Standing in the Shadows of Motown

[@billyballa7002]

I am 68 years old and grew up with the greatest sound ever, in Motown, but, I always thought that Gordy was the genius behind the sound, BUT, it was the Funk Brothers, God bless them for giving me so much joy through all my years.

[@edohara4832]

Never a sound like that again

[@terrywatson1583]

It's a shame it has taken all these years for this ensemble to be recognized for their greatness.

[@mariellclement8092]

When all those legendary song names came raining down towards the end, I burst into tears. So beautiful.

[@janicerosen]

I can't watch this without crying. Every time that choir comes in, my heart bursts with joy and awe for the greatest music, MOTOWN. Thank you, Funk Brothers from every cell of my being. You have touched my soul like no other band, ever. We may be old now, but damn, we had the best music. Peace to all. xo

[@shariangreen2205]

Sure nuff I have the vhs tape well my bro has it now

[@mariellclement8092]

Especially when all of the song titles came down like sweet rain. Oh my dear God. I cry every time.

[@drwhatson]

Yes, i welled up! :-)

[@bemusedobserver6476]

I totally agree!

[@davidmillroy6178]

I am 76 years old and at least once a week I still turn on this site to listen to MY music and MY growing years..... It STILL send shivers up my spine and tears to my eyes.... If you listen to these sounds and not go with the flow.... then you just dont get IT and don't understand this IS Music and SOUL "at its best ....." and will never die. "Thanks Funk Bros..... Thanks Motown"

[@robinlove2452]

Well Said👍

[@shirleythompson3065]

I'm 73 I grew up listening to the motown sound. But never knew the Funk Brothers. Where responsible for the incredible sound. Until about fifteen years ago. They literally made motown. Simply greatest musicians of all time.

[@michealpierson8316]

I was raised on this music and I knew as a young boy as I do an older man that it was something very special. Hitsville was like this musical utopia that transcended all things. Such talented musicians that gave us so many beautiful memories. I cried when I watched this. Thank you Funk Bro’s for the phenomenal ride. Love rules

[@flcn92]

Music today lacks everything that this peformance and song possess'. Soul. Songwriting like this just doesn't seem to exist anymore. Musicianship, I hear tons of great musicians every year that inspire me musically, but none of them give me chills when I hear them play. I listen to this band of remaining brothers play songs that they recorded 40 years ago and I'm instantly moved emotionally. They were right on the money, this was no formula, these guys were the sound and music. Grateful..

[@Shepthebassman91]

James Jamerson! The man was a genius! The hook! The feel, groove, the rhythm, the funk, everything about that legendary bassist was sooo timelessly amazing! The Funk Brothers were absolutely incredible…..each and every one of them! But as a bass player, James was the GOAT and influenced EVERYONE during and after him! Long live the Funk Brothers! Long live Motown and its astounding musical heritage with the musicians and artists!

[@WayneBoyce]

Edisto Island South Carolinas JAMES JAMERSON-just recently named a road for him !

[@Shepthebassman91]

@@WayneBoyce that is awesome and well deserved!

[@dbcoll1957]

What a wonderful tribute to an everlasting legacy... so few remain, and yet they are all with us every time we hear a Motown song. God bless them all for what they gave us.

[@Alleycat1921]

I grew up across the street from Hitsville USA and would see the Motown artists come and go on a regular basis.

[@jerrysterling7023]

The funk Brothers one of the greatest bands ever played I wish they'd put it back on MTV again I lost it with a fabulous group of musicians no others like them in the world Jerry Metairie Louisiana

[@anthonywill9537]

I grew up with Motown music & I still love it today at60yrs old

[@cinammonstick]

the best band of ALL TIME

[@420Chooey]

To my fellow musicians and music lovers. I love you all because you love music ( you probably love dogs too) but anyway, How could we ever thank these guys enough or express our respect ? I know, by listeneing to their music and letting it make us feel. When your foot starts tappin and your body starts rocken and there's nothing but the music.

[@stukin70s]

Ditto on the tears! My God where has time gone?!? Thanks for the soundtrack of our lives!

