DVD Review HTF REVIEW: "Standing in the shadows of Motown" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) (1 Viewer)

[Bob Turnbull]

Bootsy was an early member of James Brown's backing band (I think for about a year around 1970-71). Probably better known as a member of Parliament/Funkadelic throughout the 70's and 80's. He also did some wickedly cool work with Bill Laswell (way too many projects to name, but seek out the album Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) by Praxis).

He's probably most recognized from the video to Deee-Lite's "Groove Is In The Heart".

 

[Reginald Trent]

Actually, I think Bootsy is probably most known from having his own group (Bootsy's Rubber Band). With hits like "Stretching Out" "I'd Rather Be With You" "What's A Telephone Bill?" and "Can't Stay Away" to name a few.

 

[Greg Thomas]

so far my faverite part is bootsy collins. that guy is wild looking dude.

Bootsy Collins is definitely known best for his work with George Clinton in Parliament/Funkadelic and then on his own in Bootsy's Rubber Band. I think I've got 3 or 4 Bootsy albums on vinyl from back in the day. He became popular again recently in the video for Undercover Brother with Snoop Dogg. He also did a Nike commercial last year with Snoop called the Funkship.

check out his website at http://www.bootsycollins.de/

 

[Glenn_Jn]

Well despite my earlier reservations about this DVD I saw it at CC for $14 so I thought "what the hell". It was pretty much to my expectations i.e the recollections of the FB's themselves and the archive clips (of which there were far too few) were nice to watch but the "new" versions of classic Motown songs being sung by, what seemed like to me, a bunch of American Idol rejects was excruciating to listen to. Hearing stuff like this just makes me appreciate the original artists all the more. What I don't understand is, if this whole thing was about the musicians why not just do instrumental versions with a sax filling in the vocal parts?.
There were a couple of points that I didn't agree with. When they were discussing what made the Motown "sound" they said it was the players and why wouldn't they!. But I disagree. It was a mixture of the players, writers, singers and the all important production sound. I don't think any one group can lay claim to the sound that came out of the studios. Also the blurb about them having played on more number one's than the Beatles, Stones, Elvis and the Beach Boys combined. Well if they are counting the R'n'B chart ...maybe. But according to the Billboard Hit Singles book between 1961 (Motowns first Pop Chart #1 Marvelettes "Please Mr Postman") and 1972 when Motown moved to L.A effectively ending their relationship with the FB's, Motown had 31 number one's and during the same period the four named artists had a total of 46 number one's. I'm not really sure what other hits the Funk Brothers played on so I didn't count them. Of course if you include the R'n'B charts, that's a different story.

Still it's good that these guys are finally getting some recognition for their work. Of course the pop music world is full of "session" players who have played on countless hit records over the years and still very few people know who they are.

Overall though a very good DVD especially for the price.

 

[Aaron Cohen]

I've got a question. I'm planning on buying this and wondering how I will be able to play the HD portion on my HDTV. I assume you have to run it through a computer? I'm a bit confused about the whole thing, I first heard of the Windows Media HD bit in the Terminator 2 thread here recently. Any help would be appreciated. ThankS!

 

[Gary Lisker]

I'll admit that a couple of the vocalists in the new footage didn't quite measure up to their predecessors, but I thought most of them sounded great, including Joan Osborne. What did it for me was seeing how much joy the Funk Brothers got from playing together again, and how they just fell back into the groove after decades apart. Any recognition they get now is well-deserved and long overdue. If their tour was coming to Atlanta, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

 

[Glenn_Jn]

Aaron I had a quick look at the WM9 version and it didn't look all that impressive to me (watching it on my PC) in fact it didn't look any different to any other DVD. The BMW short films on disc on loked a lot better. I don't know how it will look played onto a TV screen though. I might check it out and get back to you.

 

[Richard Gilmore]

OK I finally had a chance to view this last night and I tell you it was an emotional experience for me, growing up on Motown. I was typically completely unaware of the "Funk Brothers". The point is not just that these musicians were responsible for the sound of Motown but that they were never given the credit they deserved. Seeing them play in the concert pieces gave me goosebumps, they nailed the studio sound dead cold. The new singers may not have sounded "right" to some purists, but I bet the songs would have been hits with those singers and that band. And the love and respect between these guys is a rare, special thing. I had tears in my eyes listening to them talk at their dinner.

I was curious at the obvious lack of Berry Gordy and the Motown vocalists except Martha Reeves. Were they deliberately left off, and did they refuse to participate? Their absence is a bit curious.

 

[Gary Lisker]

I found a great interview with the men behind this movie where they talk about the lack of participation from Motown vocalists. It's definitely worth reading.

