Monday Monday Motown

On Saturday, I went to see the play, Motown the Musical at the Civic Theater in San Diego. Here is George Varga's review in the San Diego Union-Tribune. The play was based on Barry Gordy's book and is a very nostalgic view of the history of Gordy and Motown.

But hey, Mary Kit and I were there for the nostalgia and did this musical ever deliver the music! The songs and singing performances were electric and still have us humming the tunes we grew up with on the radio. I'm sure many of these songs will be in my head for weeks as I put this Motown playlist together for this blog.

Also, since the play only mentions one line about The Funk Brothers, I do want to mention their impact to the world of popular music in the 1960's and early 70's. The Funk Brothers, were hand-picked studio musicians assembled by Gordy in 1959 to be the house band for all the recordings done at Motown in Detroit (Hitsville... USA), until Gordy moved Motown to Los Angles in 1972. The Funk Brothers were not invited to join Motown in Los Angeles. This is all brought to light in the 2002 documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown about The Funk Brothers, which I highly recommend. I believe I saw it on Showtime several months ago, but currently I can't find it being played on TV or freely streamed on any service. (Here is the Amazon Prime rent price of $2.99 and purchase price for $5.99 if you are interested.)

This week is also the traditional time of year for K-12 school to end and celebrate high school graduation. I can't think of a better way to kick off the summer with a playlist of all my favorite Motown songs on YouTube. Motown the Musical uses the promo line, "A beat of a generation. A soul of the nation." So now, enjoy all these wonderful artists' enduring songs with the beat and soul of the Funk Brothers backing them up.