[@dbcoll1957]

Hard to watch this without the tears of joy starting to flow. Even if it's only in my mind, it lets me, and I'm sure so many others, turn back the clock. There is a lot of great music today, but Motown was more than great music... it transcended race, religion, and generation. Thank you Funk Brothers, thank you so very much.

[@janicerosen]

Well said, my sentiments exactly. The movie is a testament to the greatest talented band ever, in my opinion. The Funk Brothers rule, then, today and always in my heart. My joy is off the charts too when I hear this. As I write this, there are only 3 Funks still alive, but they will all live on forever in this incredible music. Peace to all, and to all who love MOTOWN, we are locked together forever. xo

[@kurtbuchholz920]

“My joy is off the charts.” What a perfect way to describe how most of us feel.

[@Backatwon]

The current groups , singers and musicians have nothing on that golden age of music ..................so little of the current stuff is even music as we know it can be!! Thanks for posting this !

[@armandinagarcia641]

I have the VHS video and I never tire of watching the grestest band of all time THE FUNK BROTHERS

[@HoganCourrier]

James Baby!! What a line up, The Funk Brothers Baby! More # 1 hits than anyone combined. Great Post!

[@markwax9242]

The greatest live track ever recorded for Motown fans. Memories of 60 years rush through your body. The most brilliant music ever played by true champions.

[@larrybutler8965]

Back then we didn’t care who was playing the music all we was concerned about was the singer.. The music you knew was Motown but we never questioned who.. Barry kept them secluded from us in a sense .. We knew that’s Marvin Gayes sound, The Temps, Supremes, The Four Tops with Levi Stubbs, Martha and The Vandellas, and on and on, but we never thought who making this tailor made music to each artist. You knew when they came on the radio or record that the Tempts.. That’s Miracles.. and all these Motown kept them in the closet but never too late. And I’m so glad they introduce us to them. I bought the DVD so I could listen to it anytime.. Barry got the best out of all then singer musicians he made history that will last long after he’s gone.. LB2022

[@stevestarr9769]

Both these musicians and those on the west coast known as The Wrecking Crew deserve so much more credit than they ever received back then.

[@BradYaeger]

I force this film on every fellow musician I meet, just to be sure the story gets told, and to present the finest example of what a GROUP really means. Each player doing what is right, and only what is right, for the song.The truest definition of serving the Music ever set to tape.

[@townerc002]

I saw James Jamerson Jr., Leela James, and Peabo Bryson in a show called Standing in the Shadows of Motown on 11 March 2013 in Annapolis, MD.... I had those Tears of Joy! It was spectacular!!

[@sherristover264]

I just can't get enough of this ! Motown just puts me in a good mood,

[@carolsmusic2]

Thank you very much "Funk Brothers" for giving the world the Motown sound!!!!!!!!! We sure enjoyed it and still are!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@shariangreen2205]

YES

[@TheAnnaFisher]

The Funk Brothers were honored this week March 21, 2013 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, yes!

[@lindabrown2090]

The Funk Brothers are the G.O.A.T. They are the 🐐 the best that ever played any instrument.🎶🎵🎼🎹🎷🎺🪕🎻🥁

[@miadispiace9808]

these Somgs are all with tears in my eyes ! SOO wonderful!

[@mel0dyism]

God speed Mr. Babitt. We'll always love you and thanks soooo much.

[@marlonbryant3807]

My name is Marlon I grew up on all this I'm in my 60s and this just gives me goose bumps every time I see it I was born and bread in the D and it gives me the chills that Motown and Berry Gordy change tecumseh of American music as we know it. So proud to be from Detroit

[@lorrainehadley3372]

The funk Brothers were the best

[@Weshopwizard]

If this wonderful music doesn’t move you then I feel very sad for you!!!!

[@stripervince1]

you just have to cry when you hear this. especially when the choir comes in on the last chorus.......even pistol allen said it....he couldnt believe it either...astonishing

[@rosalindwilliams196]

I'm 63 years old and I grew up listening to all of the artists involved and in the motown sound. I never knew

[@donnabrownbowles3525]

Joan Osborne is Amazing, fabulous, and there's NOT ONE WHO could come close to her greatness!!! I love you Joan ❣️ Always have been always Will be .. AWESOMENESS!!!!! You're unchallenged! YOU GO GIRL YOU GO WITH YO BAD SELF!!! 💛💚💙❤️🧡♥️💜 You made the funk brothers pop!!

