good motown?

[poly800rock]

anyone suggest me any good old motown? comps would probably be better so i can pick and choose, but this is a genre i completely neglected until recently and would like to hear more stuff.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

get the stax box sets, i've got a couple

find what you like and go from there

great bang for the buck-----a real treasure

rent WATTSTAX while you are at it

[cuddlysheep]

ditto......

get the stax box sets, i've got a couple

find what you like and go from there

great bang for the buck-----a real treasure

rent WATTSTAX while you are at it

[denimdestroyedmylife]

not to derail too much but this past friday i caught the tribute to the philly sound at the phillies game. cool to see billie paul standing 12 feet away from me and seeing these old TSOP legends in an intimate setting (they played next to the stadium for maybe 25 people)

i love the philly sound, MFSB and all that, teddy pendergrass, yeah, that's right. teddy just celebrated 25 years in a wheelchair after getting paralyzed in a car accident on Lincoln Drive

[corporategrunt]

I realize 'best of' is viewed as cheating and I can't totally disagree...however, it is a great way of getting introduced to the artist. And I think most of the established acts are pretty much rated accurately compared to other genre (you get less argument like 'Marvin Gaye was a total hack!') . I love Motown because of the great arrangements and honest-straight lyrics and voices that are harder to come by in today's R&B

so unless you own anything by anyone,

Marvin Gaye

Al Green (besides the best of, I think his cover of Doors' 'Light my Fire' and Beatles' 'I want to hold your hand' are really cool)

Temptations (I find the movie to be really entertaining)

Barry White

Sam Cooke

Smokey Robinson

Spinners

Ben E. King

Four Tops

Otis Redding

On the female side, I actually prefer when Jazz singers cross over and do Pop tunes:

Nina Simone (she is just fucking amazing - to many people I guess)

Sarah Vaughn (I have a compilation album of her covering just pop songs - good shit).

I think if you use something like albumbase.com, chances are you can get many of the stuff listed above. If you want to look into compilations, Time Life should have one of those 20CD sets where you can probably get some ideas about individual songs to download.

[poly800rock]

not to derail too much but this past friday i caught the tribute to the philly sound at the phillies game. cool to see billie paul standing 12 feet away from me and seeing these old TSOP legends in an intimate setting (they played next to the stadium for maybe 25 people)

i love the philly sound, MFSB and all that, teddy pendergrass, yeah, that's right. teddy just celebrated 25 years in a wheelchair after getting paralyzed in a car accident on Lincoln Drive

i have a great souljazz comp to the philly sound, it's pretty good. will check out the box set. thanks for the suggestions, anymore must buys?

[denimdestroyedmylife]

This Candi Staton cd rules

i guess i don't really know what mo-town is and i am free-associating

but have you checked out SHUGGIE OTIS?

also, Rufus Thomas is a staple, along with Booker T. & the MGs (green onions)

yeah yeah yeah

uh...

[jilla82]

I think most of the established acts are pretty much rated accurately compared to other genre (you get less argument like 'Marvin Gaye was a total hack!') .

haha, never thought of that, but its true.

I say you check out one of the radio station in your town that play Dusties (old R&. You will find alot of music is played that isnt really covered by mainstream society.

its all my mom ever played growing up

[evisu 2000]

mfsb, archie bell and the drells, northern soul, stax, etc!

the old motown singles boxsets aren't bad either. ie this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Hitsville-USA-Singles-Collection-1959-1971/dp/B000006NUW

[Bona Drag]

basically, almost anything motown put out during the holland dozier holland years - '62-'67 - is worth owning

their post-motown stuff, at least through the mid '70s is all pretty good too - the performers aren't quite as talented as some of the motown stars, but the songs are still amazing

those guys pretty much set the standard for american pop music

[tangerine]

Wilson Pickett!

And although I only know Knock on Wood, I will put up Eddie Floyd for your consideration.

[seemeugly]

Motown is so excellent. The Four Tops are excellent.

There's a boxed set of Holland/Dozier/Holland called "Heaven Must Have Sent You" that is really well done. I'd recommend it.

Motown is really ultra accessable and everything, as bona drag said, from the HDH/Funk Brothers years is so fucking good.

Stuff from Stax, Okeh, Arctic is also great, and similar but not quite the same. It's way more dance/shout music than peak game motown.

[underkurtverism]

the temptations, the four tops and not forgetting some of the 50/60s girl groups like ronettes, marvelettes, etc

[choice_genes]

http://www.amazon.com/Atlantic-Rhythm-1947-1974-Various-Artists/dp/B000002IRS/ref=pd_sim_m_2_img/104-0261877-2411109?ie=UTF8&qid=1182185158&sr=1-6

Atlantic records was maybe Motown records' biggest rival during the 50s/60s. Atlantic had people like: Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Archie Bell and the Drells, King Curtis, heaps of others...

A good 80% of the tracks on these 8 CDs are SOLID GOLD. You can also find them on vinyl if you look hard enough.

On the Motown tip, you need to see Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Great film about the Funk Brothers, the band that played on many of Motown's hits.

