The other music from Detroit

Dennis Piszkiewicz

While adolescents of all ages are lining up for tickets to see the

rapper from Detroit in “8 Mile,” there is a shorter line of folks at

a single theater in Orange County that is showing a movie about the

creators of much of America’s best pop music, “Standing in the

Shadows of Motown.” If you like your music with melody as well as

rhythm, see this film while you still have the chance.

This movie documents the careers and music of the Funk Brothers, a

group of a dozen or so jazz and rhythm and blues musicians who formed

the house band for the “Motown” record label during the 1960s and

early 1970s. This team of black and white musicians backed the hits

of Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Four

Tops and dozens of other acts; but as musicians, they were kept far

in the background.

Time has taken many of the Funk Brothers. Only eight were left

when shooting for this movie began. Drummer Richard Allen died last

June, and keyboard player Johnny Griffith died just last week while

promoting this film’s opening in Detroit. Most people have never

heard of the Funk Brothers, but their time has finally come.

Not only do the Funk Brothers demonstrate their musical chops in

this film, they also tell some great stories of their days making pop

music for scandalously low wages. One of Motown’s arrangers makes the

comment that the heart of Motown’s music was in the Funk Brother’s

performances. Anybody could have done the singing, and the recordings

would have been hits. It is an exaggeration, but there is an

underlying truth to it. The film backs this point with concert

performances of Motown favorites by the surviving Funk Brothers, with

vocals by talented cover artists. Allowing for small differences in

style from the originals, the singers’ performances are credible;

and, with the Funk Brothers driving the music, all of the tunes rock.

The Funk Brothers’ concert performances include the Motown hits

“What Becomes of the Broken Hearted,” “Reach Out (and I’ll Be

There),” “Heat Wave,” “Do You Love Me,” and a great version of Marvin

Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” “Dancing in the Streets,” my favorite

Motown hit, plays over the ending credits.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a move that made me tap my

foot and want to get up and dance. The only complaint worth

mentioning that I have about “Standing in the Shadows of Motown” is

that I left the theater wanting more.

* DENNIS PISZKIEWICZ is a Laguna Beach resident.