the performance? In a bar after the show one guy told me how much time he felt Stevie had wasted playing ‘Ribbon in the Sky’ for ten minutes when he could have squeezed in more from his back catalogue.

Without burdening ourselves too much with race it would seem that there is a clear difference between what a certain audience member might expect for their money and the cultural aesthetic of the artist. When you’re in Stevie’s house it’s a night on his terms, and not necessarily a top ten hit sing-along from start to finish as the nature of genius is a tendency towards the unpredictable. Is it too much to ask of the audience to consider that maybe those onstage aren’t quite like them, or perhaps have slightly differing expectations? You could almost sense the boredom and the impatience setting in while the majority waited for the ‘hits’, while I just felt grateful to have heard him play bursts of Miles Davis on the harmonica.

It reminded me of a similar experience several years previous, the only time I saw Whitney Houston perform live (at Wembley Arena), where she excitedly announced that the middle section of the show would be a nod to her Gospel roots. The crowd were under whelmed to say the least even though her singing was passionate and far more remarkable than on ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’. The audience ultimately hears what it wants to hear in many ways and greater writers than myself have written at length about the nature of black artists in America ‘crossing over’ to the mainstream, but also the difficulty they may have in crossing back. 

I’ve also been interested to note another trend, which is how often messers Simon Fuller, Cowell et al and their X-Factorisation of music is peddling and helping to maintain a certain set of guidelines in mainstream music (completely separate to, but equally as damaging as the dominance of the rock critic mentality in its own way). It’s particularly odd when series after series certain young hopefuls are told in the latter stages of the ‘competition’ that they have a Gospel sound, this is almost without exception the sound of the death knell for their chances. This is of course laughable considering that Gospel is one of the major touchstones and building blocks of popular music, while Simon Cowell’s CV name-checks such achievements and cultural heavyweights as Jive Bunny and Sinitta. 

Getting back to Stevie Wonder however, the reaction of audiences and critics to his show is almost confusing when considering the sheer number of hits that were played on the night – mainly from the 60s/70s and 80s – but still the complaints about the opportunity to play more from his back catalogue. Clearly the first sight of this genius for 10 years (or ever for some) wasn’t enough – which leads me to believe that it was the packaging or the presentation of the material on show that was also clearly an issue. I read the strapline ‘A Wonder Summer’s night’ as a one off chance to be in Stevie’s house and hear what he had to play, so why then did audience members feel short-changed when his 2.5 hour show wasn’t one continuous hit-laden medley? Maybe there’s been one too many greatest hits albums being packaged and put out there, which means that people don’t listen to the original albums in their car anymore, preferring MP3 compilations. 

In one sense the established artist in this case is damned if they do, and if they don’t. If they play nothing but hits they’re seen as trading on the past and having lost their edge, and having nothing left to offer. If they experiment or play music they themselves enjoy, audiences often reject them acting like spoilt children at a birthday party.

As Louis Armstrong said (and it’s fair to say that he would have been an authority on the subject), there are only two types of music – good and bad. In the case of Stevie Wonder, over 90% of that music is exceptional in my opinion, but don’t take my word for it, trust your own instincts and find out for yourself by catching his live show which returns to London later this month.