This is such a great documentary,I
just watched it again.Very moving & warm
portraits of the unsung heroes playing on
all these great songs.Finally it´s their turn
2 get some appreciation & some spotlights.
Right now these cats R touring the world
& I´m gonna go see them in Stockholm this Sunday
Feb 8.
They got Isaac Hayes & Steve Winwood as guests.
I love these dudes, but still I´d rather see them
have some former Motown acts.
Can U imagine if they´d gone out with Smokey Robinson
or Ashford & Simpson? That would´ve been something.
Anyway,if U have´nt checked this movie out
I can highly recomend it.Such great musicians,
such great human beeings.Very magical & very inspiring.
/peace Manki

I have to admit, I certainly didn't know the name of the in-house band, either. But I knew it was the same band backing up all the singers.

This movie answers the question "Who played on all of the Motown hits?"

manki said:

Brilliant doumentary and the DVD has a bonus disc with deleted scenes
They go even further behind the scenes to show when they first meet up again at Hitsville.. touching

I just got this DVD a few days ago mainly because my cousin JUST told me he was in it. (He did the intro of the band--alive and deceased--near the very end of the film.) Anyway, it was very interesting and sad, in a way, that these guys weren't recognized earlier. I would agree with the original post. It's an important film and will especially appeal to people who are/were big Motown fans.

I was surprised they didn't manage to get more really big names to talk about them...from the Beatles on down, I would have thought they would have all had some love for the music those guys made.

I rented this and have been waiting to see it. Maybe I'll watch it tommorow. Looks good.

mynameisnotsusan said:

it was touched on. in the film it made mention of the Beatles covering Motown cuts in their first US tour so they definitely had love for the music. i think the idea was to keep it in the family but i'm surprised that they didn't get more motown acts (stevie wonder, diana ross, etc.) to appear.

still, it's fucking amazing. the funk brothers sound just as good if not better.
[This message was edited Sun Feb 1 14:15:31 PST 2004 by marcdeondotcom]

i went to go see this last year in the theatre when it first came out...great stuff! i should get a hold of the dvd pretty soon.

My favorite Documentary of last year!! The Funk Brothers finally get acknowledged for their amazing work during Motown's golden era.

The performances were amazing. Joan Osbourne doing "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" just blows me away. She's a great talent and it's unfortunate that she'll always be widely know in the mainstream as the 'chick who sings 'What if God was one of us'. Her soul covers album HOW SWEET IT IS from last year is brilliant. She makes the songs her own and MeShell N'Degeocello is part of the studio band!

It's definitely a must-see for musicians and all music fans. It just seems like now we are really hearing numerous stories about artists from that period who aren't getting nearly as much as they are worth financially. I can only imagine the musicians behind the scenes, who weren't properly compensated. It was a moving documentary. I was angry, sad, and overjoyed by the lives of the Funk Brothers.

I agree 110% Manki, this is really touching/moving to me and it gave me a new love for the Funk Brothers that I've taken for granted my whole life.