Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Paul Justman, Alan Slutsky,

Standing in the Shadows of Motown ( in German: "In the Shadow of Motown Standing " ) is a published in 2002 American documentary film. It deals with the story of a group of studio musicians called The Funk Brothers, until the early 1970s as a studio band for Motown, a Detroit soul record label, worked from the late 1950s. Although the musicians grossed as backing many famous soul artist several hits, they themselves were previously long time remained largely unknown.

Content and making of the film

As a template for the film Standing in the Shadows of Motown was the eponymous book by " Dr. Licks " (a pseudonym of the author Allan Slutsky ), which won the 1989 U.S. Book Prize Rolling Stone / Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award. The title of the book and film is an allusion to the song Standing in the Shadows of Love, which had previously been recorded, among others, from the Soul artists The Four Tops and The Jackson Five for the Motown label.

Filmed on location in Detroit ( the "Motor Town" of the U.S.), shows the two-hour film and photographs and film footage of the previously deceased musicians The Funk Brothers, as well as excerpts from a concert of the group with singers such as Chaka Khan, Ben Harper, Bootsy Collins, Montell Jordan, Joan Osborne and Gerald Levert. In this live performance were all the great Motown hits, in which members of the studio band had participated, again played by them. In addition, the film, which contributed to what song the musicians documented - The Funk Brothers had recorded as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys as a band more No. 1 hits.

The shooting of this film took more than ten years. Following a similar pattern as in the film Buena Vista Social Club were by this documentary, the longtime Motown studio musician Earl Van Dyke, Joe Hunter, Johnny Griffith, Eddie Willis, Joe Messina, Robert White, William Benjamin, Uriel Jones, Richard Allen, James Jamerson, Bob Babbitt, Jack Ashford and Eddie Brown bass to a wider musical public for the first time.

Awards

The film won four awards, including a Grammy in the category "Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media ".