Slutsky/Justman interview

 

[Marty M]

This is manatory viewing for anyone who is even remotely interested in Rock history. I grew up listening to all these songs and I had no idea who the back up group was. I highly recommend this DVD.

 

[Richard Gilmore]

Gary - that article answers all my questions. Thanks. I find I can't get enough of this stuff. It makes me appreciate just how important that music was to me growing into my teens.

 

[Karsten Serck]

I am a bit dissapointed about the so called "Hi-Resolution"-WM9-Version of the Movie. It looks not like High Definition. Windows Media Player says Resolution is 1024 x 576 - far far away from the 720p (1280 x 720) Resolution of the Demo Movies available from Microsoft. The Video is encoded with a Bitrate of 4784 kbps with Microsofts Mindows Media 9 Professional Codec, using Windows Media 9 Audio Professional 5.1 Audio with a 384 kbps Bitrate. The Video is a bit soft and does not look much better than the NTSC Version. But the Codec itself is OK. I saw no compression artefacts at the first glance. The Disc uses Digital Rights Managment and has to be licensed via an Artisan Web Server before playing. This is done via a small Windows Software on the DVD. I think Artisan went the rather "Just a bit more Definition than NTSC way" in favor of true 720p because of capacity problems on the DVD. The uses almost all of its capacity including the two 1.8 GB Windows Media Files that contain the Movie. There is not much more space available due to the large amount of additional Bonus Material on the DVD.

 

[Mike Koch]

This is one of the most enjoyable dvd's that I have watched in the past year. Ron's review is dead on. The DTS soundtrack is incredible!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I was curious at the obvious lack of Berry Gordy...

Berry Gordy cut them a sweetheart deal to use any songs in the Motown catalog they wanted. They probably couldn't have afforded the music clearances at normal rates. He supported them in the way that mattered most. He also offered up some quotes to promote the movie and had only good things to say.

Regards,

 

[Mike Raub]

Any chance the concert that the DVD highlights will be released on one of the high resolution audio formats (SACD or DVD-A)? A multi-channnel release of this fine material would seem to be a natural, if the technical requirements for doing so exist. Though, like most, I would have preferred the original performers, the quality of the songs and skill of the Funk Brothers make even covers worth listening to. It makes me feel better getting older to see these 65 year guys playing that well with so much feeling.

I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't like Motown music, and hope I never will--this would truly be a wretched and unhappy person.

MIKE

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

the Funk Brothers make even covers worth listening to

Actually, are they covers if they are the original musicians? Would any remake be considered a cover? If Diana Ross performs Baby Love with a different set of musicians is that a cover?

I agree with those who feel that using the original singers would have undercut the point of the film and shifted the spotlight in the wrong direction. They have plenty of Motown music in the film by the original artists.

Regards,

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I watched a portion of the HD version on disc 2 at NAB last week. The HD portion is recorded in full 720P and looks fantastic. After looking at scenes from this film and from LOTR with Microsoft's new codec, I have to say that they have a real hit on their hands. It compares very well with higher bitrate MPEG-2 recordings.

I can hardly wait to get this disc and play it on HD in my theater.

Greg, the clips I viewed on my boss' color LCD monitor looked great. Please post your review comments about the hi-resolution (not really "HD" but better than DVD) version in this thread or maybe even start a new thread once you've had a chance to really watch it at home. I'd love to know how it looks on a big-screen.

dave

 

[HarleyMYK]

I also loved this DVD. Rented it first, and then bought it used.

Did anyone else have problems with the sound when watching the Performance Selections under the Special Features? I could not activate DTS with the Performance Selections, and the sound would just cut out from time to time and then come back. I had no such problems when watching the identical performances as part of playing the movie from the main menu. DTS worked great for me when I played the movie, but my receiver switched to DD when I watched the Performance Selections. Very odd? Anyone?

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The performance sections are set-up to only work in DD5.1. I don't know why.

...but I do know that I will be seeing the Funk Brothers in concert in a couple of weeks!

Regards,

 

[Karl_Luph]

I saw this last night and really enjoyed it. Disc one wouldn't play on my Toshiba 3108 but it did play on my PS2. A couple of times though I noticed that the video would drop out and I thought that perhaps others had a similar experience with disc one too. When the video dropped out, the screen would go dark and flicker every so often and then come back on. The Toshiba is connected to the tv with a component cable and the PS2 is connected with a s-video cable if this would make any difference. When I tried the disc in the Toshiba it wouldn't load up. This is only about the 5th disc I've had trouble in the older Toshiba that has never had the upgrade that was made available years ago.Let me know if this is posted in the wrong forum.