[@traciejohnson8608]

This was back when music was done by actual musicians. Not like the junk we have now.

[@Signals927]

Fantastic sound Motown has happy memories for me in the sixties in the UK, Motown lives on.

[@lindawilliams141]

I know that I'm late to the discussion, but Montel Jordan is so underrated!! Love Him!!❤❤❤

[@bemusedobserver6476]

The music of my childhood-oh my where did soul music go?!

[@ayaya38]

Chaka Kahn a great lady ...Come back in France please

[@1060michaelg]

@Mark Delsing I appreciate you brother, you hit it exactly right. I came up in the 70's, learning my guitar, my craft. Every day, unless I had the record, I'd sit and listen for Tears Of A Clown, Mercy, Mercy Me (which I still to this day cannot hear w/out crying...Marvin was prophesying and he was uncannily correct) I Wish It Would Rain and all the others--Once I picked out that first chord, the rest would usually tumble out with it. But people, especially those who aren't musicians, don't realize how complex some of these tunes were. Mercy, Mercy Me, for instance; it's no "Oh, that's an F#m..." These were Jazz chords. So, the Funk Brothers were my teachers. I had to expand my horizons if I wanted to play these treasures with my own hands. Never would have become a Chord Junkie, heh, if I didn't have to doggedly find those Inside chords, those Cmaj9 and things you weren't EVER going to run across playing rock, no disrespect to Rock and Roll, it's just not that kind of pond. As a white kid, I realized very early on that every thing that was going on was springing out of what Black musicians and Soul, R&B, and Funk were putting down first. There would have been no Beatles, Rolling Stones, if these young Brits weren't turned on by the "race music" that was frowned upon and they had to DIG for to hear. Coming back to the 70's, the phenomenon of Disco music would not have happened, again look at the singers and musicians and the Music itself; under that "bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp," steady beat that Immediately identified a song as a Disco tune, there was a sophistication in the orchestration and rhythms (I love just playing rhythm guitar on Disco songs, you just have to smile) and it irks me that Disco also never got the props for that. Getting back, appropriately, to the Funk Brothers-- I'd like to add on to another comment I made on this video; Barry Gordy, who deserves praise for his vision of Motown and being a place where Black aritsts could go w/out crawling hat in hand...that being said, he must not have heard the phrase I grew up with In my ears, "Don't forget, you meet the same people on the way up as you do on the way down." I said Mr. Gordy should be ashamed. That a man who helped make his empire had to buy a ticket from a scalper to attend Mowtown's 25th Anniversary, when he should have been ONSTAGE is a travesty. Mr. Gordy forgets that in this wild and crazy Evening we call our Lives, a check is dropped on the table at Evening's end, our Tab. We all have to pick up our own Tab-- In the End it's always Dutch Treat. Take care, Mark.

[@marlonbryant3807]

Detroiters are still so proud we feel this specifically belongs to us not N ew York not chi town its something that no one can take away from us we will always be part of musical history thanks to Berry for the dream Smokey ,Mickey Stvenson

[@whiskeysmama]

digging The Funk Brothers!!! ain't nothiung like 'em.....that's just plain ole' GENIUS!

[@kenbanner1332]

Lucky enough to see the Funk Brothers at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival a few years back simply off the chart good

[@BradYaeger]

@guitarstjohn I'm with you on that one brother, some of the artists played it safe and sometimes a bit short, others hit the mark, but Chaka knocked it out of the park. Stayed close to the melody but wasn't bound by it. I became a fan again for a second time. More talent on that stage that night than any I can think of. What a wonderful event..

[@morleybolero]

RIP Bob Babbit.

[@Lyraorganum]

damn i love the part with jamerson. so emotional

[@nasus4848]

yes....so emotional for me too.

[@alimantado373]

My first ever love, that Masterjam Gatefold sleeve Chaka with the strawberry :) 11 years old... you know what I mean.. still gorgeous!