[eplsoccer7]

http://www.amazon.com/Atlantic-Rhythm-1947-1974-Various-Artists/dp/B000002IRS/ref=pd_sim_m_2_img/104-0261877-2411109?ie=UTF8&qid=1182185158&sr=1-6

Atlantic records was maybe Motown records' biggest rival during the 50s/60s. Atlantic had people like: Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Archie Bell and the Drells, King Curtis, heaps of others...

A good 80% of the tracks on these 8 CDs are SOLID GOLD. You can also find them on vinyl if you look hard enough.

On the Motown tip, you need to see Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Great film about the Funk Brothers, the band that played on many of Motown's hits.

Great post, Memphis Soul over Motown any day, Motown was too cookie cutter and they didnt treat their artists properly. Thats why they left. Booker T and the MGs are what made memphis soul. They were the house band for Stax/Atlantic and were composed of two blacks and two whites and they rocked it. Also Stax and Motown are to completely different labels. Soul is not Motown. Motown is what engineered the pop artists of today. I love em both though.

[choice_genes]

Yeah a lot of damn good soul music came out of Memphis. Atlantic did a lot of their recordings down there, in Muscle Shoals in particular. And Al Green used the Memphis Horns almost exclusively - daamn they were tight.

edit: ^^good, informative post above, too!^^

[arem]

^ Muscle Shoals records have a very different sound than the Memphis/Stax sound, more laid-back, country and funkier, whereas Memphis is a tighter, higher energy sound. Think of "I Never Loved A Man (The Way That I Love You)", or "I'll Take You There" for classic examples of the Muscle Shoals sound, as opposed to "Hold On, I'm Coming" or "Try A Little Tenderness".

[eplsoccer7]

I just think its funny altogether how Soul music was music for the strong "black movement" and yet their house band was half white. The band couldnt even play in their own home states because of the harsh racial times. Then you have Motown which is all black artists, producers, and writers but it was made for white middle class suburban America. Pretty funny when you think about it. Anyways...how bout that British Invasion

[JohnnyRed]

get the stax box sets, i've got a couple

find what you like and go from there

great bang for the buck-----a real treasure

rent WATTSTAX while you are at it

fucking right. I can't rep, but I would give like +24 for this post.

Wattstax is fucking incredible, and it finally got a DVD release just a couple years ago. Rent it, buy it, get the soundtrack albums (2 volumes) and the singles box sets and you've got basically the best soul music ever recorded.

[mizanation]

not to derail too much but this past friday i caught the tribute to the philly sound at the phillies game. cool to see billie paul standing 12 feet away from me and seeing these old TSOP legends in an intimate setting (they played next to the stadium for maybe 25 people)

i love the philly sound, MFSB and all that, teddy pendergrass, yeah, that's right. teddy just celebrated 25 years in a wheelchair after getting paralyzed in a car accident on Lincoln Drive

glad you mentioned this. the philly sound continues to be an important part of urban music.

back in the day, you had great jazz musicians who came out of philly--clifford brown, lee morgan, the eubanks brothers, "philly" joe jones, and so many more.

ddml, i want to add the underrated super-producer Dexter Wansel. he was one of the key figures in developing the sound of Philadelphia International Records--along with the legendary Gamble and Huff.

later on, you have cats like DJ Jazzy Jeff, Jill Scott, The Roots, Musiq Soulchild and many others.

teddy pendergrass. yes. in tribute, i sang "love TKO" at a karaoke bar a few nights ago. and believe me when i say this: i would have made him proud.

ok, back to motown. poly, get "in the shadows of motown". it's a documentary on the "funk brothers" the band that was responsible for the "motown sound". as a musician yourself, you will definitely appreciate their story. i loved that film so much, i bought it. there's a great scene where chaka khan does her version of "what's going on." get it, you'll love it.

[heBAY]

Woah...I'm listening to an "Ultimate" Eddie Kendricks compilation right as I am reading this thread ("Date With The Rain" must be the best feeling breakup song).

One of the grandfather's of my girl was the bassist for Billy Paul...pretty ill stories there.

I know you mentioned compilations...but an artist who isn't so overwhelming, catalog-wise, is Willie Hutch...totally incredible (from his soundtracks for "Foxy Brown" and "The Mack" to his 70's studio albums...I got 'em all on Soul Seek...then won the vinyl off of eBAY auctions). The movie scores are still somewhat available on CD...otherwise, he has a great Best Of compilation called "Try It, You'll Like It". Pop that in the player and let it rock...definitely one of my favorite Motown artists.

[choice_genes]

On a related tip, can anyone recommend some good books on the history of american soul and funk music? I want something broad, not so much just the history of one label or one artist. Any ideas? Cheers.

[eplsoccer7]

On a related tip, can anyone recommend some good books on the history of american soul and funk music? I want something broad, not so much just the history of one label or one artist. Any ideas? Cheers.

This book isnt just soul but it covers everything related to rock and roll. It covers motown and memphis, british invasion, punk, classic, etc. The author is one of my professors and this is a great book for overall knowledge of the subject.

http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Roll-History-Paul-Friedlander/dp/0813343062

[choice_genes]

Sweet, thanks, I will check it out! Anyone else with suggestions?

[poly800rock]

bump, any good northern soul comps?

[arem]

A few good ones to start with: