Standing In The Shadows Of Motown
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The film "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown" has been released to critical acclaim, and is the story of Motown's unsung heroes, their house band, the funk brothers. Despite the excellent press this film has received, it is still only being shown in a limited number of more adventurous cinemas. The film has also spawned an equally excellent soundtrack on which more contemporary soul artists perform cover versions of some of Motown's earlier hits. The book however is slightly different, and whereas the film is a testament to the 'Funk Brothers' as a whole it concentrates on the work of only one member, its bassist James Jamerson. Indeed the approach is so different that despite identical titles and pretty much covering the same subject matter, the two projects appear to be completely independent of each other. Leaving the film and its accompanying soundtrack aside this book is not an independent entity, but part of an overall package. It comes with two CD's attached to the back sleeve. These CD's are a compilation of short interviews taken with people who worked with Jamerson during his Motown years and also with more contemporary bass players who explain how Jamerson has influenced their work. Each takes a turn to play Motown music re-creating as best they can the way Jamerson would have played it. Some of these might be complete Motown songs whilst others play a selection of snippets. By stripping the song of its vocals the listener is forced to focus on the skills of the musicians, the bass players in particular. Introduced by Paul McCartney, these contemporary bass musicians try to explain the genius of Jamerson by illustrating how he most influenced them. The book itself approximately 200 pages long and presented in two distinct halves. The first hundred pages are a well written and easy to follow biography of Jamerson. The next hundred introduce the contributors to the tape, along with mini run downs of their careers to date. Each of these sections is supplemented by the sheet music which the musician has selected to play. The book ends with a series of testimonies from luminaries mainly taken from the Motown era. For any Bass player studying the work of Jamerson this section is a must. The story is well told and well illustrated with lots of black and white photos of Jamerson in action. There is also a very neat little Jamerson logo resplendent in "blues brothers" type shades littering the book. Marks for design has to be ten out of ten. The CD's were also well presented and I personally found them of immense interest. I can only repeat that by stripping the vocals the audience can listen to and genuinely appreciate the quality of Jamerson's musicianship. If I have any complaints it is that the last section of the book is more squarely aimed at the musician rather than the casual reader. Personally I would have liked to see the biography extended and the sheet music section cut back. None the less the concept is sound, and if like me you are a none musician there is still enough in it to justify the cost. Not the most important book ever written about Motown, but well worth getting none the less.
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Why Not visit the Authors other Website, 'The Alternative Blackpool Website' at http://www.localdial.com/users/jsyedu133/bpool This Site Last Updated 18/05/05
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