Standing in the Shadows of Motown Page #3

Earl Van Dyke remembers

Smokey pushing for more than 40

takes of"The Tears Of A Clown.

" Take nine became the hit.

The Funks created the hit track for

"Standing In The Shadows

Of Love" in 14 takes.

The vocal overdubs by the Four Tops,

however, required 52 takes.

Jack Ashford played dozens of percussion

instruments. Some were his own invention...

like the "hotel sheet," which he used

on Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up. "

Neither drummer, Pistol nor Uriel,

let on during filming that they were ill.

Uriel required quintuple bypass surgery

soon after production closed.

Pistol was diagnosed

with terminal cancer and

died june 30, 2002,

before the film's release.

Pistol, with tongue-in-cheek,

describes a basic pop-rock beat.

Pistol Allen was the

master of the "Beale Street"

shuffle and the Motown

"four on the floor"' groove.

The "Beale Street" shuffle

originated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Pistol describes the session with producer

Norman Whitfield on February 3, 1967.

It was a track

intended for the Temptations.

Instead, Marvin Gaye overdubbed "I Heard

It Through The Grapevine" a few days later.

Ben Harper sings Marvin's version,

which at that time, sat in the can.

Gladys Knight & The

Pips' faster version was

recorded, issued and

eventually hit number two.

Producer Whitfield fought with Berry

Gordy for the release

of Marvin's version.

It was stuck on an album

more than a year later.

Radio found it and forced its release

as a single in November 1968...

when it became Motown's

most successful record to that point.

Marvin's "Grapevine" was number one

in the U.S. and the UK...

staying on top the U.S. R&B chart

for nearly two months.

Benny's substance abuse

led to chronic heart disease.

Motown logs indicate

only two, brief sessions

for April 20, 1969, the day Benny died

- and none the day after.

Joe Messina was considered the best

music reader of all The Funk Brothers.

He played

the complicated written parts.

Berry Gordy produced and released Marv

johnson's hit "Come To Me," in 1959...

the first record

on his independent Tamla label.

Joe was a staff guitarist at

WXYZ-TV. More than 10 years

after he played for Soupy

Sales' nighttime TV band...

Soupy became a national comic sensation and

released a novelty album on Motown in 1969.

Eddie "Bongo" Brown started

his career as Marvin Gaye's valet.

Respect for Eddie's contributions

shows in the Motown recording set-up:

unlike the three guitars,

which were combined on one

track, his congas were usually

given their own track...

so his sound wouldn't be

buried by the other instruments.

Joan and jack are at

the Parkwood Diner in Oak, Michigan...

talking about the single,

"Soul 35022," released june 1966.

The Funks re-create the

original track recorded for

"What Becomes Of The

Brokenhearted" on August 3, 1965.

The original single byjimmy Ruffin

- brother

ofTemptation David Ruffin

- hit the Top 10 in summer "66.

The track was originally given different

lyrics and sung by the Isley Brothers.

When rewritten,jimmy "took"

the song from the Spinners.

Paul Riser, seen in this film, wrote the

song's sublime arrangement

and is its co-author.

Additional keyboardist

Rudy Robinson, seen here

in the top hat, was a

good friend to the Funks...

and did many gigs with them

after Motown.

He died shortly after

the film was completed.

Seth justman, a member of thej. Geils Band

and the brother of director Pauljustman...

arranged this dramatic breakdown

for the film.

Robert White recorded his famous guitar line

to "My Girl" with the rest of the Funks...

on a Friday at Hitsville,

September 25, 1964.

Smokey Robinson wrote

and produced "My Girl"...

then taught it to the Temptations

while backstage at NY's Apollo Theater.

During Robert's fallow L.A. period, he

sold his beloved black Gibson L-5 guitar.

He returned to performing

and recording in the early 1990s...

before he died unexpectedly in '94 of

complications after heart surgery.

Also in the mix on the

local scene:
The Parliaments,

led by former Motown staff

writer, George Clinton...

whose outrageous funk

- often augmented by a few

ofThe Funk Brothers

- caught Whitfield's ears.

Dennis describes a short-lived

Motown "Producer's Workshop"...

created by the Motown brass

in the summer-fall of 1968.

Uriel plays his original

drum part while Pistol

re-creates the part originally

played by "Spider" Webb.

"Cloud Nine" was originally recorded

in 16 takes on October 1, 1968.

Carla Benson was a renowned Philadelphia

International session singer

for more than a decade.

"Cloud Nine" was a Top 10 hit

and Motown's first Grammy Award winner.

John Ingram was singer

and road drummer for Patti LaBelle.

"Cloud Nine" was the first Temptations

hit to feature multiple lead singers.

Nate and Ralphe are speaking about

Bob Babbitt's bass solo in "Scorpio"...

the Top 10 hit by Dennis Coffey

& The Detroit Guitar Band from 1971.

Babbitt is depicted in the

famed Roostertail club on

the Detroit River, home of

the "Motown Monday" shows.

Babbitt is shown here

with his teen band The Counts.

This was Babbitt's band The Royal Tones

- that's Dennis Coffey at left.

He joined Stevie Wonder's

road band in '66. His first

recordings at Hitsville were

album tracks for Stevie in '67.

Albums sessions for "What's Going On"

were done in 10 frantic days.

Songs were cut in the sequence

they were eventually released.

Jamerson recorded the first half

of the album.

Babbitt handled the second half

- "Mercy Mercy Me" through

"Inner City Blues. "

This rare performance footage is from

a benefit for Rev. jessejackson's...

Operation PUSH in Chicago,

October 1, 1972.

Racial confrontations

also escalated into urban

riots in Newark, Nj; New

York City; Cleveland, OH;

Washington, D.C.; Chicago, I L

and Atlanta, GA, in the summer of'67.

The Funks had been recording

"Ain't Nothing Like The

Real Thing" a few hours

before the riots broke out.

Sessions were cancelled for

the next 10 days.

Before the National Guard ended

the Detroit riots on july 25...

43 African Americans were killed, 1,189

were injured and 7,231 were arrested.

During these sessions

Marvin was like a Funk Brother...

playing piano

and percussion alongside them.

Chaka Khan sings the

song Marvin created after

his family was scarred

by the Vietnam War.

His cousin died in the war, and his brother

Frankie returned home with horror stories.

For the album's sessions, Marvin hired

Chet Forest, a local jazz drummer.

Pistol is re-creating Marvin's original

percussion part played on a "box drum. "

This arrangement is based on

David Van De Pitte's original score.

Tom Scott transposed Eli Fontaine's

original alto sax part to his soprano sax.

Berry Gordy at first rejected

"What's Going On. "

He not only didn't want

a protest song, he didn't

like the "Dizzy Gillespie

scatting" in the middle.

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