[@janbriggs3387]

MAN WOW! WHAT A GREAT MUSICAL ARRANGEMENT. I UNDERSTAND IT JUST A LITTLE BIT BETTER...... IT'S SI MAGICAL AND TO ME A LITTLE SOUTHERN GIRL. I THOUGHT IT WAS MAGICAL HEAVENLY. AND IMPOSSIBLE FOR SOUTHERNERS TO PLAY ....

[@sherristover264]

I have the CD (standing n the shadows of Motown and I play it all the time :)

[@alisonjohns3938]

i feel like such a sap, this brings me to tears every time i see it!

[@mariellclement8092]

You're not alone. It's so beautiful.

[@dbcoll1957]

At about 4:10 when the choir joins in, if you don't have tears in your eyes and a lump in your throat, then you just don't get it.

[@1060michaelg]

Was thinking the same thing, writing this with some wet damn eyes...these kats were the sound to every song that ever moved me. That part where we learn that, was it James Jameson, he had to buy a scalped ticked to sit in the audience of the 25th anniversary of Motown, hear the songs that HE played on with that singular sound... Barry Gordy, you should be ashamed, man...ashamed.

[@soulpaua2097]

dbcoll1957 Starting balling way before then! Haha.

[@florencemouitynzamba7939]

I'm not even 35, and YES their songs did move me too...a lot. And I started crying too, wayyyyyy before 4:10 :-)

[@000LONER]

Motown is the best music written and played in the history of the music. Tears from Rio de Janeiro Brasil.

[@jeffreywong6658]

Man I'm 22 and I'm wiping those tears with ya! Best music of all time!

[@jerrysterling7023]

The magic sounds that came out of that basement at hitsville was surely incredible and never can be reproduced nowhere on Earth

[@tyronerobinson9239]

i enjoyed it

[@tooakki]

Thank you very much for this.

[@markwaldron1393]

I love the funk brothers

[@miadispiace9808]

U're so real and right !

[@drwhatson]

The lifelong UK love affair with Motown (and the Motown influence) continues unabated in 2022 and beyond.

[@alishjn]

I love you too Spidey XOXO

[@viewermusic9119]

With a great song, you have to first have "cake" before you can ice it. This movie is cake, watch it.

[@tdirgins]

1:46 gives me chills every time!

[@janicerosen]

About time!

[@kenkellyhewitt3328]

Well.... there you go. THATS what you get when black and white people get it together. Amazingness.

[@1949nancym]

Love it

[@terrywatson1583]

Wow! That's Tammy & Marvin if I ever em.

[@dbcoll1957]

At about 4:10 be prepared to be taken to church...

[@clank4001]

the hook

[@gumeherrera]

Ditto to dbcoll1957s' comment, "it transcended race, religion, and generation" thank you dbcoll1957.

[@MrSHOT3]

well done...

[@misterbee66]

Wow, go Montell.

[@79Thilo]

Can James Jamerson be seen in this video? Or was he dead already?

[@davidmcaninch4714]

I was just watching it online. But then the audio got cut. Biggest reason? Copyright. Because that's what we need. We need copyright to ruin our online movie watching experiences, because in reality, watching movies online is extremely illegal, and we should be in jail for it. What seems so innocent and fun, is actually criminal activity. I don't want to believe this. Please someone prove me wrong.

[@TheGator2026]

You got it right man. We don’t want to face up to it but we take food right out of their mouths. You can talk about their Rich’s the way some live but in the end THEY EARNED IT ! Peace and Love Brother Pat Stone palm beach gardens, fl

[@bulldogbrower6732]

You can buy the DVD at Walmart, it’s in the big bin. $5.00

[@mjcruiser4238]

Anyone know why Berry Gordy wasn’t part of this?

[@lindawilliams141]

Not only Berry Gordy, but Smokey and Diana Ross wasn't either!! It was rumored that when Berry Gordy moved Motown to California, no one knew that they were being uprooted. The Funk Brothers showed up to work and there was no work. Martha Reeves spoke a little about it in the documentary, Standing in the Shadows.

[@RAIDERMAN52]

HIS NAME IS EDDIE "BONGO" BROWN YOU PUTTZ...NO RESPECT...

[@janicerosen]

Thank G-d for Alan Slutsky

[@misterbee66]

@originaldchyno Chaka honestly did not at all impress me here either.